enforcement is possible! If the agents in the field do not seem to comply with them, who would oversee their activity?

The question was asked by Senator Kempthorne of BGEN Francis X. Taylor, Commander, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, about when the appearance of a death scene is suicide, if it is then investigated as such. He denied that that was the procedure—yet both his oral and written statements spell it out just that way! Here is a situation similar to our own concerns: what was said and put in writing was denied as what he meant! Yet in reality, the way he said it and the way it is in print, is exactly the way procedure seems to be followed. He can deny it all he wants, but the actions of investigating agents bear it out.

Why do all the services have different rules and regulations and policies and procedures for handling death cases? Since all the services are under the Department of Defense, we wonder why there isn't uniformity among the services regarding the training of agents, and the rules and regulations and policies and procedures to be followed. A military death is a death is a death! Each service is a separate entity but under one head-like fingers on a hand. Each has its own function but is managed from a central control. Why can't they have uniform policies regarding death investigations for all the services?

We are pleased that steps are being taken to improve procedures for investigating 'unattended deaths'. But what about those of us whose loved ones died before these policies and procedures were implemented? Even though some reviews indicate that if procedures had been followed, the manner of death would be the same, no one knows with certainty what the results of autopsies, fingerprinting, etc. would beand so the manner of death has only been assumed and speculated-NOT PROVEN! Is there no recourse for us? What about the ridiculous assumptions made in some cases, those with no rational or common sense, those not medically or scientifically possible? Are we to have to live with a blatant determination of suicide which makes no common sense at all because of the failure of agents to prove their case? Please provide us with a non-military, unbiased agency to follow through where the investigating agents and the Inspector General's office did not. Please provide a separate classification for these situations which were not proven by the military as suicides and in some cases has now become unprovable by families because of the length of time involved and the lack of investigative action!

First, there must be a non-military unbiased entity where families can appeal, for those of us who have had to put up with less than adequate investigations, where determination of manner of death was not proven on scientific information but on appearance and assumption and speculation only, where witnesses were not interviewed, etc., etc., etc., when rules and regulations now proposed by DODIG were not in effect. Rules and regulations are only as good as the agents who follow them and are only effective IF they are followed. Who will oversee and enforce that future loved ones and their families are treated fairly?

There has to be someway to bring credibility to our cases: when the bullet is larger than the weapon holds; when the weapon has only one fingerprint and that fingerprint does not belong to the deceased; when photos do not match the description of the written word; when autopsy reports are medically impossible-those are some of the common sense problems that we are fighting and which need credibility and an entity through which we can appeal!

The DOD did not address the problems and concerns expressed by the families in their own cases; they merely testified on procedures changed because of our concerns! While it appears that improvements have been made for future families, what recourse for justice do we present families have beyond the DODIG review, which appears to be only a rubber stamp of the previous agents. Please provide for additional course of action for us families who feel we have been unfairly treated!

We families have been put at a distinct disadvantage because agents failed to do their job in the manner they were trained as stated in the DODIG's report. Our loved ones cannot defend themselves; we must do it for them. There has been no respect for the body of the deceased, no respect for his personal possessions, no respect for the family. Agents think we will believe anything they tell us, no matter how proofless it sounds in medical, scientific, or common sense terms or rationale. There is a difference of day and night between the problems presented by the families and the description of how investigations are conducted as presented by the Department of Defense at the hearings!

In cases where autopsies, fingerprinting, gunshot residue testing, etc. were not performed, proof of suicide based on fact rather than speculation was not provided. Yet to request a review by the DODIG has to be based on a "material deficiency" in tests which don't exist because the military failed to conduct them in the first place. It would appear that the agents investigating the crime scene do not have to provide scientific proof of cause and manner of death, yet when we parents ques

tion those determinations, we are asked to provide proof of a "material deficiency". In cases where testing was not conducted or results not substantiated, and in cases where the written descriptions of the scene are not verified by the photographs or sketches, those cases should be changed from suicide to "CAUSE OF DEATH NOT PROVEŇ due to incomplete investigation". There should be some agency outside of the military, be it Justice Department, FBI, or some other agency, that is more unbiased and does not have a conflict of interest. If evidence has been lost or destroyed and military proof is no longer available, there should be a separate category for these cases. Since the DOD at the hearings spoke only of the new and improved regulations which did not apply in our cases, we feel frustrated that our concerns were not addressed by them.

We need to right the wrongs! It is wrong to make a determination of suicide on appearance alone (appearances can be staged!), instead of running approved scientific tests; it is wrong to do a psychological autopsy by only interviewing certain people and not interviewing the family and those who knew the deceased the best; it is wrong not to question witnesses who could unravel the mystery of what happened; it is wrong to deny information to the family and access to all available records; it is wrong to ask family members to provide a "material deficiency" for a review when specific tests were not run in the first place; and it is wrong to keep incorrect and incomplete information in permanent records (lasting 40 years) with no recourse for correcting and/or changing what is wrong. The military/government has wronged many families!

etc.

Those whose loved ones had body parts removed will never know why that was done, where and/or by whom that was done, where those body parts are now, Those who had no autopsy done, no fingerprints taken, no gunshot residue tests completed, etc., etc., etc., will never know why those actions were not taken at the time of their loved ones deaths, what the results would have been, and what can be done about it now. We believe that autopsies are not conducted and basic testing is not done so that the military does not have to prove their case! If families accept what is in the reports, their charade of an investigation is complete! If not, the length of time involved between death and final report is so long it becomes impossible to rectify! And the whole chain of command seems to back up the agents and defend these indefensible actions or lack of them!

Let us please reiterate the importance of a non-military entity for review of our cases and for putting our cases which are filled with unscientific testing and unprofessional and sloppy and/or fraudulent military investigations into a separate and special category or classification to indicate "CAUSE OF DEATH NOT PROVENdue to incomplete investigation”!

We thank you for this opportunity to present our cases to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel and hope and pray that there will be some recourse for us families who gave our sons and daughters to military service and who died while in that service. We pray that their deaths were not in vain, and that any future families will have all the answers that they seek.

[Additional information is retained in committee files.]

PREPARED STatement by Rose Ward, MOTHER OF AIRMAN KEELYN WARD, USAF

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: My daughter, Keelyn Ward was found hanging in her hotel room in Weymouth, England, on October 15, 1992, and it was deemed a suicide.

Keelyn was stationed at Upper Heyford. During her stay at the hotel, Keelyn bought a bottle of wine and asked the hotel staff for two glasses. She also told the hotel staff that she was expecting a guest. Additionally, one morning Keelyn ordered two glasses, two bottles of water and two orange juices. There was also further evidence that someone other than Keelyn was in the room: scalp hair on the sheets that did not match Keelyn's and the disappearance of a diary-type book seen to have been half in and half out of her jacket by hotel personnel, which was not retrieved at the crime scene. Additionally, there was no identifying information with Keelyn at the time of her death.

Initially, I was unable to get any information from the Air Force because they would simply say the case was still under investigation. Then they closed the investigation with a finding of suicide and based their determination on Keelyn's troubled childhood.

But the determination was made within a week or so and the proof of this came in comments made during a memorial service at Upper Hayford on October 22 by Chaplian Joseph Lim alluded to suicide. How did he have that pre-determination when the case was still under investigation?

Although I have been refused crime scene photos and have received no assistance from any quarter in the Department of Defense, certain information has trickled in over the last years.

This so-called investigation never determined who Keelyn either met or was to meet at the hotel, so they just concluded that she did not meet anyone and had done this to herself. According to the autopsy, present on her body were small bruises on her right upper arm and a soft tissue hemorrhage on the right anterior 11th rib. There was apparently a broad dried abrasion furrow around the neck. Despite the empty bottle of wine at the crime scene, Keelyn's autopsy showed less than one-half a glass of alcohol.

When I received the investigative report from the Air Force I was appalled at the psychological autopsy on my daughter. Keeyln was a very bright and motivated girl. She had made immediate plans to be with friends from the States. She had kept in contact with many of her friends, who are also appalled at the psychological autopsy. Who is this person they are talking about? Keelyn was 20 years old. Admittedly, she had a shakey start in life, but she liked the direction of her life and and loved her assignment in England. In fact, life was just opening up for Keelyn. A loner? No. A person who would not confide in anyone? No. But the PhD writing the psychological autopsy report, sitting at her desk at Bolling Air Force Base, apparently is driven to sketch a portrait based on the need to explain a suicide when an investigation of her death as a homicide had not been undertaken.

Keelyn was very happy to be in the Air Force and it is a shame that the Air Force has no respect for her life or her death. The pain and misery the Air Force has caused is unexcusable. Please, please help to get this changed.

PREPARED STATEMENT BY SIDNEY WRIGHT, PARENT OF TERRY TODD WRIGHT, USA

TERRY TODD WRIGHT-U.S. ARMY-3-21-71-10-21-91

This Testimonial is composed of two parts. The first part is our request to the Inspector General Department of Defense to re-investigate our son's death. While the U.S. Park Police was the primary investigator, Army regulations (Ref. U.S. Army CID Manuals) state that the Army can do an independent investigation when they question the primary investigator.

The second part pertains to people involved with the case and were eye witnesses to the charade that should have been a homicide investigation.

The situation is that our son Terry died as a result of a single gun shot wound to the head. The incident occurred on 21 October 1991, on a desolate dirt road on the ranges adjacent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The land was previously the property of the US Army until 5 days prior to the incident when the land was relinquished to the Interior Department. This was to be a joint investigation between the U.S. Park Police (USPP) and the Army CID. The USPP, (1100 Ohio Drive, SW Washington, DC 20202) being the primary investigative unit and the Army CID as secondary unit. The USPP ruled the incident as a suicide, the Army CID reluctantly concurred and the matter was laid to rest.

Our concern is that without doubt, our son did not commit suicide. The investigation conducted by the USPP and the Army CID do not support the facts to substantiate suicide. Although we are laymen in the area of police investigations, we have sought the assistance and professional opinions of current and former investigators in which they too believe that without doubt, our son did not commit suicide, that this case should have been investigated as a homicide. A complete and through review of the investigation conducted by the USPP and the Army CID report (which we have been told had to match the USPP report), would also bring doubts to you or anyone else. We understand that "suicide" is a matter of question. However, pertinent facts in the investigation were either ignored or intentionally destroyed which would have contradicted the ruling of suicide. A sample of these facts are:

1. There was never an examination of the gloves, hand/wrist or the clothing worn by Terry. A check of these areas with a gunshot residue kit would have revealed evidence to substantiate/unsubstantiate the fact(s) that Terry shot himself.

2. The weapon was positioned in such a manner that it would have been impossible for Terry to shoot himself, fall over dead, and the weapon come to rest in the position found. The gun, a .22 caliber rifle, was located with the trigger portion in the extreme portion of Terry's Crotch, perpendicular to the body, as if placed there. Falling backward from a squatting position, as the Maryland Medical Examiner Of fice states, would have pushed the gun up and away from the body. There should have been dirt on the gun butt if it was resting or dropped to the ground.

3. Terry's car was parked about 400 yards from the scene. Inside the car were two complete McDonald meals (i.e. two drinks, two cheese burgers and two fries). This is consistent with two people being present. We have recently learned that Terry's roommate of 3 days had ask Terry to drive him for food when Terry returned from leave that day. The car was turned over to the Army without being fingerprinted or processed for evidence, the Army drove the car back to Fort Meade, and discarded the McDonald meals into a dumpster. A check of the two McDonald's in the Fort Meade area could have produced witnesses that remembered the car, the driver, the passenger(s), etc. There were eight hand written pages of Twilight 2000 games plans on the front seat. While no mention is made of the game plans in any report, the USPP and Army CID admit they were there. Our suspicions are that Terry was lured to the area under the pretense of preparing for a future game. The game, played with paint ball guns, pits one army against another. We know that Terry had played the game in this area before, but the USPP could find no one who would admit playing it, therefore the game was never played.

4. The USPP arrived at the scene with only a pen and note pad. The Army CID offered to investigate, but was told to stand behind the crime scene ribbon. The Army CID offered the services of their fingerprinting, gun residue, drug test crews to the USPP and had their offer refused. The Army CID was one of the first agencies on the scene (FBI, NSA, Patuxent Wildlife Patrol), took pictures of the scene and the USPP accepted two rolls of their film. Mr. Eugene Hyatt, a hunter with the Patuxent wildlife preserve, found the body approximately 6:30 AM. Driving upon the scene, Mr Hyatt assumed someone was playing a game with him. After examining the scene, Mr Hyatt stated this was no suicide, the gun butt was clean, the gun was evidently placed there by someone else, the clothes had weed seed on them indicating Terry had been into an open field prior to being killed, that wearing the thick gloves Terry had on would not allow him access to the trigger, the glasses perfectly in place-not indicative of someone that had fallen. Mr. Hyatt pointed his observations out to the USPP and was told to shut up.

5. Dr. Frank Jones, Maryland Medical Examiners Office, arrived at the scene approximately 4:30 p.m. and stated this looks like a suicide. This became the focus of the USPP investigation. The following morning, during the autopsy, Dr. Laron Locke stated "I'm ruling this a suicide based on the trajectory and the USPP finding." This statement, heard by the USPP, Army CID, FBI, and NSA investigators (included in the USPP report) was denied by Dr. Locke later. At this time the USPP and Army CID had interviewed possibly six people briefly. The autopsy, in comparison with other autopsies I have seen, doesn't meet the minimum standards. We ask Dr. Locke the question "did Terry have some teeth knocked out?" Dr. Locke stated "I didn't check." Someone had plucked some of Terry's eye lashes, possibly as a form of torture, that can not be blamed on the gun shot wound (Terry had a fake eye lash on his right eye when his body was returned.) The autopsy was not taped, no notes were taken, no external marking are noted, etc. The inability and over-zealous USPP are incapable of working a murder case. This was pointed out in a recent article in the Baltimore Sun that states "USPP who spend their days patrolling parks and highways, rarely investigate murders." It adds "Mr. Timothy Squires (who was supposed to investigate our son's death) was working his first murder case after 15 years with the USPP."

6. Ms. Ann Kornmeyer, National Security Agency (NSA) investigator said upon arriving at the scene "He may have had classified data on his person or in his car." Ms. Kornmeyer left the scene a short time later and proceeded to Terry's room. She was apprehended leaving Terry's room with her arm full by the other investigators upon their arrival. The Army CID wanted to arrest her for tampering with a crime scene, but was over ruled by the USPP and FBI. The room, according to eye witnesses, looked like a disaster area when they arrived. Ms. Kornmeyer admits to removing 153 computer disks, completely ignoring the computer hard drive and returned only 140 disks. Professional law enforcement personnel and the Army CID regulations state the room should have been secured until the investigators arrived to take charge of the crime scene. When NSA was ask why Ms. Kornmeyer left the scene early and went to Terry's room? Their first reply was she was the last one to leave the scene-later they stated she was following normal procedures following a suicide (keep in mind that Terry's body was still at the scene and she knew it was a suicide?). The NSA investigative report (copy attached) rebuked 50 percent of the USPP reports conversation with Mrs. Hayes Simon. NSA was charged with patrolling the area. When asked why they didn't investigate upon finding Terry's car in the area they explained "We checked an the car had no charges against it, So we kept it under observation." We were told later by NSA their employees cars did not have decals. Examining the crime scene pictures, Terry's NSA pass is laying on the dash, on the driver's side.

7. The last person to report seeing Terry alive was his new roommate and fellow TDY soldier from Germany. The roommate and his friend were interviewed briefly on 21 October 1991 by Mr. Squires and Special Agent Brotherton, Army CID. The roommate and friend were never re-interviewed or interrogated again. There are facts which indicates the duo may have possessed additional knowledge than what was initially reported. The roommate and friend initially stated that Terry wrote two pages to what looked like an eight pages letter to his friend. We believe that it was more than coincidence that the letter was exactly ten pages long. We have been informed that it is routine police procedures that the last person to see an individual alive before their death would be considered a suspect. The roommate and friend were never re-interviewed to clarify how they knew how long the letter was that Terry was writing and their actions after Terry left the room. A gun shot residue test was never performed on the roommate or his friend which would have confirmed or eliminated them as the shooter.

8. Interviews with other barracks personnel did not occur, it very possible someone in the next room or in the hallway may have heard something. The Charge of Quarters (CQ) was not interviewed. The CQ has control of people moving in and out of the barracks-did he see Terry leave? Was someone with him? Why weren't the roommate and his friend ask to sign sworn affidavit?

9. The Maryland medical examiner's office later stated they ruled suicide based on the trajectory and a letter received by an ex-girl friend of Terry. This letter never specifically referred to Terry wanting to or going to kill himself. The letter was not received by the ex-girl friend until 8 days after the autopsy and received by the USPP several days after that. Dr. John Smialek, Maryland Medical Examiner, has stated he will issue a new cause of death certificate if new evidence is produced. The mere fact that no investigation was performed should be sufficient to meet that requirement. This is a small price when you consider the price our son and his family have paid. As stated before, no tapes or notes were taken at the autopsy to refer to at a later date when preparing the autopsy report. At the time of the autopsy the medical examiners were performing autopsies on three dozen other bodies-all at different stages of being autopsied. The “suicide” note was never examined to verify that our son was the author of the letter. A review of the letter by family, the ex-girl friend and other friends clearly reflects that the printing in the letter was different when compared to previous letters written by Terry. NSA at one point was going to court to retrieve the letter. The USPP refused to have an analysis performed. Army CID requested the letter to do an analysis and was refused. The Army CID then requested that the USPP have the analysis done and was refused. Few people, as the USPP would have you believe, can picture anyone driving down an Interstate highway at 70-75 MPH writing a letter.

There are other facts involved which are available in the Army CID Agents Activity Report and the investigative files. These files have been requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in their entirety, but have been denied. We fully understand the provisions of the privacy act; however, we believe that the notes and Agents Activity Summary sheets contain addition information which would support the fact that the U.S. Army CID at Fort Meade did not believe that the incident was a suicide either. Apparently, the files at U.S. Army CID at Fort Meade contains information which is crucial to us and may provide some insight into their decision to be a silent partner in what wad suppose to be a joint investigation. This is an example of how law enforcement authorities blindly trust one of their own, violating their own common-sense policies.

We have conducted in-depth research of U.S. Army regulations as well as Army CID regulations which were made available to us by General Rigby, Redstone Arsenal. The regulations specifically gives the U.S. Army the authority and responsibil ity to conduct a complete, thorough and professional investigation, including joint investigations with other agencies.

This matter has been on-going since October 1991, and it has caused us great distress. We have sought the assistance of the USPP which has been to no avail. After reviewing the (non) investigation which they were suppose to conduct, which can be referred to as "shoddy" at best, we have concluded that they do not have the professional and thoroughness required to investigate a murder. This conclusion was reached after reviewing our son's investigation report and their track record since his death, most notable-Vincent Foster. We are aware that no law enforcement agency wants an unsolved homicide in their files, we have no desire to break the USPP's successes at solving suicides, but we also believe our son death deserves a thorough investigation. With these factors in mind, again, we the family, respectfully request your assistance in urging and helping the Inspector General, DOD, in re-investigating this case.