I looked at my daddy's face and I knew he was gone, the girl told her family members. Are walking blood banks coming to a field hospital near you? Finally, at the end of the first day of trial, she was allowed to step down. Now she demands answers, Illustration by Mike McQuade for Rolling Stone, Former Army Capt. The Special Forces of the U.S. Army are based out of Fort Bragg, as is the powerful and secretive Joint Special Operations Command, making this spot, inland of the Eastern Seaboard, the central. 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. A subsequent SOFREP investigation. It is not clear how the men knew each other. That is not accurate, a spokesman for Army CID, Jeffrey Castro, writes in a statement. Scanlon agreed to go on the record again, in greater detail, if you would be willing to reiterate that my perpetrator was Delta Force. 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. 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. In addition, according to USASOC, the court reporter deleted the audio. I followed her, the detectives notes of the conversation read. First Class Mark Leshikar . They only stayed that long because Tina was famished and there was a Crock-Pot of food on a folding table. The Army never made a transcript of the court-martial, and destroyed the audio recordings as soon as it concluded, leaving no record of the testimony the witnesses gave, the arguments the lawyers made, or the judges oral rulings. They outfitted the warehouse with couches, a full bar, foosball and ping-pong tables, a stripper pole, and something called a Sybian. I dont think there was an agenda there, says Col. Adam Kazin, chief of the Army JAG Corps criminal-law division. Like maybe Im making a bigger deal out of it than it was., It is not your fault, her friend responded, and it is a big deal., Monday morning I went into work, Scanlon says. After taking her statement and reviewing her text messages, Detective Matrafailo drove her the three blocks to the warehouse in an effort to identify the precise location. DELTA FORCE' S DIRTY SECRET 2022-01-04 - [ Cont. US report shows China taking steps toward space dominance, Biden to allow Afghans to stay longer in US, sources say, Michigan expands absentee voting for military members, Some companies charge hefty fees to help vets with disability claims, Meet 12M+, the new community app for military spouses, Your next tech and incoming AI | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 4.28.2023, Home Improvement Loans What are my options? One penetrated his neck and lodged in his back. Other than the one local-news blip on Vallejos arrest, the allegations against them remained confined to Fort Bragg. He was also suffering from a traumatic brain injury due to an improvised explosive device detonating near him, which was why he was assigned to a desk job at Fort Bragg. That was how they operated.. Parker says that Lavigne once gave him money to cover some court costs. First Class Mark Leshikar were best friends. 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. Consider the bombshell testimony that relieved ex-SEAL Eddie Gallagher of murder charges in 2019 or Trumps intervention in the Fort Bragg court-martial of Mathew Golsteyn, a Special Forces officer who admitted on live TV to killing an unarmed man. 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. Fort Bragg officials announced that the Master Sgt. In his heart, he was all for defending people who could not defend themselves, his mother said about her late son. He also called his mother that night and told her that he and his wife had decided to get alcohol out of their family, and that now he knew what he had to do to start getting clean and putting his life together. 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. Even with the rape kit and the testimony of witnesses like Tina, much would have hinged on Scanlons credibility. Even after her father dropped to the ground, he kept shooting. Because every man with a dark beard or a hat terrified me., But, the statement continued, I am strong. And hes sitting there decked out. Lavigne and a retired soldier named Anthony Dumas were found dead last year on Ft. Bragg, and now the FBI is involved in the investigation which is being treated as a homicide. At one point, while posing for a group photo, Vallejo grabbed my ass, Scanlon claims. He was a resident of Pinehurst at the time of his death. Master Sgt. Once at Lavigne's residence, Leshikar's family say the friend took Leshikar's phone. It was on a public docket, so people can go look it up, says Col. Kazin; however, it was not necessarily on everyones radar.. He was a really good mentor that I looked up to, she tells me recently. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. 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. So Marky just took everything, the pride in America that I have, she continued. Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. North Carolina court records show that the sheriff and DAs office dismissed the charges every time. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. According to Lavigne's statement to police, Leshikar began acting irrationally on the car ride back to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Most Delta Force soldiers keep a very low profile. It was drink, sex, drink, sex. Delta Force member found dead at Ft. Bragg training site had a dark past. I said, No, find someone else. Spouses, children, grandchildren, and on and on.. Lavigne later said in a statement to police he was removing the car's battery. However, documents say that Leshikar's wife Laura spoke with him that day and he sounded lucid to her. 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. 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. 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. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. He was charged with a felony for allegedly harboring an escapee. Which is why he became a Green Beret and why 'De Oppresso Liber' meant everything to him because that was who he was to his core.. 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. I dont think they go around on shooting sprees. In this video, we explore the mysterious case of Green Beret Mark Leshikar and Delta Force Member William Lavigne and the sus. Connecting Vets is not naming the Delta Force operator as attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and he may still work on sensitive assignments. 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. They would have been able to see from the many badges, patches, stripes, and braids on Vallejos embroidered blue coat that he was a military superstar, a veteran operator of the sort that all of USASOC exists to support. I remember hearing some shots. 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. While awaiting trial, Vallejo had stood down as an active-duty operator, attached to USASOC as an ignominious SURPLUS SLDR, according to his enlistment-record brief. I was Billys attorney, Poppe says. Master Sgt. LaVigne was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and had been in the Army for 19 years. The rest of the court-martial is a black box to her, because she spent it sequestered in the prosecutions witness room, which she says she was not permitted to leave. He was a great dude. The next morning, Scanlon went directly to the Womack Army Medical Center and underwent a sexual-assault forensic examination. Ciolino said he feels the daughter's statement is an accurate reflection of what appears in the medical examiner's report. Stateside they lived intense lives, too. I had no deployment stripes, Scanlon says. 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. "The shooter's own words bury his ass because there is no screw driver. As a criminal profiler, Ciolino has investigated and exonerated death row inmates. How coincidental is it? she says. From March 15 to 19, Leshikar and Lavigne were on vacation with their families at Disney World in Florida. The December 2020 deaths of Lavigne and. I was pushing him away saying no stop but I think by the time he got me back to the cars in the dark and he wouldnt stop so I just let him do it.. The doctrine, long a target of legislative reform, bars soldiers and sailors and Marines from recovering damages resulting from wrongful acts by the military. When Scanlon learns that the audio was destroyed, she unexpectedly breaks down in tears. He never denied having sex with Scanlon, but maintained that it was consensual. It's like winning the lottery twice in a couple years, that's what these odds are.. 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. It appears that a lot goes on here.. 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? He then allegedly forcibly penetrated her vagina with his penis against her will, Detective Matrafailo wrote in his report. Click hereto sign up for our weekly newsletter. Jane is out of the military now. She was the first witness called to the stand, on day one. . Both men were on active duty in Delta Force at the time. The detective told me, This guys active-duty, she recalls. "Mark and Billy had a brotherly relationship and (the second Delta operator) was the papa bear that put them in line, Leshikar's sister described. 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.. Vallejo, wearing his full-dress uniform, was seated at the defense table, next to his defense attorney, Kris Poppe, a former JAG prosecutor who previously served as an infantry officer. Shortly after she and Tina arrived at Macs the night of the fundraiser, Scanlon recognized the Coast x Coast clubs logo from a Facebook photo of her old ROTC mentor, the ex-Delta soldier, which made her implicitly trust Vallejo and his crew, she recalls. Its not even clear what agency, military or civilian, is investigating. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. 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. It seems he crashed there from time to time. Hes vague about the shooting incident. The tipster also indicated that drugs would be present, the affidavit attested. 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. LaVigne and Dumas were each scheduled to appear in court on unrelated cases in December and January, according to court records. soldier who had been accused of rape, and published his photo. But that didn't happen before his death this month. A spokeswoman for the FBI confirmed this month that the homicide investigation into the shooting deaths of Master Sgt. Scanlons SVC her fifth discouraged her from attending, she says. Subsequently, the Army swapped out her SVC four separate times. Now, she told him that she would be over shortly, and used her phone to order an Uber to take her there. . No screw driver or any weapon was found near SFC Leshikar's body, the memorandum states. Efforts to reach these people by phone were unsuccessful. 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. But I have accepted this new path. The next morning, she told the guy she was dating at the time that his buddy had raped her, but he didnt believe her, she says. Im not a police officer. It was not a decision to try to sneak it out of Cumberland County. The only purpose of convening the meeting with the DA, Col. Kazin says, was to make sure that the JAG prosecutors understood whether Scanlon preferred to have a military or civilian trial. William Billy Lavigne II, whose violent life and cryptic death in the woods outside of Fort Bragg I wrote about for Rolling Stone last year. And in North Carolina, there is no statute of limitations for rape. His first deployment was to Mali, in 2007. When this happens, when you don't have the prosecution of the right guy, it's a string of human misery. 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. And every time Lavigne reoffended, the charges against him mysteriously vanished. According to Vallejos enlistment-record brief, obtained by Rolling Stone, he was born in California and joined the Army shortly before 9/11, when he was 19. What the prosecution has to say, you already know, she remembers the SVC telling her. She accused a Special Forces operative of rape. The jury should have been brought to the location at night, she says. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. or Erin Scanlon, a junior Army officer in the artillery branch, Fort Bragg was a prime posting. Spokeswoman Christina Howell said she could not elaborate on the specifics of what happened because stories of individuals at the scene appeared to differ about why they were there and how they know each other, but that it did not appear to be a random incident. 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 in a statement. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. She was just five years old at the time of her father's death. Next came back-to-back tours in Iraq. 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. It was right around 3 a.m. My phone was being blown up by my friend [the staff sergeant] and the Uber driver, who was there trying to find me., Tina had gone out front to smoke a cigarette.