Whether the friend also secured Lavigne's phone is unknown. This experience led Beckwith to advocate for a similar unit in the US Army. I knew I would never find out what really happened that night, that her son had been killed. Her first SVC was at the meeting with the DA, but did not advise her that she might be better off pressing her case in civilian court. He was quietly court-martialed and acquitted. But the warehouse had no plumbing; there was only a portable toilet out back. The memorandum from 1st Special Forces Command written by an investigating officer appointed by the command, concluded that Lavigne was not credible. This was in violation of regulations that forbid fraternization, or close personal relationships between officers and enlisted soldiers, but as the staff sergeant wasnt in her unit or her chain of command, she thought of it as little more than a peccadillo. Either way, Scanlon was immersed in an unfamiliar process and taking her cues from military lawyers and the judge, all of whom outranked her. Ms. In local news reports, the shooter wasnt named. Delta Force MSG killed at Bragg - SCDUCKS.COM Are walking blood banks coming to a field hospital near you? It is something that has changed now, for exactly this reason. Between the summer of 2018 and the fall of 2020, Lavignes behavior became increasingly erratic and dangerous. Tina watched Vallejo walk up behind Scanlon, causing Scanlon to dart off, according to the statement Tina gave Matrafailo. They outfitted the warehouse with couches, a full bar, foosball and ping-pong tables, a stripper pole, and something called a Sybian. They even took his license plates off., Billy, we love you and will miss you, the Coast x Coast club posted to its Instagram page two days later. 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.. A sort of Delta Force biker gang that story wouldnt have been good for the Army, not at a time when the Navy was getting hammered by allegations of rampant drug abuse, fratricidal violence, and sexual assault in the ranks of its SEAL teams. Delta Force's Dirty Secret - Rolling Stone Leshikar's daughter said that, Uncle Billy was acting strange and that's why I let my daddy in, to the house. Lavigne was a member of the Coast x Coast club and a good friend of Vallejos. The DA treated the killing as a justifiable homicide and Lavigne was not charged with a crime. 1st Class Mark Leshikar. Werent there plenty of people you could have called out to? Connecting Vets reached out to members of Lavigne's family for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication. I said, No, find someone else. How coincidental is it? she says. 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. The jury should have been brought to the location at night, she says. Vallejo says the sex was consensual and was acquitted of all charges arising from the incident in a June 2018 court-martial on Fort Bragg. Other than the one local-news blip on Vallejos arrest, the allegations against them remained confined to Fort Bragg. LaVigne and Dumas were each scheduled to appear in court on unrelated cases in December and January, according to court records. Jane is out of the military now. No more than 10 minutes after arriving, Scanlon sent a text message to a 25-year-old staff sergeant, another soldier at Fort Bragg, whom she occasionally hooked up with. William LaVigne II, 37 Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. shooting Bragg In Other News Some companies charge hefty fees to help vets with disability claims William Lavigne III, 37, on Dec. 1-2. Sometimes it only happens because someone with a dog in the fight gets involved. The nurse who did the rape kit noted in her report that Scanlons eyes were red and her makeup was smeared. So Leshikar's death remains in conflict. To buttress his depiction of her as a woman on the prowl, he put up photos of her taken that night in which she was wearing a sleeveless dress with a short skirt, and texts between her and Tina joking about going out braless or commando., Isnt it true you were flirting with him? she recalls him asking. Only afterwards did I realize I didnt stand a chance.. Scanlon was on the stand for eight hours, she says. He was host of the event at Macs that night. There have not been any arrest(s) and we are not releasing any additional details at this time, Shelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Charlotte, said in an email this week. Over the course of 18 months between 2020 and 2021, more than 80 military members stationed at the base died from "sudden" and "unexplained" causes. A toxicology report revealed trace amounts of Tramadol and Valium in Leshikar's system. This would have been in violation of regulations that prevent the military from excluding crime victims from the trials of their alleged perpetrators, and USASOC says it didnt happen. I represented him in Cumberland County.. I was with them for years, constantly, she says. She yelled something unintelligible before disappearing. During this time, and the months to come, Scanlon was represented by an SVC, or special-victims counsel, a military-appointed attorney. And hes sitting there decked out. William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas deepens with the revelation that Lavigne was also involved in the death of Sgt. A news release from the FBI said investigators are looking to create a timeline of the locations and activities of Timothy Dumas Sr., 44, and Master Sgt. Just three months before he was called to the stand, in March 2018, at Lavignes house in Fayetteville, he had shot and killed his closest friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar, with whom he had been drinking and doing drugs for days on end during a family vacation to Disney World. Fort Bragg officials announced that the Master Sgt. The only entrance is hard to find and closed off by a chain-link gate. I wanted this all behind me.. 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. Hard drugs and murder in JSOC: "'We have a lot of Delta Force members William J. Lavigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44, as the two men found dead at a Fort Bragg training area on Wednesday. He loved weapons. Locklear shows me the spot where she says he once threw a knife into the trunk of a tree in the front yard, which is littered with hundreds if not thousands of cigarette butts. The December 2020 deaths of Lavigne and. Maybe I wasnt clear enough, she texted a girlfriend at 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 12. 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. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property . The offense was aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a class E felony that could have landed Lavigne in prison for years, but as usual, he wasnt charged with a crime. Arriving at the site in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2016, Scanlon and Tina were immediately creeped out by the griminess of the location. As the jury filed in, everyone stood. In this regard, Poppe says that she was a commissioned officer a lieutenant who got caught having sex in a compromising position with an enlisted man, Vallejo, technically her military inferior. 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. Im not a police officer. Scanlon had to order another Uber, as the first one had given up and driven off. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't happen. We are not granting interviews at this time., If you murder a guy who is one of your most elite soldiers in the world and no one gives a shit, it is bothersome, Ciolino said. The next morning, Scanlon went directly to the Womack Army Medical Center and underwent a sexual-assault forensic examination. The founder and CEO of the nonprofit is a 39-year-old man, Cristobal Lopez Vallejo, who goes by the alias Cris Valley. Since learning of Lavigne's death, Leshikar's daughter has opened up about it, saying she was previously afraid Lavigne would kill her mother if she spoke of it, Rick told Connecting Vets. No screw driver or any weapon was found near SFC Leshikar's body, the memorandum states. On one occasion, she says, she had to hide in the bathroom after he walked into a tavern in Southern Pines. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was found dead with another man at a training ground in Fort Bragg on Wednesday, December 2, 2020. The military had kept it quiet, though. Master Sgt. Going around chatting with people like a politician.. Now, she told him that she would be over shortly, and used her phone to order an Uber to take her there. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History He never denied having sex with Scanlon, but maintained that it was consensual. She was shaking, acting odd, pacing. Master Sergeant. Connecting Vets was provided screen shots of those charges and the court date. After I gave my statement, the CID agents left the room. Its very controlled, she says. I dont think they go around on shooting sprees. The Delta Force Operator Who Went Rogue - YouTube List of Delta Force members - Wikipedia 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. A spokesman for USASOC tells me that no transcript of the audio recordings of the trial proceedings was ever typed up because Vallejo was acquitted, so there was no possibility of an appeal. The Ft. Bragg Delta Force Murders: New Details Come to Light William J. Lavigne II, 37, was one of two men found dead Dec. 2, in a training area on Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said. Joseph Morman, Scanlon says. Three of four gunshots struck Leshikar, according to the ME report. Seven soldiers face charges after Fort Bragg trooper's severed head found The apparent lapse in memory had given Poppe an opening to hammer away at her credibility. 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. Do Delta Force operators have a license to kill? Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Theres no doubt that he was charged in Cumberland County, yet strangely, there is no trace of his arraignment or indictment in a publicly accessible database of North Carolina court records. You get everyone in for a forensic interview, get emails, social media and everything else in the next 48 hours. It is a lot for a jury to make a decision like that, she says. 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. 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. They were officers in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, assigned to the Special Forces. A CID investigation reached the same conclusions as the sheriff's office, that Leshikar's killing was deemed justifiable. The 200 Greatest Singers of All 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. It appears that a lot goes on here.. While justice for the apparent killings of Lavigne and Dumas has yet to be delivered, another family is also seeking justice, and speaking out about another killing in 2018 in which Lavigne was involved. Who told somebody to shut this down? Even with the rape kit and the testimony of witnesses like Tina, much would have hinged on Scanlons credibility. My granddaughter was so relieved that he was dead that she was crying, Mabey said. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. It wasnt really that dark out., I dont remember the precise questions that I asked her, Poppe says today, or what exhibits were introduced in evidence, but I remember the facts of the case, and the evidence supported that she consented to the sexual acts with Cris Valley.. Looking back on the court-martial, it was a solid case and my testimony was powerful, Scanlon says, but I was this lowly lieutenant up against Delta Force and USASOC and JSOC, and all that entails. But he was in JAG for 20 years and has represented such high-profile military clients as Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, and is unable to recall another time when a JSOC operator was arrested for a violent felony against a fellow soldier on U.S. soil, as was the case for both Lavigne and Vallejo. He gave me his card and invited us to go to the next bar with everyone., They exchanged phone numbers, and a group of about nine, led by Vallejo, relocated from Macs to a bar called Paddys, an over-the-top Irish pub out on Raeford Road that has a metal detector at the front entrance, bartenders in Scottish kilts, brass bathroom door handles cast with anatomical exactitude in the form of male genitalia, and urinals shaped like a womans mouth. 2023 Audacy, Inc. All rights reserved. Women made up the rest of the party: two young Army officers, the widow of a slain Green Beret, and a Las Vegas woman who belonged to a traveling company of women bartenders that dance and sing, according to her blog posts. Those deleted files were the only record of the testimony the jurors chose to believe over hers. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. It seems he crashed there from time to time. At the time the body was rolled no screw driver was found, the Medical Examiner's report states. A guy whos in Delta Force would not be flashing his name around and having a nonprofit and partying at a bar. She has photos to prove that she knew them. In this video, we explore the mysterious case of Green Beret Mark Leshikar and Delta Force Member William Lavigne and the sus. 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. ICYMI episode: The slaying of Special Forces soldier Mark Leshikar Most Delta Force soldiers keep a very low profile. She felt the implication was clear: Obviously youre a liar.. 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. It didnt necessarily mean they didnt believe me. Unfortunately, her experience with the military-justice system greatly set back her career, and would overshadow her whole time in the Army. Special Forces soldier, Army veteran found dead on Fort Bragg were shot There are no coincidences in life like this. What the prosecution has to say, you already know, she remembers the SVC telling her. William Lavigne and Timothy Dumas were found dead at a training site on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The death certificates say the two men were found about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 2, in the woods on Fort Bragg. Because otherwise I would not be using a port-a-potty., She went outside and crossed the blacktop to where the toilet was set up against the exterior wall of a metal building. I knew about Mark's drugs, I knew about Billy's drugs, Leshikar's mother said. This is why people don't have any faith in the justice system, Ciolino continued. 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. Additionally, Lavigne never stated or implied that he moved the screw driver or any weapon after shooting SFC Leshikar.. As Jane puts it, They did what they wanted when they wanted, and wouldnt take no for an answer.. William Lavigne II, 37, pictured above, was found in Fort Bragg on December 2. Scanlon says reporting the alleged attack, and the subsequent ordeal, hurt her military career. I was pissed that another obstacle had gone up, she says. Vallejo didnt use any form of contraceptive. There is zero respect for women in that community, she says. Why didnt you tell anyone about the witness that came around the corner? she remembers him asking. We drank so much, she says. It was the last conversation he would have with his mother. 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. The examination revealed multiple small lacerations on her vulva, as well as a contusion and four scratch marks on her left flank and lower back, from the hood of the car. It was him and Maj. Stacey Cohen.. The third was a superficial grazing wound across the left side of his neck, the bullet arching at a 45-degree downward angle, the bullet passing from back to front. I had to get shots and blood drawn to get tested for STDs so many horrible times. Constant appointments with lawyers, detectives, investigators, and advocates had disrupted her military career, and caused her to miss out on her units 2017 deployment to Iraq. His first deployment was to Mali, in 2007. 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. On the point of leaving, Scanlon says she asked Vallejo where she could find the restroom. Officials have identified Master Sgt. Money Minute, What's next for experimental AI projects in the C4ISR sphere. Its possible that it was expunged, a clerk tells me. Other than that, he says, I dont think youre going to get any comment from anybody around here.. You want to think theyre not comparing?, According to Scanlon, Poppes initial line of questioning was not subtle. The second man, whose name was not disclosed, was an army veteran previously stationed at the North Carolina military base. More Human Remains Found on Fort Bragg | SOFREP The trial record shows that the prosecution called only four more witnesses, half as many as the defense. He was taught how to survive behind enemy lines, resist interrogation, and escape from POW camps. Each year, they hold a string of events in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia, where they sell merchandise, take donations, and raffle off items such as bottles of wine printed with portraits of fallen Delta Force soldiers, concealed-carry holsters, and pistols painted in the colors of the American flag. The tipster also indicated that drugs would be present, the affidavit attested. None can be found referenced in available paperwork either. First Class Mark Leshikar, two years prior. It was a fundraiser to honor five slain Green Berets, hosted by some SF guys, Tina texted. But I have accepted this new path. She wasnt being truthful about her encounter with Cris Vallejo., They should not have allowed my lawyer to testify against me, Scanlon says. 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. No awards. But pressing this line of inquiry served a clear ulterior purpose, Scanlon says: Trying to slut-shame me, and say that I did that all the time.. At the time, he was so depressed, anxious, guilt-stricken, and strung out on drugs that its a wonder he was able to put on his full-dress uniform that morning. When her contract was up in 2019, she resigned from the Army. 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? Lavigne was due in Cumberland County District Court next week in connection with a hit-and-run charge from last February, the newspaper reported. (U.S. Army) I knew him, Joe says of Lavigne. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. Alycia Stokes written testimony read. In his mug shot, Vallejo appeared freshly shaved, his beard gone. In September 2021, almost 20 years to the day that he joined the Army, he held a retirement party in Colorado, where he now lives, not far from where he began his military career, at Fort Carson. He spent 20 years in the most secretive and elite unit in the U.S. military, the U.S. Army's Delta Force. She passed a covered motorcycle trailer with a looming portrait of a slain Delta Force soldier printed on the side. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. Former Commander of Delta Force from 1985 to 1989. Connecting Vets is not naming the Delta Force operator as attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and he may still work on sensitive assignments. She attained the rank of captain, but the missed deployment, the transfers between units, and the stigma that attaches to female soldiers who report being raped all the gossipy, nontangible ways, she says, that marks you out as a problem child diminished her prospects of advancement. Helicopters crashed in mountains, fair weather, Army says, Army Special Ops Command welcomes first female command sergeant major, Army identifies 3 soldiers killed in Alaska helicopter crash, Army grounds helicopter fleet for force-wide safety stand down. My testimony was so long and painful. Throughout, she rigidly refused to make eye contact with Vallejo or even look at his side of the courtroom. The police were called, and Vallejo left without incident. Homicide case unsolved for Bragg Special Forces soldier and veteran Click hereto sign up for our weekly newsletter. Mostly doing the talking, that I remember, was Capt. I was resolved to be stoic no matter what, because I knew I had stood up for myself as much as possible. According to Lavigne's statement to police, Leshikar began acting irrationally on the car ride back to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Delta Force member found dead at Ft. Bragg training site had a dark past. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was. (Phyllis B. Dooney for Rolling Stone). By the time of Vallejos trial, it was clear that the Army had missed a chance to intervene in the boundary-pushing, motorcycle-borne debauchery of the Coast x Coast club as early as September 2016, when Scanlon went to CID and alleged that Vallejo had raped her behind their un-permitted clubhouse in downtown Fayetteville, which just happens to be adjacent to the county jail, a building full of cops. Army investigators with CID had initially washed their hands of the case, but the two JAG prosecutors, Morman and Cohen, claimed to have only belatedly learned that the victim and defendant were both soldiers, which gave the military parallel jurisdiction to try Vallejo. 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. . He always had something in his hand, Locklear says. That would have been enough, Poppe argues, to spook Scanlon into making a false accusation of rape, lest word get out and she be reprimanded for fraternization. When Scanlon learns that the audio was destroyed, she unexpectedly breaks down in tears. Then, on Sept. 1, 2018, Lavigne was charged with felony harboring an escapee and maintaining a vehicle or dwelling to manufacture a controlled substance. Justice is a very elusive thing, it moves around like air. He was a really good mentor that I looked up to, she tells me recently. This Week on SOFREP: A Delta Operator Found Dead, Russian Mercenaries I remember hearing some shots. For good reason: The person or persons who killed Lavigne and Dumas remain at large. 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. Scanlons SVC her fifth discouraged her from attending, she says. The hard-partying antics of the Coast x Coast club could certainly be seen as a manifestation of that sort of attitude, a sense of exemption from ordinary strictures and petty rules. 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. The police department promptly fired Matrafailo, who had allegedly done the same to two other alleged rape victims. A major weakness for the defense was Scanlons apparent absence of a motive to fabricate a rape claim, complete with a trip to the hospital and all. They said Lavigne's harboring a fugitive felony charge could be used to kick him out of Special Forces and discharge him from the military. I also recently reported on a very dark story, about a Delta Force operator named William Lavigne shot and killed his best friend, a Green Beret named Mark Leshikar. William J Lavigne II, 37, was identified as one of two men found dead at a Fort Bragg training area Credit: Army 4 Sgt First Class Mark Leshikar's family have now said Lavigne, 37, allegedly shot Leshikar dead during a heated argument The body of Master Sgt. Delta Force operator found dead on Ft. Bragg had a dark past - Audacy Delta Force operator Lavigne had claimed that 33-year-old Leshikar, with whom he had been good friends, came at him with a screwdriver. Someone might easily have connected the rape case to the unexplained shooting of a Green Beret by a fellow Special Forces soldier three months earlier. Special Forces soldier found dead next to Army vet at Fort Bragg Additional abrasions were found on his left hand and both knees. Shes troubled by the memory of a night in 2012, when she woke up after having passed out drunk to find a man she knew having sex with her without her consent, she says. It was a warm night in the Carolinas, with a quarter-moon in the sky. Leshikar began working on his car out in the driveway. 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. So who did, and why? I will keep fighting to put my life back together. Thats a significant omission, because Scanlons case is also a signal example of another systemic issue in the military: the entitled attitudes and hard-partying lifestyles of some elite soldiers more than two decades into the war on terrorism; the apparent breakdown in good order and discipline in the Special Forces in recent years, with rising instances of alleged criminality among Green Berets and Navy SEALs; and the special treatment often accorded to special operators by civilian and military law enforcement in and around Fort Bragg. What happened next remains disputed by the family members of both men, but the medical examiner's report reveals some details. He was a broken operator, a worn-out military part, destroyed by PTSD and substance abuse. In September 2015, he went on the Fox affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a military dog named Gunner. He maintains that Scanlon and Vallejo were witnessed in the act by people at the warehouse that night. Seven soldiers face charges after Fort Bragg trooper's - Reddit The location was well-known, though, to other municipal authorities, who suspected it of being an illegal bar and a fire hazard, according to internal emails between city and county officials that I obtained.