16 y/o girl found dead in Army barracks

[malq]

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another girl was found unconscious in an Army barracks at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, during the weekend, a base spokesman said Monday.

"Neither of the two women had any outward signs of trauma on them," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.

He said that an Army solider who was "allegedly an acquaintance" of the two 16-year-olds was questioned by investigators, but no arrests had been made.

The spokesman said the name and rank of the soldier who had been questioned was not being released.

According to an Army news release, the names of the two girls "are not being released due to their ages, their civilian status, and the nature of the ongoing investigation."


The Fort Lewis Criminal Investigation Division is trying to determine why the two girls were in the barracks, where soldiers live, and what led to their conditions when they were found.

Emergency personnel from the base responded to a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and found the two girls in one of the barracks. A doctor declared one of the girls dead on the scene, and the second girl was transported to Madigan Army Hospital, where she was in stable condition Monday.

The Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy, Piek said, and it will be at least a week before results are complete.

Both girls are from the nearby South Puget Sound area but were not related to anyone living on base, Piek said. Both girls' families had been notified, he said.

Although Fort Lewis is not open to civilians, they can be escorted in by a soldier living there if they have identification and a reason for coming onto the facility.

The circumstances of how the girls came unto the base are under investigation, Piek said, but there was no evidence that security had been compromised.

About 30,000 military personnel are based at Fort Lewis. Barracks where soldiers live are usually split into rooms for one to three soldiers, Piek said. Details about the barracks where the girls where found were not released.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/17/washington.barracks.death/index.html
Good luck getting updates on this from the military.
Those boys are in a heap of doo doo

[DarkPrincess]

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another girl was found unconscious in an Army barracks at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, during the weekend, a base spokesman said Monday.
"Neither of the two women had any outward signs of trauma on them," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.
He said that an Army solider who was "allegedly an acquaintance" of the two 16-year-olds was questioned by investigators, but no arrests had been made.
The spokesman said the name and rank of the soldier who had been questioned was not being released.
According to an Army (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/u_s_army) news release, the names of the two girls "are not being released due to their ages, their civilian status, and the nature of the ongoing investigation."


http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/17/washington.barracks.death/index.html

[Kitty]

http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13840

Double post.. rough when there's no names.. :hello:

[DarkPrincess]

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk128/Elenea7/shit-2.jpg

[Special2bme]

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another girl was found unconscious in an Army barracks at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, during the weekend, a base spokesman said Monday.

"Neither of the two women had any outward signs of trauma on them," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.

He said that an Army solider who was "allegedly an acquaintance" of the two 16-year-olds was questioned by investigators, but no arrests had been made.

The spokesman said the name and rank of the soldier who had been questioned was not being released.

According to an Army news release, the names of the two girls "are not being released due to their ages, their civilian status, and the nature of the ongoing investigation."

The Fort Lewis Criminal Investigation Division is trying to determine why the two girls were in the barracks, where soldiers live, and what led to their conditions when they were found.

Emergency personnel from the base responded to a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and found the two girls in one of the barracks. A doctor declared one of the girls dead on the scene, and the second girl was transported to Madigan Army Hospital, where she was in stable condition Monday.

The Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy, Piek said, and it will be at least a week before results are complete.

Both girls are from the nearby South Puget Sound area but were not related to anyone living on base, Piek said. Both girls' families had been notified, he said.

Although Fort Lewis is not open to civilians, they can be escorted in by a soldier living there if they have identification and a reason for coming onto the facility.

The circumstances of how the girls came unto the base are under investigation, Piek said, but there was no evidence that security had been compromised.

About 30,000 military personnel are based at Fort Lewis. Barracks where soldiers live are usually split into rooms for one to three soldiers, Piek said. Details about the barracks where the girls where found were not released

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/17/washington.barracks.death/index.html



SORRY I SEE THIS IS A DOUBLE POST, MY MISTAKE!

[RaVen Blackehart]

.

[weavergroupie]

Holy crap! I wish there were more details.

[jenthgr8]

Hopefully more details will emerge once the autopsy is complete. How sad.

[malq]

http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13840
double post, this is the 3rd or 4th. This one has been hard not to double post because there are no names yet. :)

[Special2bme]

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo35/Special2bme/M_IMAGE11f5fb263469388fad02b2cc6bf.jpgLeah King FORT LEWIS, Wash. – The case of a 16-year-old civilian girl who died at a Fort Lewis barracks was possibly drug-related, Army investigators say.

Chris Grey, a spokesman at the Criminal Investigation Command headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Va., wouldn't specify Wednesday what drug or drugs may have been involved. Toxicology results from are not expected for at least a week.

Grey said the dead girl, identified as Leah King, and another 16-year-old civilian girl who was found passed out at 3:30 a.m. Sunday were acquainted with a soldier in the barracks.

The surviving girl was in stable and improving condition Wednesday at Madigan Army Medical Center, said Joseph J. Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

"Once she is in a state that she can be interviewed by the Criminal Investigation Division, I'm sure the investigators will do so to gather the facts about what the girls were doing on post," Piek said.

King was a sophomore at Lakes High School in Lakewood. She had dropped out in the fall and just re-enrolled this month.

The Army is investigating what the girls were doing in the barracks, but the presence of the two civilian girls in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies. Civilians entering and leaving the base are supposed to be carefully tracked.

A Fort Lewis spokesperson said a soldier has been questioned, but not arrested.

“It's a very tragic event and their being there is rather unusual and so we are looking at that. We are reviewing our policies and our procedures already with regard to civilians being on post,” said Piek.

Classmates of the girl who died say lots of students go to the base to party with soldiers.

Maranda Mackmer, a senior at Lakes High School, went to a barracks party when she was 14.

"I knew there'd be alcohol and there was like rooms full of alcohol," she said.

She went to make sure her friend was safe, and was glad she did because she says the soldiers encouraged them to drink.

"We ended up getting caught, because there was some 'staff duty.' They made us sign a paper saying the soldiers didn't hurt us and they bought us a taxi home," she said.

According to base policy, visitors to the barracks under the age of 18 must be with their parents or guardians. The military says they're investigating to see if that rule was broken. http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_021809WAB-AP-fort-lewis-death-wed-SW.2a8b1f8f.html

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The episode raised questions from the surrounding community about not only the issue of minors on post, but about Fort Lewis' overall security.

"How is security on the base, really?" asked Charlie Parrez, a bartender who works at a lounge outside the post that's popular with soldiers. "How did two minors get onto Fort Lewis and then get into a barracks?"

Business people outside the post say it's not uncommon for them to see a girl climbing into the trunk of a soldier's car in a parking lot before driving on to the post.

"So could a terrorist slip in the same way?" asked a local business owner who declined to be named.

A retired sergeant said he often drove onto the base with his daughter or grandson without anyone asking them to show ID or sign in.

"They're just waving people in," he said. "It's not unusual for a girl to get in, because you don't have to sign them in."

In contrast, he said, visitors at McChord Air Force Base are stopped at the gates and ordered to get a time-limited pass before proceeding.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/400441_fortlewsi18.html
It's not uncommon for teenage girls to approach young soldiers and be brought onto Fort Lewis where one teenage girl died over the weekend and another was hospitalized, according to a store owner near the base.

The manager of a dry-cleaning store a short distance north of the fort said she's seen teenage girls go car-to-car asking for a ride onto the base.

"It's easy for them to get on the post. It happens all the time. They want to get on base and see the young GIs," said Maria Dibbens, manager of Plaza Cleaners.

Dibbens said anyone with a Washington identification is allowed on the post if they are sponsored by someone in the military. She said she often sees teenage girls approaching uniformed military men in the parking lots of a convenience store and a service station across the street from her shop.

"It happens more in the summer," Dibbens said. "Sometime you see them get into the trunk of a car."

When asked Monday if it was a common occurrence for underage girls to gain access to the base, Fort Lewis spokesman John Norgren said he wasn't aware that it was, but that the investigation will be a chance to determine what corrective measures may be needed to ensure that it doesn't happen in the future.

"A review of installation policies and procedures is already under way," according to a news release issued by Fort Lewis.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008752615_webfortlewis17m.html

I think the Air Force must be tougher on this than the Army. When I was up at Eielson AFB everyone in the car over age 10 (12?) had to have ID. If you did not have military ID, you had to go in and get a pass. Even at the Air Guard base here, you do not get in without ID.

[Spitfire77]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/400441_fortlewsi18.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008752615_webfortlewis17m.html

I think the Air Force must be tougher on this than the Army. When I was up at Eielson AFB everyone in the car over age 10 (12?) had to have ID. If you did not have military ID, you had to go in and get a pass. Even at the Air Guard base here, you do not get in without ID.

The AF is tougher than the Army. Pope AFB, which is connected to Bragg, is the same way as Eielson, you have to physically go into the visitors building to get a pass to go through the gate, even if you're with military ID'd folks. But you just have to have an ID to get on Bragg, and if you're not with a military ID'd person, you have to have your vehicle searched.

[Nell]

Leah Kings MySpace~ http://www.myspace.com/spazypantsleah

[Jaded]

A 19-year-old Fort Lewis soldier has now been charged in the drug overdose death of a 16-year-old girl at the post's barracks on Feb. 15.

Private Timothy Bennitt faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and wrongful distribution and use of controlled substances.

On Feb. 15, medics found two teens, both 16, unresponsive in the barracks around 3:30 a.m. Leah King was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other was rushed to Madigan Army Medical Center. The surviving teen was treated and discharged a few days later. She has not been identified.

Investigators say Bennitt, of Rolling Prairie, Ind., provided Leah with the prescription pain killer Opana and anti-depressant Xanax. The pills were then crushed, mixed together, and snorted with a dollar bill, investigators said.

The pills are designed to release their effects over time, but when snorted, it had a toxic effect, investigators said.

Both girls are from the south Puget Sound area and are not military dependents.

Military investigators say Bennitt is also being investigated for distributing drugs to other soldiers prior to this incident, including giving Xanax, Opana, Percocet, and marijuana.

If convicted on all counts, Bennitt would be dishonorably discharged and could be sentenced for up to 82 years in a military prison.

At the moment, Bennitt remains with his unit, where he is a heavy construction equipment operator as part of the 555th Engineer Brigade. A magistrate will decide later Tuesday whether Bennitt will be jailed pending trial.

Since Leah's death, Fort Lewis has made changes to how it allows minors on post. Now, all minors must sign in at the Fort Lewis Visitor's Center, and could be denied access if staff members determine they have no legitimate reason for being at Fort Lewis.

Security personnel have also increased random checks of entering vehicles, and there will be increased checks of barracks.
http://www.katu.com/news/41043067.html

[TheMorningStar]

82 years in a military prison
Nice.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

[...]
Once inside the barracks, Bennitt gave King some prescription drugs he had bought that night, according to Army charging papers. The pills then were crushed into a powder that King inhaled through a rolled-up dollar bill, the Army said.

[...]
Col. John Robinson said the Army is still investigating Bennitt's alleged role as a drug distributor at the post. The Army says he distributed alprazolam, an anti-anxiety and anti-depression drug marketed as Xanax; oxymorphone, a pain reliever similar to morphine; oxycodone, also a pain reliever; and marijuana.

Army charging papers allege Bennitt has dealt drugs at or near the Army post since October.

Robinson thinks Bennitt is among a handful of soldiers abusing drugs at the post. While no one else has been charged in connection with drug abuse, an investigation into illegal drug use in the barracks is ongoing.

Robinson said Bennitt failed a random urine test in January. When King was found dead, Bennitt's commanders were still deciding how to punish him for the failed test, Robinson added.

Bennitt's criminal prosecution will begin with an Article 32 hearing, which is when the charges against him will be presented to an investigating officer, who will recommend whether to proceed with a court-martial. An Article 32 hearing is the military's version of a civilian grand jury.

[...]
Robinson said "at this point we think we have taken the appropriate actions" to keep minors out of the barracks. He said the Army has to maintain a balance between "the appropriate level of security" and maintaining freedom for soldiers and their families.

"This is not a prison; it's a military installation," Robinson said.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008838917_fortlewisdeath10m.html

Court Documents (PDF): http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattle911/library/fort_lewis_charges.pdf

[Jaded]

Her boyfriend, Private Timothy Bennitt

http://i44.tinypic.com/59srkj.jpg

[Shizz]

Fucking took someone dying for them to change how they handle minors on site. Classy.

[Harley_Tech]

Her boyfriend, Private Timothy Bennitt

http://i44.tinypic.com/59srkj.jpg

Fucking SlopeHead

R

[silvahalo68]

I wonder if these girls were telling their parents they were at so and so's house to cover their story. I know I used to do that as some of us used to go with others to Fort Bliss. Once I had to walk home as the girls I went with got busy with some of the soldiers, drinking and well, stuff. I wouldn't put out and figured I should get the hell out of there...long fucking walk.

I'm sure there were some parents that didn't even care their child was out somewhere doing god knows what.

So tragic.

http://i43.tinypic.com/20gdz77.jpg