LaVigne and Dumas were each scheduled to appear in court on unrelated cases in December and January, according to court records. How did the Uber driver react to the distress shown by 1LT Scanlon? a juror asked Tina. Green Beret and Army veteran found dead at Fort Bragg were facing But Scanlons unit, despite its distinguished pedigree going back to World War I, is a division of the conventional Army, which is kept separate from top-secret JSOC by high walls, both literal and figurative. So Leshikar's death remains in conflict. Four months before the night in question, Cumberland Countys Alcoholic Beverage Control received a tip from a police officer in Hope Mills, another satellite town of Fort Bragg, about a party occurring in downtown [Fayetteville] in which donations would be accepted, an ABC agent wrote in an affidavit attached to a warrant to search the warehouse and seize alcohol. As Rolling Stone reported in a previous piece, "The Fort Bragg Murders," in March 2018 right around the time that military prosecutors took control of Vallejo's trial Lavigne shot and killed a Green Beret in the living room of his house in Fayetteville without suffering the slightest legal consequences.". Lavigne was assigned. She said that when she opened the door, and her daddy was mad and walking towards uncle Billy and uncle Billy came around and shot him, and then my daddy did this, her family described. Dumass cause of death is listed as gunshot wounds to the chest and head.. I represented him in Cumberland County.. His truck, a black quad-cab Dodge Ram, was found some 40 miles away, in Scotland County, burned to a fucking crisp, according to his 24-year-old son. Leshikar's daughter said that William or Uncle Billy was scaring her, and unlocked the door for her father to enter, Leshikar's family said. William J. Lavigne II and Timothy Dumas, a veteran previously stationed at the post, were found dead at a training site on the base Wednesday afternoon. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History They didnt care with who. But the warehouse had no plumbing; there was only a portable toilet out back. Delta Force was chiefly formed by Charles Beckwith, an officer in the Green Berets and a veteran of the American war in Vietnam.He had served with the British SAS (Special Air Service) during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1963-66), when Indonesia opposed the formation of The Federation of Malaysia.. Guys like Vallejo and Lavigne are constantly told that theyre the elite, the best of the best, the ultimate badasses, and when it comes to killing and capturing people overseas, they are. North Carolina court records show that the sheriff and DAs office dismissed the charges every time. There were several people present, and the ABC officers learned that the men were military with security clearances. Out of deference to their service of our nation, the ABC officers let them off with a verbal warning. He took that and he always was the one who would protect people who were being bullied in school because he was a big man.. Investigators ask that anyone with information about the deaths of LaVigne and Dumas call the FBI Charlotte office at 704-672-6100 or Army CID at 910-396-8777. the deaths of Master Sgt. With Leshikar and Lavigne dead, there remains only one witness to the killing: Leshikar's daughter. Delta Force member found dead at Ft. Bragg training site had a dark past. It's like winning the lottery twice in a couple years, that's what these odds are.. But the instructions to the jury show that the judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, allowed the panel to consider Scanlons relationship with the staff sergeant insofar as it was probative of her motive, if any, to fabricate her allegations against the accused. The judge cautioned the panel that they were forbidden to conclude that Scanlon, having willingly slept with one enlisted man, was likely to do it again; but to use an old legal clich, that was a bit like throwing a skunk into the jury box and instructing the jurors not to smell it. The special operations community was rocked this week when the bodies of MSG Lavigne, a decorated Special Operator and Delta Force member, and Timothy Dumas an Army veteran were found in a . He was quietly court-martialed and acquitted. As soon as they said not guilty, my people just kind of quickly escorted me out.. Scanlons testimony was that she had told her special-victims counsel about seeing the Green Berets widow, albeit months after the fact, and that she had instructed the SVC to inform the prosecution of her belated recollection. He didnt let me get past him. As soon as it was over, Scanlon says, I jumped up and grabbed my shoes and ran inside to get my stuff. Leshikar's family alleged that Lavigne was never administered a toxicology screen to test him for alcohol or narcotics in his system following the shooting. It was a fundraiser to honor five slain Green Berets, hosted by some SF guys, Tina texted. They belonged to members of the Coast x Coast motorcycle club, made up of active-duty soldiers on Delta Force, a classified manhunting unit that is the Army component of JSOC. Erin Scanlon wants to go on the record again so that her alleged attacker is identified as Delta Force. What the prosecution has to say, you already know, she remembers the SVC telling her. The record states Dumas yelled police open the door after knocking. Are walking blood banks coming to a field hospital near you? The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office told Connecting Vets that it will not release the police report itself, which was written by police Sgt. Instead, everything was hushed up. Foul play suspected in deaths of sergeant and veteran at Fort Bragg I ask whether Cris Valley is in attendance. Even if Lavigne had been charged with or convicted of murder, says Col. Kazin of Army JAG, Vallejo would have had a constitutional right to call him as a witness, if he were in possession of relevant information. or Erin Scanlon, a junior Army officer in the artillery branch, Fort Bragg was a prime posting. The Cumberland County Sheriffs Office investigated and declared the death justifiable homicide.. The only entrance is hard to find and closed off by a chain-link gate. The body of Master Sgt. During a stretch of Janes military career, her social and professional circle overlapped with the five men, who made up the core of the motorcycle club, all active-duty soldiers on Delta Force. Were not staying more than 20 minutes, they agreed. Together they make up the core of JSOC, the black ops component of the military. She wasnt being truthful about her encounter with Cris Vallejo., They should not have allowed my lawyer to testify against me, Scanlon says. Investigators are seeking to create a timeline of. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. He transferred to Fort Bragg three years later to attend the JFK Special Warfare School, the completion of which entitles a soldier to wear a coveted green beret. Vallejo didnt use any form of contraceptive. William Lavigne II, 37, pictured above, was found in Fort Bragg on December 2. The bullet fragments under the carpet tell you this guy was shot while he was laying on the carpet incapacitated, he said. And I was in law enforcement for all of the years that he was growing up so I was very hard on my kids, tried to make them strong and independent. First Class Mark Leshikar . The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, Vallejo, dressed in camouflage cargo shorts and a T-shirt, was tall, lean, strong, and fiercely handsome, with a black beard and shaggy brown hair much longer than most soldiers get to wear. William J. Lavigne Wiki - William J. Lavigne Biography. "Hard drugs and murder in JSOC: "'We have a lot of Delta Force members in our community,' says Ballard, the police detective.'Some of them are really . When this happens, when you don't have the prosecution of the right guy, it's a string of human misery. According to the Leshikar family, the investigators said they had no real jurisdiction over Lavigne since Leshikar was killed off post. Leshikar began working on his car out in the driveway. It had been, in retrospect, a dark period in her life, she says, a damaging, booze-soaked run of years in her twenties. A third juror asked the nurse who did the rape kit, In your experience, is it abnormal for the victim to smile in an exam photo?, Scanlon was called in for the reading of the verdict. Only afterwards did I realize I didnt stand a chance.. As a criminal profiler, Ciolino has investigated and exonerated death row inmates. Her experience with the military-justice system illustrates the myriad difficulties faced by women in the overwhelmingly male armed forces who report being raped, and raises questions about the adequacy of the uniformed chain of command to protect the interests of victims of sex crimes allegedly committed by service members. On the point of leaving, Scanlon says she asked Vallejo where she could find the restroom. He was brought down to the sheriff's office the day he killed Leshikar, and a Delta Force member came to pick him up, according to Leshikar's family. Throughout the whole night he kind of acted like a celebrity, Scanlon says. He was originally set to be tried in civilian court, but Army prosecutors assigned to Special Forces swooped in at the last minute and caused the Cumberland County district attorney to drop the charges so that Vallejo could be tried by the military. At the time he met Scanlon, who was nearly 10 years his junior, Vallejo was a sergeant first class. He denies that Lavigne was ever into dealing any sort of narcotics. Once people started getting drunk, they would bust it out, and drunk girls would try it and get all hornied up. Its not even clear what agency, military or civilian, is investigating. For reasons that remain a mystery, Lavigne had pulled out the .40-caliber sidearm he carried and double-tapped his best buddy right in front of two horrified little girls, his daughter and Leshikars. Poppe says he cant recall the substance of Lavignes testimony, but discloses that after the court-martial concluded, he took him on as a client, too. What happened next remains disputed by the family members of both men, but the medical examiner's report reveals some details. Over the course of twenty years and thousands of missions, he's fought desperately for his life, rescued hostages, killed and . If her aim was to avoid disciplinary action or professional embarrassment, she could have simply said nothing and no one would have been the wiser. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't happen. It is a lot for a jury to make a decision like that, she says. Mostly doing the talking, that I remember, was Capt. But he couldnt really explain why the Army waited 16 months to intervene on the eve of the trial, rather than let civilian justice take its course. He was seven inches taller than her and 70 pounds heavier. Ms. Calls to Cumberland Country Sheriff's Office detectives to ask specific questions about the investigation went unanswered and the Sheriff's Office did not respond to requests for further comment. I didnt say anything when he did that. Maybe I wasnt clear enough, she texted a girlfriend at 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 12. I had no idea why they were making me decide this. The alleged perpetrator, Adel Anayat, eventually copped to a misdemeanor. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. As a senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Force, the most elite and secretive special operations unit in the U.S. military, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly fought some of this country's most fearsome enemies. The latter was for firing shots at a guy outside a crack house on Enloe Street in Fayetteville, a very serious offense, but Lavigne was not prosecuted for any of these crimes. This list of Delta Force members includes both current and former notable members of the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, a tier one special mission unit and part of Joint Special Operations Command. But I have accepted this new path. At the time the body was rolled no screw driver was found, the Medical Examiner's report states. He would also self medicate with Valium. LaVignes gray 2016 Chevrolet Colorado pickup was found at the crime scene in the woods off Manchester Road. In his statement to police later that day he said that Leshikar was acting paranoid and believed that they were being followed, and that their conversation was being listened to by a third party. They lived like there was no tomorrow., The relentless physical drive that she describes is part of what made these men the very best at what they did. More Human Remains Found on Fort Bragg | SOFREP Seeking to impeach Scanlons credibility and establish that she had tried to conceal the existence of an eyewitness, Poppe sought and obtained the SVCs testimony on this point. He just ambushed me, she says, repeating what she told Fayetteville police, according to the written report of the detective assigned to the case, Paul Matrafailo. Lavigne retained him while still under Army investigation into the shooting death of Leshikar, he says. 1st Class Mark Leshikar. I dont know how we survived., Jane was well-acquainted with the site known as Warehouse 13. Since he was tried by the military, a branch of the federal government, the double-jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution would not bar the state from prosecuting him all over again. She told me, I feel like I just got raped.. Thats what it felt like. After I gave my statement, the CID agents left the room. But I know they dont feel how I would feel if I shot somebody.. Finally, at the end of the first day of trial, she was allowed to step down. It was shocking, Scanlon told The Fayetteville Observer in 2019, and honestly a little bit unbelievable. (Attempts to reach Matrafailo by phone were unsuccessful.). Its unclear if he ever returned to Delta Force or what he did for his last three years in the military. Whether the friend also secured Lavigne's phone is unknown. A Defense Department memorandum noted that Lavigne wasn't credible but Leshikar's death was in the line of duty, while the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office described it as "justifiable homicide." Leshikar's family has alleged evidence was tampered with and that Lavigne called another Delta Force Operator to come to the scene. He had been in Delta Force. Scanlon lived off-post in an apartment in Fayetteville, a moody military town in the North Carolina pines just outside of Fort Bragg, the biggest Army base in the U.S. On the evening of Sept. 9, 2016, a friend of hers from the gym, a military wife whom Ill call Tina to protect her privacy, invited her to a charitable event at a barbecue restaurant and bar called Macs Speed Shop. At one point, while posing for a group photo, Vallejo grabbed my ass, Scanlon claims. A review of his uniform and decorations shows he was likely assigned to. First Class Mark Leshikar, two years prior. The girl then mimicking how her father collapsed to the floor. A guy whos in Delta Force would not be flashing his name around and having a nonprofit and partying at a bar. He was a resident of Pinehurst at the time of his death. PART OF AUDACY NEWS. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was found dead with another man at a training ground in Fort Bragg on Wednesday, December 2, 2020. 2023 Audacy, Inc. All rights reserved. List of Delta Force members - Wikipedia Dumass dark-colored 2015 Dodge Ram pickup was discovered abandoned somewhere else, the news release stated. I defaulted to what the USASOC prosecutor and the DA would decide, and consented to removal of the case to Fort Bragg, which resulted in an unanticipated four-month delay. She described Scanlons general demeanor as tearful.. None can be found referenced in available paperwork either. In local news reports, the shooter wasnt named. At age 37, William "Billy" Lavigne II was a true Tier 1 operator, a master sergeant on the Army's most selective and clandestine task force. Cumberland County sheriffs deputies named him as a suspect on incident reports for crimes including possession of cocaine and crack paraphernalia, weapons infractions, hit-and-run, harboring an escapee, maintaining a dwelling place to manufacture a controlled substance, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Master Sergeant. It turned into some sort of wrestling match, but what the argument was about remains unclear. Leshikar and Lavigne were also known to use cocaine, Leshikar's family said. She says he grilled her on the quantity of alcohol she had consumed, implying that inebriety had inclined her toward promiscuity. His death certificate states his last place of residence was in Hope Mills. We are only assisting. But Chris Grey, spokesman for CID, tells me, FBI is leading that investigation., On the third and final day of Vallejos court-martial, June 27, the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments. During this time, the two allegedly had an argument which then turned into a physical confrontation, according to a 1st Special Forces Command memorandum obtained by Connecting Vets. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. Leshikar's family allege evidence was tampered with and that Lavigne called another Delta Force Operator to come to the scene Credit: Facebook. Connecting Vets is not naming the Delta Force operator as attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and he may still work on sensitive assignments. In 2020, The New York Times, Associated Press, and CNN would cover the sexual-assault allegation against a Navy SEAL on a base in Iraq. Lavigne was a member of the Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The wars that Delta Force had been on the bleeding edge of since 2001 had deteriorated into lost causes, but the special-operations forces had completed their takeover-from-within of the military, becoming the paramount force in the Pentagon, with the most political clout in Washington. His dad and I divorced when he was not even a year old so he kind of stepped into those shoes as the protector. He learned to read and understand Arabic, but could not speak it. I knew him, Joe says of Lavigne. A spokeswoman for the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office said the 911 call for the Walkertown incident came it at 12:54 a.m. April 11, 2020, as an anonymous assault in progress. LaVigne was supposed to be in Cumberland County District Court on Jan. 15 for a Feb. 17, 2020, hit-and-run charge, court documents say. She looked up and saw Scanlon emerge from the warehouse and start toward the only outlet to the street, a narrow strip of dirt parallel to the train tracks. We all knew him, says Roy Lynn Parker, 35. One of the four Delta Force soldiers present that night was a 33-year-old from Michigan, Master Sgt. It was standard practice at the time, Col. Kazin says. This was 37-year-old William Lavigne III, a Master Sergeant and former 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (aka Delta Force) soldier. In August 2016 just two weeks before he met Scanlon he threw out the first pitch at a Padres game in San Diego. She Asked the Army to Investigate a Rape Trial. They Fired Her Vallejo is considered a ladies man and groupies hang out at the ware house [sic] looking for an opportunity to sleep with Mr. Vallejo. This, the detective noted, was according to an employee of the Fayetteville Police Department who had to recuse herself from the case because she herself had once spent the night at Vallejos apartment. They would have these epic parties, tailgate pool parties, where they would put a liner in the back of a truck and fill it up with water. On one occasion, they hired midget wrestlers to come out, she says. 1st Special Forces Command ruled that Leshikar's death was in the line of duty, and of no fault of his own. And every time Lavigne reoffended, the charges against him mysteriously vanished. He was a great dude. First Class Mark. A CID investigation reached the same conclusions as the sheriff's office, that Leshikar's killing was deemed justifiable. What the defense has to say, you dont want to hear. Timothy Dumas, Sr. and Master Sergeant William Lavigne Iii It was the last time they would ever speak. The detective told me, This guys active-duty, she recalls. Once out of uniform, Scanlon began to meet advocates, lawyers, and people knowledgeable about sexual assault in the military. Scanlon agreed to go on the record again, in greater detail, if you would be willing to reiterate that my perpetrator was Delta Force. On one occasion, she says, she had to hide in the bathroom after he walked into a tavern in Southern Pines. Because I had been in for 18 months. In 2020, she sued the Army in civil court for allegedly mishandling her case, but the lawsuit was blocked by the so-called Feres doctrine, established in 1950 by a Supreme Court decision that a broad range of legal scholars variously describe as archaic, unfair, irrational, unconscionable, and immoral. Lavigne then went into the home, and locked himself inside with both of their daughters, who were around five years old at the time. Around the same time, he went on a cross-country ride with the Coast x Coast motorcycle club, starting out of Los Angeles and bound for Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Hes vague about the shooting incident. None are able to say why the shooting took place, but they all remember Lavigne. She said that this friend got in his vehicle and was driving to Lavigne's house to help sort things out when he allegedly got a second, frantic phone call from Lavigne saying he had killed Leshikar. And hes sitting there decked out. LaVigne also was involved in other Cumberland County cases that never resulted in charges, records show. It is not clear how the men knew each other. Then, on Dec. 2, 2020, Lavigne turned up dead, shot multiple times in the chest, his body wrapped up as if for disposal, and placed in the back of his truck, which was left abandoned on a dirt road near Lake MacArthur. We drank so much, she says. Fort Bragg officials announced that the Master Sgt. The main one came back and said, Because it occurred in Fayetteville, we cant help you.. . The Army couldnt give Scanlon a transcript because no transcript ever existed. She lives a very different life and has no contact with the elite soldiers who had been her colleagues, friends, and lovers for the better part of a decade. It took her months to get a military protective order against him. Reached through his lawyer, Vallejo declined to comment for this story. Green Beret gunned down by his best friend, a Delta Operator This is a very secluded parcel, the fire marshal wrote in an email to the zoning department. On the afternoon of March 21, they arrived at Lavigne's home in the 1300 block of Anhinga Court in Fayetteville. The Coast x Coast Foundation raised $450,943 in tax-free contributions from 2016 to 2020, according to IRS records. For good reason: The person or persons who killed Lavigne and Dumas remain at large. A Defense Department memorandum based on the Cumberland County Sheriff's report revealed additional inconsistencies. Lavigne and Vallejo were on an altogether different level, one rarely touched by scandal. When questioned about the apparent inconsistencies in the Army's investigation and the Cumberland County Sheriff's investigation, USASOC spokesmen Col. Tage Rainsford said: It is my understanding that the CID investigation of MSG Lavigne came to the same conclusion as the Cumberland County Sherriffs Office in that it was justifiable and no charges were filed. First Class Mark Leshikar were best friends. On the way to the staff sergeants house, where shed spend the night, she looked at her phone and saw that Vallejo had sent her a text: How are you? While Leshikar's daughter has been able to grow and thrive despite a traumatic event, the rest of the family feels they have been cheated by the Army and the Sheriff's Office out of ever seeing justice served, especially after Lavigne's apparent homicide. In September 2021, I visit the crack house where the incident occurred, a run-down home on Enloe Street accessible by a dirt road that a spokeswoman for the sheriff describes as a known drug house. Seven or eight people are sitting on the stoop or standing around the driveway. Sketchy-looking, Scanlon describes it, comparing it to a rundown CrossFit gym, with a roll-up garage door, by a railroad track and a junkyard.. When Jane read that Lavigne had killed a man with impunity, only to be murdered in turn, I was trembling, she says, sitting out in the cold, chain-smoking. No screw driver or any weapon was found near SFC Leshikar's body, the memorandum states. Master Sgt. Female soldier slams military for clearing operator of raping her in Tina watched Vallejo walk up behind Scanlon, causing Scanlon to dart off, according to the statement Tina gave Matrafailo. Pentagon Finally Stops Hiding Military Overdose Epidemic, Senators Press Pentagon for Answers on Rash of Overdose Deaths, These Kids Are Dying Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg. And in North Carolina, there is no statute of limitations for rape. Only then did Scanlon learn the real identity of the man she knew as Cris Valley. But Castro cant say when that investigation began, why Scanlon felt that her initial complaint had been dismissed, or whether the recordings she mentioned still exist. Who told somebody to shut this down? Law enforcement later told Leshikar's family that they had found a screw driver, not at the scene of his death, but outside near his car where he had been removing the battery. Which is all I wanted to do: deploy with my soldiers. Out of fear that Vallejo [would try to] come looking for me, she wrote, she moved from Fayetteville to another small town nearby. The prosecution did not call Matrafailo, the Fayetteville detective who had investigated Scanlons claim, interviewed witnesses while their memories were fresh, collected evidence before it disappeared, and concluded by arresting Vallejo for second-degree rape. Other than that, he says, I dont think youre going to get any comment from anybody around here.. Master Sgt. I was Billys attorney, Poppe says. On Sept. 8, 2021, the Coast x Coast club holds a public event in Fayetteville, at their usual haunt, Macs Speed Shop. Im not doing this., She remembers being pinned against the grille of a vehicle, Vallejo putting his hands up her dress, into her underwear, and penetrating her with his fingers. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. He had a dudes brains on his boot, she says, and he just flicked it off, as if completely unfazed. They only stayed that long because Tina was famished and there was a Crock-Pot of food on a folding table. Werent there plenty of people you could have called out to? Though attorney-client privilege normally protects the SVC-client relationship, Judge Nance found that Scanlon had waived the privilege by including the prosecution in the supposed conversation with her SVC. No arrests have been made nearly five months after a Special Forces soldier and veteran were found dead Dec. 2, at Fort Bragg, an official said last week. As Jane puts it, They did what they wanted when they wanted, and wouldnt take no for an answer.. From the perspective of the Armys image-conscious leadership, the failure on the part of the press to catch wind of Vallejos court-martial was a lucky break. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. She filed a FOIA request for the transcript in 2019, and the Army gave her the trial record instead. This little black site of a party spot is situated directly across Worth Street from the Cumberland County jail, a no-drone zone that is the biggest law-enforcement facility in the county. Scanlon agonized over what to do next. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was., Well after midnight, with Paddys about to close down, Vallejo invited Scanlon and Tina to the after-afterparty at a place he called Warehouse 13. Thinking it was some kind of lounge or club, they took a cab to the location on Worth Street in downtown Fayetteville, only to find that it was literally a warehouse.