The body of Spc. Megan Touma, who was seven months pregnant, was discovered in the Fairfield Inn near Fort Bragg on June 21 Fort Bragg officials are investigating why a pregnant soldier who was found dead this week at a Fayetteville motel wasn’t reported missing after she was absent from a formation.
The body of Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was identified Tuesday, two days after she was found dead at the Fairfield Inn near Fort Bragg.
Maj. Angela Funaro, a Bragg spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Army regulations would have required that Touma be reported as absent without leave 24 hours after missing a formation June 16.
Funaro said Touma signed into Fort Bragg’s 19th Replacement Company on June 12, and attended formations that day before having the next day off.
Touma, a dental specialist, was allowed to live in a hotel while assigned to the 19th Replacement Company. Barracks space is provided to soldiers who are in-processing, but those who want to stay in a hotel may do so at their own expense.
“We’re shocked, first and foremost. It’s always sad when you lose a soldier. And on top of that, here’s a beautiful young woman who is seven months pregnant. It’s sad, and deeply troubling,” Funaro said.
Touma, of Cold Spring, Ky., joined the Army in July 2003. She was assigned to the Army Dental Activity Clinic in Bamberg, Germany, from July 2005 through June 2008.
Her ex-husband, El Sayed Touma, lives in Charleston, S.C., and told WCSC-TV the Army had told her family she was absent without leave.
“She was left in the room for two days, and the Army said she was AWOL. They didn’t even bother to go check on her in the motel where she stayed. I mean the Army knows that she stayed in that hotel,” El Sayed Touma said.
Touma’s family has declined comment, said Deb Skidmore, a spokeswoman at Fort Riley, Kan.
The Fayetteville Police Department is investigating the death because Touma’s body was found off-post, and the military is cooperating, Funaro said. The Army Criminal Investigation Command is also looking into the case, Funaro said, but calls to the command went unanswered Wednesday.
Touma will be remembered during a memorial service Friday.
Wednesday Jun 25, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Authorities are investigating the “suspicious” death of a pregnant soldier after her body was found at a Fayetteville motel just days after she arrived at Fort Bragg from Germany, officials said.
Spc. Megan Lynn Touma was identified Tuesday, two days after her body was found in a motel room identified by an odor. The 23-year-old dental specialist with the 19th Replacement Company was from Cold Spring, Ky., and was born in Seoul, South Korea.
The Fayetteville Police Department called the death suspicious. Authorities said in a release they do know not the cause of death but said that Touma was seven months pregnant at the time.
Touma had just arrived at Fort Bragg less than two weeks ago after spending three years assigned to the Army Dental Activity Clinic Bavaria in Bamberg, Germany.
Touma is the second pregnant service member to die in North Carolina this year. Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was found dead near Camp Lejeune in January. A fellow Marine, Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has been charged in her death and is awaiting extradition from Mexico.
A private memorial service for Touma will be held Friday at Hope Chapel.
Tags: Army Dental Activity Clinic in Bamberg, Cold Spring, Fairfield Inn, Fayetteville motel, Fort Bragg, Germany, pregnant soldier, Soldiers, Spc. Megan Touma
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