Coming Home Changed to Fort Carson

Fort Carson doctors diagnosed 615 soldiers in 2007 with post-traumatic stress disorder, up from 102 cases in 2003, when soldiers started returning from their first tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the fifth straight year with an increase in the number of soldiers being diagnosed with PTSD.

Coming home changed


Stress can play part in crimes, experts say
By DENNIS HUSPENI and TOM ROEDER
THE GAZETTE
December 23, 2007 - 7:35AM


CRIMES LINKED TO CARSON VETERANS

Here are some notable criminal cases involving Iraq war veterans stationed at Fort Carson.

- Colorado Springs police allege two veterans from the same platoon are tied to a crime ring that could be responsible for the homicides of two soldiers.

Spc. Kevin Shields was shot to death and his body was found Dec. 1.

Pfc. Robert James was also shot to death. His body was found in a car parked in a Lake Avenue bank parking lot in August. The suspects are: Louis Bressler, 24, who was discharged and complained of suffering from PTSD; Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr., 21; and soldier Kenneth Eastridge, who was an infantry rifleman. Authorities have charged or plan to charge all three with homicide, court records show.

- Former soldier Anthony Marquez, 23, admitted Thursday he shot and killed a 19-year-old Widefield resident and suspected drug dealer Oct. 22, 2006, during a robbery attempt. Marquez’s public defenders attempted to introduce PTSD as a possible defense, but dropped the effort when a judge ruled against them, court records show. According to the plea agreement, Marquez will spend 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

- Pueblo police last month arrested Spc. Olin “Famous” Ferrier, 22, on suspicion of shooting taxi driver David Chance, 52, on Oct. 30. No charges have been filed.

- Former Pfc. Johnathon Klinker, 22, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in July for killing his 7-week-old daughter, Nicolette. Klinker blamed the baby’s October 2006 death, in part, on “war-related stress.”

- Former Pvt. Timothy Parker of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was convicted by court martial of manslaughter for beating Spc. Piotr Szczypka to death in a November 2005 fight at an apartment complex near the base. Both men had been drinking before Parker hit Szczypka with a fireplace poker, trial testimony showed. Parker was sentenced to seven years in a military prison.

- Nine days after 2nd Brigade Combat Team Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, came home from Iraq in August 2005, he drove to Fort Collins and shot and killed his wife of seven years, Sara E. Sherwood, 30. The soldier, described by his commanders as a hero who fought bravely in Iraq, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

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Homeless veteran Forrest Clayton Salcido beaten to death

Two young adults charged in footbridge homicide
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian



Two Missoula men were charged Friday with deliberate homicide for allegedly stomping a 56-year-old Navy veteran to death on a walking path, apparently without provocation.

Anthony St. Dennis, 18, a senior at Hellgate High School, and Dustin Strahan, 20, are accused of beating Forrest Clayton Salcido to death late Wednesday night. Prosecutors say both men have admitted taking part in the brutal attack.

Passers-by discovered Salcido's body Thursday morning on a path leading to the California Street footbridge. The victim lived most of his life in Missoula with his family, but often spent the nights outdoors in transient camps. He served in the military between 1971 and 1975.


Missoula County Coroner Mike Dominick said Salcido died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

St. Dennis remains in custody at the Missoula County jail on $500,000 bail. He has a previous criminal record, both as an adult and a juvenile. Strahan is jailed on $250,000 bail.

Deputy County Attorney Matt Lowy said Strahan played a less active role in the fatal attack, and was cooperative with law enforcement after initially lying to investigators.

“In contrast to Mr. Dennis, this defendant has been cooperative with law enforcement, and the state does not see that he played the same role, or as active a role, as Mr. Dennis,” Lowy said.

According to court papers filed by County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, the men were sitting on a bench near the footbridge at around 10 p.m. on Dec. 5 when Salcido happened by.

St. Dennis started to pick a fight with the man, pushing Salcido and egging him on, according to the document. He first hit the man in the face about halfway across the bridge. Both men then continued to follow Salcido to the bridge's south side, punching him as he attempted to run away.

Salcido finally fell to the ground after a blow to his face, and the men continued beating him on the ground.

Strahan told detectives that he tried to stop St. Dennis, who stomped on the man's head “as hard as he could” between 20 and 30 times.

After the attack, the men walked to St. Dennis' house, where St. Dennis washed the blood off his tennis shoes in the bathroom and talked on the phone with some girls, according to records. Strahan told police his friend was “talking like nothing happened.”

Both defendants had been drinking vodka.

Strahan said he was disturbed by the experience and told his mother what happened later on in the evening, then went to police after seeing news reports about the man's death the following day.

Strahan initially told investigators he and St. Dennis attacked Salcido because they caught him raping a woman, but later admitted the attack was random and unprovoked. Strahan said he joined in the attack after Salcido landed a punch on St. Dennis. He acknowledged Salcido was scared and had asked the men to leave him alone.

Police officers found St. Dennis Thursday night hiding in a closet at his grandmother's house in Missoula. They recovered a pair of tennis shoes covered with splotches of dried blood.

Once at the jail, St. Dennis called a woman on the phone and “made several admissions that he had killed the man on the California Street Bridge,” records state. The conversation was recorded.

Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/08/news/local/news02.txt

Marine's mother disputes suicide as cause of death

This update was sent from some friends over at Home Of The Brave. They are a group offering support to families who have suffered a loss from non-combat deaths. If you suspect that your family member may have been killed, instead of having committed suicide, visit their site. All non-combat death related families need support and you can find it here.
http://hotbmembers.blogspot.com/

Marine's mother disputes suicide as cause of death
BY JENNY SHEARER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jshearer@bakersfield.com Friday, Dec 7 2007 10:20 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Dec 7 2007 10:44 PM

The grieving mother of a Marine found dead in his barracks in August at Twentynine Palms doesn't believe her son committed suicide.


But a military investigation concluded that Lance Cpl. Ramiro Hernandez III, 24, died in his barracks by hanging himself with a belt.

His roommate found him early on Aug. 20. No suicide note was found, and he had no history of depression, according to a suicide incident report from the Navy.

But Rachel Hernandez said her son wasn't the type of person to commit suicide.

"Anybody that knows Ramiro knows he's not a suicidal person," she said.

She believes foul play was involved in her son's death and thinks the Marines are trying to protect their image by concluding he killed himself.
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http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/305404.html

With Murder Trial, Family Seeks Truth in Son's Death

With Murder Trial, Family Seeks Truth in Son's Death
'Here's a young man, a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces -- a ranger. He's not just some statistic.'

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 15, 2007; Page B01

U.S. Army Ranger Michael McQueen had served three tours with special forces in Afghanistan, only to die in the living room of his Gaithersburg apartment after watching football, a .38-caliber bullet piercing his right temple.

Outside the apartment building, police later found his roommate, former sergeant Gary Smith, crying inconsolably, smeared with McQueen's blood and with gunpowder residue on his hands. Smith told police that before calling 911, he drove to nearby Lake Needwood, gun in hand, and dumped it in the water.



A Montgomery County jury is expected to decide in February whether Smith, 25, killed McQueen, 22, on the night of Aug. 25, 2006, or simply tried to cover up a suicide. Smith is charged with first-degree murder.

The two conflicting theories point to largely unseen fronts in ongoing wars, battles that are often fought after veterans return home. Burdened by memories of war, some veterans commit crimes of violence, even killing, that they might not have otherwise, while others direct the violence inward, according to studies. The most desperate take their own lives.

An estimated 5,000 veterans of all wars commit suicide each year, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, a trend that has led to congressional hearings and calls for an overhaul in post-combat screening. About one in five Iraq veterans suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as does Smith.

The mystery surrounding McQueen's death deepened recently when a blood-spatter expert hired by the prosecution concluded that the fatal gunshot wound appears to have been self-inflicted, a finding at odds with the conclusion of the state's initial expert.
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Paxil, murder-suicide and PTSD

He had been prescribed Paxil, an anti-depressant, but did not consistently take the medication, said Judy Lopez, his mother.

Lovell murder-suicide shatters 2 families
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

LOVELL, Wyo. - Two families joined by marriage and grief struggled Tuesday to make sense of a shooting that left a husband and wife dead and two young children without parents.

Ongoing depression over the hardships of serving in Afghanistan and Iraq may have played a role in sparking the incident, said relatives of Steven D. Lopez.

An active-duty sergeant in the U.S. Army, Lopez, 23, shot his wife, Brenda Lee Davila, 22, before turning the gun on himself Monday afternoon.

"Our hearts go out so much for Brenda's family," said Daniel Lopez, Steven Lopez's father.

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Lovell murder-suicide shatters 2 families
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

LOVELL, Wyo. - Two families joined by marriage and grief struggled Tuesday to make sense of a shooting that left a husband and wife dead and two young children without parents.

Ongoing depression over the hardships of serving in Afghanistan and Iraq may have played a role in sparking the incident, said relatives of Steven D. Lopez.

An active-duty sergeant in the U.S. Army, Lopez, 23, shot his wife, Brenda Lee Davila, 22, before turning the gun on himself Monday afternoon.

"Our hearts go out so much for Brenda's family," said Daniel Lopez, Steven Lopez's father. "We can't even begin to - it's terrible. It's the ultimate pain, to lose a child, and it makes it so much worse to know your child took a life. We feel so bad for the other family," he said.

Outside Brenda Davila's Carmon Avenue residence Tuesday afternoon, her mother, Martha Davila, laid a single red rose on the concrete walkway leading from the sidewalk to the home.

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