She only met him and Vallejo that one night in her life. 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. Lavigne was a member of the Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The LaVigne and Leshikar familes had just returned from a trip to Disneyland. From March 15 to 19, Leshikar and Lavigne were on vacation with their families at Disney World in Florida. William Lavigne and Timothy Dumas were found dead at a training site on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Delta Force operator Lavigne had claimed that 33-year-old Leshikar, with whom he had been good friends, came at him with a screwdriver. Going around chatting with people like a politician.. 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. Her superiors didnt know about the former, and she herself had reported the latter. 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 proceeded to rack up practically every qualification an infantryman can attain, undergoing advanced training in land navigation, reconnaissance, surveillance, sniping, and high-altitude parachuting. Rick said Lavigne was also in Delta Force. 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. 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. Its like watching a scary movie. 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.. He had a dudes brains on his boot, she says, and he just flicked it off, as if completely unfazed. 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. Leshikar and Lavigne were also known to use cocaine, Leshikar's family said. 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? 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.. Connecting Vets is not naming the Delta Force operator as attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and he may still work on sensitive assignments. My (biased) experience, too. Once out of uniform, Scanlon began to meet advocates, lawyers, and people knowledgeable about sexual assault in the military. Poppe says there was no connection between the two cases. 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. 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. Lavigne later said in a statement to police he was removing the car's battery. In February, the FBI announced that it is assisting in the case. Leshikar was found by police officers and the medical examiner in a prone position with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and neck. Jane never saw Vallejo doing drugs, and unlike Lavigne, he didnt run around getting arrested, but she remembers him being at the center of a social scene that she describes as toxic. This was at the tail end of the Obama years, on the cusp of Trumps election. At one point, while posing for a group photo, Vallejo grabbed my ass, Scanlon claims. Hes in JSOC.. Dumas was an Army veteran who previously served as the property . I had no deployment stripes, Scanlon says. 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. 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. Investigators have asked anyone with information on the case to contact the FBI or Army Criminal Investigation Command. 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. 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. 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. I dont know how we survived., Jane was well-acquainted with the site known as Warehouse 13. 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. 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. 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. Army records show Dumas served in the Army as a property accounting technician from November 1996 to March 2016, separating as a chief warrant officer 3. Its like someone didnt want him to talk. She adds, Im scared to say words like this out loud.. He was fatally shot in March 2018 by Army Delta Force member William J. Lavigne, his best friend, who was known as "Billy" to Leshikar's family. In August 2016 just two weeks before he met Scanlon he threw out the first pitch at a Padres game in San Diego. The girl then mimicking how her father collapsed to the floor. On the afternoon of March 21, they arrived at Lavigne's home in the 1300 block of Anhinga Court in Fayetteville. The staff sergeant had invited her over to his house earlier in the evening, but she and Tina hadnt wanted to leave the party. I knew about Mark's drugs, I knew about Billy's drugs, Leshikar's mother said. 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. 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. 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. After that, she put up no more physical resistance. I represented him in Cumberland County.. 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. I was Billys attorney, Poppe says. . Taught the SF Q course for a bit, met an amazing woman through non army friends, decided one purple heart was enough, retired E7 (offered E8 to stay in). With Leshikar and Lavigne dead, there remains only one witness to the killing: Leshikar's daughter. First Class Mark Leshikar were best friends. The sheriffs office and the DA had treated it as a justifiable homicide, and Army investigators would later come to the same conclusion, for reasons that both civilian and military authorities decline to disclose to the Leshikar family or to the public. No awards. Right as Scanlon and Tina walked into the crowded barbecue joint and beer hall, Vallejo stopped them, tried to flex, laughed, and walked away, Tina would later recall to a Fayetteville detective. The jury should have been brought to the location at night, she says. After I gave my statement, the CID agents left the room. As to any potential discharge, were not able to comment due to Privacy Act protections., When Connecting Vets reached out to CID on Fort Bragg regarding the deaths of Leshikar, Lavigne and Dumas, spokesperson Christopher Grey said: All I am releasing is it is a homicide investigation. 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. At the time the body was rolled no screw driver was found, the Medical Examiner's report states. 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. I was too scared to go to stores, the gym, and other crowded places. At the time he met Scanlon, who was nearly 10 years his junior, Vallejo was a sergeant first class. It was the last time they would ever speak. Another inconsistency was noted when Lavigne told officials, Leshikar was acting in a menacing manner but he could not see SFC's Leshikar's hands, which appears to contradict his statement that he saw that Leshikar brandishing a screw driver. Connecting Vets reached out to members of Lavigne's family for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication. We drank so much, she says. William LaVigne II, 37, and Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44. 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.
