Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez.Photo: Courtesy US Army
The seven soldiers who last saw a Fort Bragg paratrooper alive before his severed head washed ashore on a North Carolina beach in 2020 will face court-martials this summer, PEOPLE confirms.
Online records list the charges against Pvt. Annamarie L. Cochell, Pfc. Samad A. Landrum, Sgt. Samuel O. Moore, and Spcs. Juan Avila, Alex R. Becerra, Joshua L. Curry and Benjamin E. Sibley.
All of the soldiers have been charged with conspiracy, failure to obey a direct order, and other crimes that authorities say were not directly related to the death of Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez.
Becerra, Cochell and Landrum are further charged with using hallucinogenic drugs, and some of the soldiers are charged with making false statements and disobeying a superior.
All eight Fort Bragg soldiers were camping on a remote North Carolina island on May 22, 2020, when Roman-Martinez was reported missing.
His head washed up six days later, along the shores of the Outer Banks. The rest of his remains have never been found, and to date no one has been charged with the soldier’s murder.
Medical examiners determined that the 21-year-old California man’s death was a homicide, but have not been able to definitively say how Roman-Martinez died.
Military officialstold the Fayetteville Observerthe charges against the seven soldiers are not related to Roman-Martinez’s death.
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All seven have been arraigned. Arguments in their separate trials are scheduled to start between May and September.
PEOPLE was unable to ascertain the names of their attorneys.
Months after his death, Roman-Martinez’s sister, Griselda Martinez,spoke to CBS Los Angeles.
“All he wanted was to do good in his life, so he joined the military,” she said. “And this is what happened to him? We only have a part of him, that’s it. This is not right. This should never have happened to my brother.”
The murder remains under investigation, with a $50,000 reward offered for information that leads to an arrest.
Anyone with pertinent information should call Army special agents at 910-396-8777 or the Military Police Desk at 910-396-1179.
source: people.com
