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. On Dec. 2, 2020, Master Sgt. 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. 10 Facts About Secretive US Army Unit Delta Force | History Hit In August 2016 just two weeks before he met Scanlon he threw out the first pitch at a Padres game in San Diego. Scanlon and Vallejo both continued to live in Fayetteville and work on Fort Bragg. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was found dead with another man at a training ground in Fort Bragg on Wednesday, December 2, 2020. 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. How coincidental is it? she says. He came with us, rode the ride. No reporters attended the subsequent court-martial, and no transcript was made of the proceedings. Im still spooked. She read USASOCs statement in The Fort Bragg Murders that some unspecified adverse administrative action had been pending against Lavigne at the time of his death. What the defense has to say, you dont want to hear. In addition, according to USASOC, the court reporter deleted the audio. 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. No, Joe says. Scanlon maintains that her case was mishandled. They were officers in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, assigned to the Special Forces. There are a dozen-plus local-news hits under his Anglicized name, Cris Valley, and a simple Google search turns up numerous photos and videos of him. According to Lavigne's statement to police, Leshikar began acting irrationally on the car ride back to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Did it disappear or melt? Four .45-caliber shell casings were found at the scene. Lavigne and Sgt. William Lavigne III, 37, on Dec. 1-2. A CID investigation reached the same conclusions as the sheriff's office, that Leshikar's killing was deemed justifiable. He always had something in his hand, Locklear says. Another struck hit him in his right side. The tipster also indicated that drugs would be present, the affidavit attested. Scanlon went to the Fayetteville police the next day. 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. First Class Mark. 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. 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. A source familiar with Army Special Operations told Connecting Vets that Delta Force operators use proprietary encryption software on their phones for day-to-day work related calls and text messages. She vividly recalls the day that one Delta soldier, a Coast x Coast guy (neither Vallejo nor Lavigne), came in from an operation outside the wire. I held really, really tightly to my [family members] hands and stared straight ahead, she says. In his heart, he was all for defending people who could not defend themselves, his mother said about her late son. . 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. Scanlon and Tina arrived at Macs shortly before 10 p.m. A number of motorcycles were parked out front. Delta Force operator Lavigne had claimed that 33-year-old Leshikar, with whom he had been good friends, came at him with a screwdriver. Erin Scanlon wants to go on the record again so that her alleged attacker is identified as Delta Force. Special Forces soldier found dead next to Army vet at Fort Bragg Only afterwards did I realize I didnt stand a chance.. Let me know when your [sic] home safe. To this he appended a heart emoji and a kissy-face. She was shaking, acting odd, pacing. In February 2019, Lavigne had another brush with the law. The certificates dont indicate how long the bodies were in the woods. 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. I think Ian, he said Will shot at him. As a result, she says, she had to retell her ordeal to five different SVCs, some of whom were unprepared or missed meetings. This is classic, let's cover it up. Leshikar and Lavigne were also known to use cocaine, Leshikar's family said. Female soldier slams military for clearing operator of raping her in On the point of leaving, Scanlon says she asked Vallejo where she could find the restroom. Over those five years, it paid out grants totaling $187,143. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Two men found dead at Fort Bragg identified as USASOC - Army Times 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. He had entered a plea of not guilty. Connecting Vets reached out to members of Lavigne's family for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication. Alycia Stokes written testimony read. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 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. She wasnt credible, Poppe says. 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. That is not accurate, a spokesman for Army CID, Jeffrey Castro, writes in a statement. Leshikar was a member of 19th Special Forces Group and had previously deployed to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He was not a quiet professional, she says, using a term that special-operations generals came up with in the 1980s to describe themselves, and since repeated endlessly in the news media. Other than that, he says, I dont think youre going to get any comment from anybody around here.. Hes in JSOC.. The Army couldnt give Scanlon a transcript because no transcript ever existed. Special Forces soldier found dead next to Army vet at Fort Bragg Stateside they lived intense lives, too. Lavigne and Vallejo were on an altogether different level, one rarely touched by scandal. 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. Attempts to reach these people by phone were unsuccessful, but pretrial filings show that at least two of them were summoned to buttress Vallejos defense of consent. 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. Dumass cause of death is listed as gunshot wounds to the chest and head.. Rick described her brother's friend as a good and honorable man, although she is concerned with some of his actions that day. 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. I will keep fighting to put my life back together. This experience led Beckwith to advocate for a similar unit in the US Army. This industrially zoned property, which Vallejo rented from a chemical company, is cut off from any obvious street access, being surrounded on all three sides by train tracks, storage buildings, and scrap yards. It was on a public docket, so people can go look it up, says Col. Kazin; however, it was not necessarily on everyones radar.. Billys about to be questioned, or face some sort of retribution. Special Forces Command decided he died in the line of duty, while the local sheriff's office ruled his death a justifiable homicide, all while Lavigne, continued his work with Delta Force. That August, two investigators, Maj. Brent Goodwin and Arthur Chancellor from CID, paid a visit to the Leshikar family. Going around chatting with people like a politician.. I would refer you to CID for anything having to do with any of their investigations. One penetrated his neck and lodged in his back. 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. Joseph Morman, Scanlon says. No unit patch. Scanlon was not excluded from the proceeding, a spokesman wrote in a statement. Lavigne later said in a statement to police he was removing the car's battery. "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. 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. After that, she put up no more physical resistance. I remember hearing some shots. That night he shattered my whole world, the statement read. Training program helps transitioning service members build their VA careers, 2 US Army helicopters crash in Alaska, killing 3 soldiers, Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner tells Glennon Doyle she is 'afraid of her mental health', Half million PACT Act claims have been filed at VA as budget battle looms, Honoring survivors of military sexual trauma. Now she demands answers, Illustration by Mike McQuade for Rolling Stone, Former Army Capt. Mr. But I have accepted this new path. Master Sgt. But Scanlon didnt get caught with the staff sergeant, nor with Vallejo. None are able to say why the shooting took place, but they all remember Lavigne. Nances legal reasoning may have been sound, but it still resulted in a rape counselor providing testimony against her own client at trial, a result that another judge might have bent over backward to avoid. RIP, bro., One year later, the authorities have identified no suspects, arrested no perpetrators, and disclosed nothing about the evidence theyve gathered to date. 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. A spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said the investigation continues into the deaths of Master Sgt. Master Sgt. 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. I said, No, find someone else. 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 . 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. That was a crazy ethical mistake.. In his mug shot, Vallejo appeared freshly shaved, his beard gone. At the time Lavignes path crossed Scanlons, his cocaine habit was firmly established, but he remained a team member in good standing on Delta Force, and still had a clean arrest record in Cumberland County. 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. No screw driver or any weapon was found near SFC Leshikar's body, the memorandum states. 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 node in the United States global special-operations complex. Scanlon derisively refers to the latter four as groupies. A Fayetteville police detective used the same language in his report on her case. 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. William F. Garrison: Retired Major General. Between the summer of 2018 and the fall of 2020, Lavignes behavior became increasingly erratic and dangerous. 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. Master Sergeant. 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. They avoid social media, and their traces on the internet tend to be very few: an old photo with mom, a defunct phone number, a real-estate deed. She yelled something unintelligible before disappearing. Sgt Lavigne was a Green Beret and Delta Force member. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. You want to think theyre not comparing?, According to Scanlon, Poppes initial line of questioning was not subtle. Special Forces soldier found dead at Fort Bragg killed a Green Beret Ciolino said he feels the daughter's statement is an accurate reflection of what appears in the medical examiner's report. In the event of a terrorist strike, international hostage situation, or loose nuclear weapon, its Delta or Team 6 that the president will call on to respond. If he didnt have a knife, he would be toting around, like Rambo, some bow-and-arrow-type shit.. A Delta Force operator known to be good friends with both Lavigne and Leshikar was allegedly the first person Lavigne called as things deteriorated with Leshikar the day he died. 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. One of the four Delta Force soldiers present that night was a 33-year-old from Michigan, Master Sgt. Unlike Tier 2, or white, special-operations forces, made up of ordinary Green Berets, Army Rangers, and Navy SEALs, JSOC units operate under Title 50 of the U.S. Code, which was controversially reinterpreted after 9/11 to permit the military to carry out covert actions, defined by the statute as foreign operations where it is intended that the role of the United States will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.. There is no screw driver here, that is enough to go DEFCON 4 on this. He was addicted to Tramadol and self-medicated with . 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.. Its like watching a scary movie. He is courteous, with an iron handshake, and gives his name as Joe. 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. Scanlon recalls Morman urging her to consent to a change in venue, arguing that a court-martial offered a better chance to convict, among other reasons, because a guilty verdict does not have to be unanimous under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. DELTA FORCE' S DIRTY SECRET 2022-01-04 - [ Cont. Do Delta Force operators have a license to kill? Green Beret - Reddit Additionally, Lavigne never stated or implied that he moved the screw driver or any weapon after shooting SFC Leshikar.. As soon as it was over, Scanlon says, I jumped up and grabbed my shoes and ran inside to get my stuff. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Years of proximity to military violence, as well as a culture of functional alcoholism and casual sex, left Jane feeling unworthy, damaged, and lost. Jane has dated multiple men on Delta Force at various times in her life. On the back patio, they are standing around a red tent with the Coast x Coast logo, drinking beer, chatting at the bar, and smoking cigarettes. From March 15 to 19, Leshikar and Lavigne were on vacation with their families at Disney World in Florida. 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. Fort Bragg deaths of Special Forces soldier, veteran remain unsolved He was charged with a felony for allegedly harboring an escapee. Starting in 2019, victims who testify get a copy of the court-martial record, including audio, whether it was an acquittal or conviction.. She told me, I feel like I just got raped.. Parker says that Lavigne once gave him money to cover some court costs. Tina watched Vallejo walk up behind Scanlon, causing Scanlon to dart off, according to the statement Tina gave Matrafailo. Thats being a girl at a bar., According to text messages she sent a girlfriend the next day, Scanlon was drunk and flirted with him. But she didnt consent to what later ensued, she immediately added. But it was a disheartening conclusion, she says, to a difficult and drawn-out ordeal that she insists was not my fault.. 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. Delta Force MSG killed at Bragg - SCDUCKS.COM Its not going to be good for you., For the jury, it must have been a somewhat close call, because they submitted at least 18 questions to the witnesses. All of his questions were directed at Scanlons honesty and candor, he says. There are no coincidences in life like this. Instead, on June 26, Matrafailo was the first person called to the stand by the defense. 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. This was 37-year-old William Lavigne III, a Master Sergeant and former 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (aka Delta Force) soldier. 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. Why they didn't do anything is because someone shit canned this whole thing very high up. Werent there plenty of people you could have called out to? It took her months to get a military protective order against him. North Carolina court records show that the sheriff and DAs office dismissed the charges every time. I said no over and over.. They have zero remorse. She doesnt mean that any of the killings she witnessed were illegal or outside the rules of engagement. In this video, we explore the mysterious case of Green Beret Mark Leshikar and Delta Force Member William Lavigne and the sus. It is a lot for a jury to make a decision like that, she says. I firmly believe that I had to be his victim because I was strong enough to report him., She never got the chance to lay any of this on Vallejo, or the court. What the prosecution has to say, you already know, she remembers the SVC telling her. 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.. 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. In the military and in popular culture, their kind is revered. 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. On the afternoon of March 21, they arrived at Lavigne's home in the 1300 block of Anhinga Court in Fayetteville. Scanlon began to cry, he wrote in his report, as she pointed out the building., Matrafailo obtained a warrant, took DNA samples from the hood of the Saab, reviewed security footage, visited Macs, and interviewed Tina, among other witnesses. He denies that Lavigne was ever into dealing any sort of narcotics. Delta Force, and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a really good mentor that I looked up to, she tells me recently. William Lavigne was the sixth witness for the defense, the trial rec-ord shows. Delta Force's Dirty Secret - Rolling Stone In Fayetteville, the Coast x Coast club was riding high, leading rock star lifestyles, in Janes words. Jack Murphy, Covert ops, Soleimani, The Team House, Special Forces He maintains that Scanlon and Vallejo were witnessed in the act by people at the warehouse that night. And that was the reason why my case was handled the way it was. (Phyllis B. Dooney for Rolling Stone). She wasnt being truthful about her encounter with Cris Vallejo., They should not have allowed my lawyer to testify against me, Scanlon says. The jury would have been able to see from her dress blues that, in stark contrast with Vallejo, she was a rookie officer in a conventional unit. His death certificate states his last place of residence was in Hope Mills. Scanlon agreed to go on the record again, in greater detail, if you would be willing to reiterate that my perpetrator was Delta Force. When Scanlon learns that the audio was destroyed, she unexpectedly breaks down in tears. 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. As soon as it concluded with an acquittal, the Army deleted the audio recordings. Hard drugs and murder in JSOC: "'We have a lot of Delta Force members William J. Lavigne Wiki - William J. Lavigne Biography. 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. 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. Justice is a very elusive thing, it moves around like air. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. Scanlon claims that Vallejo raped her that night, and says that the trauma still haunts her to this day. On one occasion, she says, she had to hide in the bathroom after he walked into a tavern in Southern Pines. The blond 25-year-old from suburban Phoenix had secured a lieutenants slot in the storied 82nd Airborne Division thanks to the good offices of one of her ROTC instructors at the University of Arizona. An Army memorandum states that Lavigne first alleged that Leshikar had killed himself, but then changed his account of what happened. Two men found dead at Fort Bragg: Update : This ain't Hell, but you can Once at Lavigne's residence, Leshikar's family say the friend took Leshikar's phone.
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