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Fort Bragg Soldier Who Vanished On Camping Trip Was Decapitated, Officials Reveal
Enrique Roman-Martinez's severed head was slashed in several places and had a broken jaw and fractured spine, according to an autopsy.
A U.S. Army solider who went missing during a shoreside camping trip in North Carolina over Memorial Day weekend, and whose partial remains washed ashore ashore days later, was decapitated, according to newly released details in the case.
Enrique Roman-Martinez, a 21-year-old paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at Fort Bragg, was at a campsite with around seven other soldiers the night of May 22 when the group went to bed at approximately midnight, the Army Times reports. That morning, Roman-Martinez was nowhere to be seen – and his cellphone, wallet and much-needed glasses were all left behind in his tent.
Following a 911 call made by Roman-Martinez's fellow soldiers later that day, military personnel launched an extensive search of the water and seashore near Roman-Martinez’s campsite. On March 29, investigators discovered “partial remains” of the missing paratrooper washed ashore, according to a press release by the U.S. Army criminal investigation command.
According to a newly released autopsy report, those remains consisted of Roman-Martinez’s severed head.
The head was slashed in several places and had a broken jaw and fractured spine, the report states, according to The Fayetteville Observer. The soldier's eyes were also missing and his hair had been pulled out.
“While a definitive cause of death cannot be determined, the findings in this case are most consistent with death due to homicide,” the report states.
This latest news has left loved ones with more questions than answers.
“Everything about this case doesn’t make sense,” Roman-Martinez’s sister, Griselda Martinez, told the Observer.
No arrests have yet been made in this investigation.
Roman-Martinez was a human resources specialist in the 82nd Airborne. He joined the Army 2016, CBS 17 reports.
This latest development came shortly after the bodies of a soldier and a veteran were found dead at a Fort Bragg training area on Wednesday. Their deaths are being investigated as a homicide, a spokesperson from the Army Criminal Investigation Command told the New York Times.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Roman-Martinez’s killer or killers, according to the Army press release. Anyone with information is urged to contact Army investigative agents at (910) 396-8777 or the Military Police Desk at (910) 396-1179.
