IN SOME CASES, FAMILIES’ SUSPICIONS WERE AROUSED WHEN THEY RECEIVED THEIR SONS’ PERSONAL DIARIES WITH PAGES REMOVED.
WILLIAM AND DONNA DIGMAN, A CALIFORNIA COUPLE WHO CONTEND THAT THEIR SON WAS MURDERED, SAID THEY RECEIVED HIS JOURNAL WITH MOST OF THE PAGES CRUDELY CUT OUT. BOTH CIVILIAN AND NAVY INVESTIGATORS RULED THAT MARINE CAPT. JEFFREY DIGMAN, 30, SHOT HIMSELF IN THE HEAD IN JANUARY 1989 WHILE ON HOME LEAVE IN CALIFORNIA.
LUCY GARCIA, DIGMAN’S GIRLFRIEND IN PUERTO RICO, WHERE HE WAS BASED, SAID SHE FOUND THE JOURNAL THERE WHEN A TEAM OF MARINES WAS HELPING HER PACK DIGMAN’S BELONGINGS. SHE SAID IT CONTAINED NAMES, NUMBERS, ADDRESSES AND NOTATIONS.
“I GAVE IT TO ONE OF THE MARINES, AND HE LISTED IT ON THE INVENTORY LIST AND PACKED IT UP,” GARCIA SAID.
ALSO MISSING FROM THEIR SON’S POSSESSIONS, THE DIGMANS SAID, WAS A SMALL SAFE JEFFREY HAD KEPT HIDDEN INSIDE A DESK AT THE CALIFORNIA HOUSE WHERE HE DIED. THEY SAID THE DESK DOOR HAD BEEN REMOVED AND THE SAFE TAKEN.
THREE MONTHS BEFORE HE DIED, DONNA DIGMAN SAID, HER SON HAD SHOWN HER PAPERS LOCKED INSIDE THE SAFE —- DOCUMENTS HE SAID WERE DRUG-TESTING RESULTS FROM HIS JOB AS A MARINE SUBSTANCE -ABUSE CONTROL OFFICER.
“HE SAID HE WAS SAVING THEM TO COVER HIS A–,” DONNA DIGMAN SAID.
LATER, THE DIGMANS SAID, THEY LEARNED THAT JEFFREY HAD TOLD FRIENDS THAT SOMEONE HAD BEEN TAMPERING WITH TEST RESULTS TO CHANGE POSITIVE TESTS TO NEGATIVE.
THE DIGMANS SAID THE NAVY HAS NOT EXPLAINED WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JOURNAL ENTRIES. THEY SAID LOCAL AUTHORITIES TOLD THEM THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE SAFE.
IN ANOTHER CASE, THE MOTHER OF A SAILOR WHOSE GUNSHOT DEATH IN GUAM IN SEPTEMBER 1991 WAS RULED SELF-INFLICTED BY THE NAVY SAID SEVERAL JOURNALS HER SON KEPT WERE NEVER RETURNED. ROBYN HALL, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, SAID HER SON HAD TOLD HER HE WAS KEEPING JOURNALS ON ALLEGED THEFTS AND CORRUPTION AT HIS NAVY BASE IN GUAM.
“HE TOLD ME HE WAS GOING TO BLOW THE WHISTLE WHEN HE GOT BACK TO THE U.S.,” HALL SAID HER SON, NAVY SECURITY OFFICER MICHAEL J. LESLIE, TOLD HER A SUPERVISOR HAD INSTRUCTED HIM TO KEEP THE JOURNALS AS ROOF OF WRONG DOING.
LESLIE,25, WAS FOUND SHOT INSIDE HIS SECURITY VEHICLE. ONE OF HIS HANDS WAS HANDCUFFED TO THE STEERING WHEEL.
AFTER HIS DEATH, HALL SAID, SHE RECEIVED ONLY ONE JOURNAL, WITH MOST OF ITS PAGES CUT OUT. SHE SAYS THE NAVY IS COVERING UP THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HER SON’S DEATH.
“ITS SO DISILLUSIONING.” SHE SAID. “I NEVER, EVER THOUGHT THE MILITARY WOULD LIE TO ME.
THIS IS THE UNITED STATES.
SEVERAL FAMILIES SAY THEY BEGAN TO DOUBT THE MILITARY’S INITIAL VERSION OF EVENTS AT THEIR SON’S FUNERALS.
NADINE GILMORE , OF WICHITA, KANSAS SAID SHE DECIDED TO INSPECT HER SON’S BODY AFTER RECIEVING A NOTICE FROM THE NAVY TELLING HER THE REMAINS WERE “NOT SUITABLE FOR VIEWING.” SHE SAID THE NAVY HAD TOLD HER THAT HER SON CHRISTOPHER “MIKE ” VARRIENTOS, 19, HAD HANGED HIMSELF ABOARD THE USS CAPE COD AFTER IT LEFT HAWAII ON JAN 20—HIS SON’S FIRST BIRTHDAY.
WHEN GILMORE LOOKED INTO HER SON’S CASKET AT THE FUNURAL HOME IN WICHITA, SHE SAID SHE WAS HORRIFIED BY WHAT SHE SAW: A KNOT ON HIS FOREHEAD. ANOTHER ON THE BACK OF HIS NECK. AN ABRASION ON HIS LEFT CHEEK. BRUISES ON HIS CHEST, RIBS AND COLLARBONE.
“HE LOOKED LIKE HE’D BEEN BEATEN UP,” GILMORE SAID. “I KNOW IT SOUNDS GHOULISH, BUT WE TOOK ONE LOOK AT HIM AND DECIDED TO TAKE PHOTOS BECAUSE WE DIDN’T BELIEVE ONE WORD OF WHAT THE NAVY WAS TELLING US.”
GILMORE SAID SHE WAS ALSO TROUBLED BY WHAT SHE DIDN’T SEE: LIGATURE MARKS AROUND HIS NECK FROM THE LOADING STRAP THE NAVY SAID HE USED TO HANG HIMSELF. THE PHOTOS SHE TOOK DO NOT CLEARLY INDICATE ANY MARKS ON VARIENTOS’ NECK.
THE AUTOPSY REPORT PREPARED BY THE MILITARY SAID LIGATURE MARKS WERE PRESENT ON VARRIENTOS’ NECK. AND THE NAVY’S INVESTIGATIVE REPORT SAID THE BRUISES ON HIS UPPER BODY WERE CAUSED BY RESUSCITATION ATTEMPTS BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL. THE NAVY HAS NOT EXPLAINED THE OTHER INJURIES, GILMORE SAID.
ON FEB. 13, THE NAVY’S INVESTIGATIVE REPORT CONCLUDED: “THE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT VARIENTOS COMMITTED THE ACT OF SUICIDE ALONE AND UNASSISTED.”
GILMORE INSISTS HER SON DID NOT KILL HIMSELF, SHE SAID HE WAS UPBEAT WHEN SHE SPOKE WITH HIM BY PHONE 16 HOURS BEFORE HE DIED.
FOUR POSTCARDS, ALL POSTMARKED THE DAY VARRIENTOS DIED, WERE RECEIVED BY HIS FAMILY. EACH SEEMS CHEERFUL AND LIGHT-HEARTED.
HEY, BEAUTIFUL…,” HE WROTE HIS WIFE ON A CARD IN WHICH HE DESCRIBED HAWAII. “IT’S BEAUTIFUL, BUT IT WILL NEVER COMPARE TO YOUR BEAUTY… REMEMBER, I’M BEING GOOD.”
ON ANOTHER CARD, VARRIENTOS WROTE: ‘YOU KNOW I MISS YOU(AND MY TRUCK) BUT I MISS YOU MORE, GOTTA GO. LOVE, MIKE.”
NADINE GILMORE SAYS THE YOUNG MAN WHO WROTE THOSE CARDS WAS NOT A MAN PLANNING TO KILL HIMSELF.
“ALL I KNOW IS, I HAVE LOST A SON AND I’M HURTING BADLY,” SHE SAID. “AND THE NAVY EITHER LIES TO ME OR REFUSES TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS.”
AFTER THE OCTOBER 1992 DEATH OF HER SON IN NETHERLANDS, KATHLEEN ROSENLEAF BECAME SKEPTICAL OF THE AIR FORCE ACCOUNT THAT HE HAD HANGED HIMSELF AFTER A NIGHT OF DRINKING. SHE SHOWED THE AUTOPSY REPORT AND INVESTIGATIVE FILE TO A PHYSICIAN NEAR HER HOME TOWN OF BUTTE, MONT.
IN AN INTERVIEW, PHYSICIAN MARK ZILKOSKI SAID MARKS ON AIRMAN GAR ROSENLEAF’S SKULL AND ABDOMEN WERE NOT EXPLAINED IN THE MILITARY AUTOPSY. IN ADDITION, ZILKOSKI SAID, HE BELIEVED ROSENLEAF’S HIGH BLOOD-ALCOHOL LEVEL WOULD HAVE LEFT HIM TOO INCAPACITATED TO HANG HIMSELF IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED IN THE AIR FORCE REPORT: WITH A BEDSHEET SUSPENDED FROM ELECTRICAL CONDUIT WIRING.
“I FOUND A LOT OF QUESTIONS THAT WERE’T ANSWERED. OR WEREN’T EVEN ADDRESSED, ” ZILKOSKI SAID. “I CAN’T SAY WHETHER IT WAS SUICIDE OR HOMICIDE, BUT IT APPEARS THEY CONCLUDED SUICIDE BEFORE RULING OUT OTHER POSSIBILITIES.”
AS FOR ROSENLEAF’S BIBLE, COIN COLLECTION AND OTHER MISSING ITEMS, THE AIR FORCE ACKNWLEDGED IN A LETTER IN MARCH THAT THEY HAD BEEN LOST WHEN HIS POSSESSIONS WERE APPARENTLY RIFLED.
“THE AIR FORCE REGRETS AND APOLOGIZES FOR THE LOSS OF THE PERSONAL EFFECTS,” THE LETTER SAID.
IN THE WEEKS AFTER THEIR SON WAS FOUND DEAD ABOARD THE USS WASP DOCKED AT NORFOLK IN JUNE 1990, GLADYS AND VIRGIL ESSARY SAY, CURIOUS THINGS BEGAN HAPPENING:
THEY NOTICED TWO MEN IN A BLUE CAR FOLLOWING THEM AS THEY WENT ABOUT THEIR DAILY AFFAIRS IN RURAL BEEBE, ARK. THEY BEGAN PHONING, WARNING THEM TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR SON’S DEATH. THE NAVY HAD TOLD THE ESSARYS THAT THEIR SON, MARTIN ESSARY, 21, HAD HANGED HIMSELF WHILE DRUNK. IT SAID HE WAS DEPRESSED OVER A BREAKUP WITH A GIRLFIREND AND A RECENT CONVICTION FOR HELPING A FRIEND BREAK INTO A CAR.
THE ESSARYS SAY THEIR SON HAD PHONED HIS MOTHER THE DAY HE DIED TO SAY THAT “SOMETHING WAS DOWN” BETWEEN HIM AND ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS ABOARD SHIP. THEY SAY MARTIN TOLD THEM HE HAD FOUND DRUGS HIDDEN IN THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP’S AIR DUCTS AND HAD FLUSHED THEM DOWN A TOILET.
“HE SAID HE COULDN’T GO THE SHIP CAPTAIN AND TELL HIM, ” SAID ESSARY’S MOTHER, GLADYS ESSARY. “HE SAID: ‘IF YOU FINK, YOU’RE DEAD…’ AND HE SAID IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO HIM NOT TO BELIEVE THE NAVY.”
THE ESSARYS’ DAUGHTER, WHO LIVED IN NORFOLK, SAID SHE BEGAN TRACING MARTIN’S MOVEMENTS ON THE DAY HE DIED, SHORTLY AFTER QUESTIONING A BARTENDER WHO HAD SERVED MARTIN HOURS BEFORE HIS DEATH, SHE SAID, SHE WAS ATTACKED AT HER HOME BY TWO MEN.
THE WOMAN SAID SHE WAS PUNCHED AND SLIGHTLY INJURED. SHE SAID SHE DID NOT REPORT THE ASSAULT TO POLICE. SHE ASKED THAT HER NAME BE WITHHELD FROM THIS ARTICLE BECAUSE SHE FEARS ANOTHER ATTACK.
THE ESSARYS SAY A NAVY DOG TAG WITH A SERIAL NUMBER BUT NO NAME WAS FOUND AT THE SITE WHERE THEIR DAUGHTER WAS ATTACKED. AND A FEW DAYS LATER, THE DAUGHTER SAID, SHE WAS VISITED BY A NAVY OFFICER WHO TOLD HER TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT ESSARY’S DEATH.
IN THE FOLLOWING WEEKS, THE FAMILY SAID, THE NAVY TOLD THEM THEY COULD NOT FIND MARTIN’S CLASS RING, WALLET, MILITARY PERSONAL ITEMS.
“THE WHOLE THING JUST DOESN’T ADD UP, ” SAID ESSARY’S FATHER, VIRGIL ESSARY. “THEY MADE A PREJUDGMENT THAT IT WAS SUICIDE AND THAT’S THE STORY THEY’RE STICKING WITH .”
THE NAVY’S REPORT SAID THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF DURG DEALING ABOARD THE SHIP OR THAT ESSARY HAD FOUND DRUGS. IT QUOTED GLADYS ESSARY AS SAYING, WHEN TOLD OF HER SON’S APPARENT SUICIDE, THAT SHE WAS NOT SURPRISED BECAUSE MARTIN HAD A LOT OF PROBLEMS.
ESSARY SAID SHE TOLD AGENTS SHE WASN’T SURPRISED MARTIN WAS DEAD BECAUSE OF PROBLEMSHE HAD DESCRIBED WITH ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS.
THE REPORT CITES TWO PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAT POINT TO SUICIDE: AN APPARENT SUICIDE NOTE FOUND NEAR ESSARY’S BODY, AND A LIFE INSURANCE AGENT WHO SAID ESSARY HAD ASKED HIM FOUR DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH WHETHER HIS POLICY WOULD PAY OUT IN THE EVENT OF SUICIDE.
ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, THE INSURANCE AGENT TOLD ESSARY THAT FULL DEATH BENEFITS COULD NOT BE PAID IN THE EVENT OF A SUICIDE WITHIN TWO YEARS OF TAKING OUT A POLICY. HE SAID ESSARY LAUGHED IN RESPONSE. HE DESCRIBED ESSARY AS SEEMING “VERY SOUND OF MIND” AND A “HAPPY-GO-LUCKY” PERSON.
THE ESSARYS SAY THE HANDWRITING ON THE APPARENT SUICIDE NOTE IS NOT MARTIN’S. THE NAVY REPORT SAID A HANDWRITING ANALYSIS WAS INCONCLUSIVE BECAUSE THE CURSIVE WRITING WAS ‘NOT COMPARABLE” TO AVAILABLE SAMPLES OF ESSARY’S PRINTED WRITING.
THE NCIS INTERPRETED THE SCRIBBLED NOTE TO READ: ‘MOM, I WON’T SAY I’M SORRY. I CAN’T SAY WHY BUT I DON’T KNOW. JACKET.”
THE ESSARYS SAID THEY ARE BAFFLED BY THE WORD JACKET, A TERM THEY SAID THEY NEVER HEARD MARTIN USE. A FORMER MILITARY INVESTIGATOR WHO REVIEWED THE CASE FOR THE INQUIRER SUGGESTED THE WORD ACTUALLY WAS F—-IT.
IN MARCH, THE PENTAGON INSPECTOR-GENERAL AGREED TO REVIEW THE ESSARY CASE. THE REVIEW IS STILL IN PROGRESS, ACCORDING TO AN OFFICIAL OF THE AGENCY.
THE REVIEW CAME AFTER THE LATE VINCENT FOSTER, AN ARKANSAS NATIVE WHO WAS DEPUTY COUNSEL TO PRESIDENT CLINTON, REFERRED THE CASE TO THE PENTAGON. THE CASE HAD BEEN PASSED ON TO FOSTER BY CLINTON AFTER AN ARKANSAS REPORTER, SEAN HARRISON, TOLD PRESIDENT-ELECT CLINTON OF THE ESSARYS’ COMPLAINTS.
(FOSTER DIED JULY 20 OF A GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD. AUTHORITIES SAID HE COMMITTED SUICIDE.)
IN THE ESSARY CASE, CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SUICIDE RULING:
THE AUTOPSY REPORT NOTED UNEXPLAINED “MULTIPLE ABRASIONS” ON ESSARY’S LEG.
THE ESSARYS SAY MARTIN RECEIVED A “DEAR JOHN” LETTER FROM A GIRLFIREND FOUR MONTHS BEFORE HE DIED-NOT SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH, AS THE NAVY REPORT INDICATED.
THE SAILOR WHO SAW ESSARY ABOARD SHIP A FEW HOURS BEFORE HE DIED DESCRIBED HIM AS “RELAXED AND JOKING AROUND.” ANOTHER SAILOR SAID ESSARY APPEARED NORMAL WHEN HE SAW HIM SHAVING AT 3:30 A.M., TWO HOURS BEFORE HIS BODY WAS FOUND.
YET ANOTHER SAILOR SAID HE WAS CONVINCED THAT ESSARY HAD NOT KILLED HIMSELF. HE SAID ESSARY HAD “MANY, MANY ENEMIES” ABOARD SHIP.
SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE MARTIN DIED, THE ESSARYS SAID, HE TOLD THEM OVER THE PHONE THAT HE PLANNED TO TAKE OUT A TRUCK LOAN THE NEXT DAY. HE ALSO DISCUSSED PLANS FOR HIS FATHER TO DRIVE TO NORFOLK AND TAKE HIM HOME ON LEAVE IN 12 DAYS, THEY SAID.
EVEN WITH THE INSPECTOR GENERAL’S REVIEW, THE ESSARYS SAY THEY FEAR FOR THEIR DAUGHTER’S SAFETY.
“PEOPLE JUST DON’T REALIZE WHAT THE MILITARY CAN DO TO YOU,” GLADYS ESSARY SAID. “THEY CAN REALLY MESS UP YOUR LIFE.”
FOR ALL THE ANGUISH THAT FAMILIES OF DEAD SERVICEMEN HAVE ENDURED, NONE HAS BATTLED THE MILITARY FOR AS LONG AS JACK MCCASKILL, A NAVY VETERAN AND RETIRED NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER, AND HIS WIFE, JOANNE. AND NO FAMILY HAS HAD TO CONFRONT SOMETHING SO MACABRE AS THE MUTILATION OF THEIR SON’S BODY.
THE MACCASKILL WERE IN A STATE OF SHOCK ON MAY 26,1988, THE DAY TWO MARINES WALKED INTO JOANNE’S OFFICE ON LONG ISLAND AND SAID THAT HER SON, CPL. JOHN CACCASKILL JR., HAD SHOT HIMSELF. JOANNE REMEMBERS BEING TOLD THAT JOHN WAS IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN EL SALVADOR, WHERE HE SERVED AS A MARINE EMBASSY GUARD.
A CABLE FROM THE U.S. EMBASSY IN EL SALVADOR TO WASHINGTON AS JOHN CLUNG TO LIFE WAS UNEQUIVOCAL: “ATTEMPTED SUICIDE, ” IT SAID.
THREE DAYS LATER, JOHN DIED IN A SAN SALVADOR HOSPITAL. HE WAS 21.
FEELING HELPLESS IN THEIR GRIEF, JOANNE AND JACK SAY THEY ACCEPTED WHAT THE NAVY TOLD THEM: JOHN HAD COMMITTED SUICIDE AFTER A NIGHT OF HEAVY DRINKING AT A BAR CALLED THE “M” CLUB.
ASSURED THAT NO FOUL PLAY WAS INVOLVED, THEY SAY, THEY WAIVED AN AUTOPSY AND ASKED THAT THEIR SON’S BODY BE RETURNED HOME RIGHT AWAY. A NAVY INVESTIGATOR CONSIDERED AN AUTOPSY UNNECESSRY BECAUSE IT ” WOULD NOT PROVE MUCH, ” ACCORDING TO A NAVY INVESTIGATIVE REPORT.
AT THE FUNERAL, THE FAMILY RECALLS, A MARINE BUDDY OF JOHN’S CONFIDED IN THEM. “IT DIDN’T GO DOWN THE WAY THEY SAID,” THEY REMEMBER HIM SAYING.
THAT NIGHT, THE ENTIRE MACCASKILL CLAN SAT DOWN AT HOME IN ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. EACH FAMILY MEMBER WROTE A LIST OF QUESTIONS ABOUT JOHN’S DEATH.
“THERE WERE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT WEREN’T ANSWERED. NOTHING MADE SENSE,’ JACK RECALLED.
CONFUSED BY WHAT THE MILITARY HAD TOLD THEM, THEY DECIDED TWO WEEKS LATER TO HAVE THEIR SON’S BODY EXHUMED FOR AN AUTOPSY. THY WANTED ANSWERS. WHAT THEY GOT WAS A GUTTED BODY.
“THEY EVISCERATED HIM- HIS HEART, LUNGS, LIVER, INTESTINES, EVERYTHING.” JACK SAID. “WE GOT A SHELL BACK INSTEAD OF OUR SON.”
IN A LETTER TO THE FAMILY IN MAY 1990, THE STATE DEPARTMENT SAID THE GUTTING WAS “A NORMAL PROCEDURE…..REQUIRED BY SALVADORAN LAW” AS PART OF THE EMBALMING PROCESS PERFORMED BY A LOCAL MORTUARY. THE PROCEDURE COST THE EMBASSY $2. JOHN’S ORGANS WERE NEVER FOUND.
THE SUBSEQUENT AUTOPSY REVEALED SOMETHING ALMOST AS SHOCKING: THE DAMAGE TO JOHN’S FACE AND MOUTH WAS NOT EXTENSIVE. TO JACK, WHO HAD SEEN HIS SHARE OF GUNSHOT VICTIMS IN 22 YEARS AS A POLICEMAN, HIS SON’S FACE WAS NOT THAT OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN SHOT INSIDE THE MOUTH WITH A .357 MAGNUM.
“THE BLAST AND THE FLAME AND THE GASES SHOULD HAVE BLOWN OUT HIS TEETH, HIS NOSTRILS, HIS EYES, RIPPED OUT HIS CHEEKS, ” MACCASKILL SAID, “HIS TEETH WEREN’T EVEN BROKEN. JOHN LOOKED LIKE HE WENT TO SLEEP.”
JACK AND JOANNE MACCASKILL DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE JOHN’S DEATH THEMSELVES. THEY EMBARKED ON A FIVE-YEAR CRUSADE THAT WOULD COST THEM $30,000, PRODUCE TWO EXHUMATIONS, AND PIT THEM AGAINST THE MILITARY AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT.
THEY LEARNED FROM THE NAVY’S INVESTIGATIVE REPORT THAT THERE WAS ONLY ONE WITNESS TO THE SHOOTING. A SALVADORAN WOMAN, QUOTED IN SPANISH INA LOCAL POLICE REPORT, SAID SHE SAW AN AMERICAN PUT A GUN TO HIS MOUTH. IT IS NOT CLEAR FROM HER STATEMENT WHETHER SHE SAW- OR ONLY HEARD- THE SHOT.
THE NAVY REPORT SAID JOHN WAS DRUNK AND KILLED HIMSELF DURING AN ALCOHOL-INDUCED BOUT OF DEPRESSION. NO BLOOD-ALCOHOL TEST WAS PERFORMED TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH HE HAD CONSUMED.
THE NAVY REPORT CONTAINS CONTRADICTORY STATEMENT’S BY WITNESSES, MANY OF WHOM WERE DRINKING AT THE TIME JOHN DIED.
THE REPORT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE CONTRADICTIONS. A NAVY INVESTIGATOR LATER WAS QUOTED IN A REPORT AS SAYING HE DID NOT WANT TO “BADGER” WITNESSES.
“IT WAS LABELED A SUICIDE FROM THE GET-GO”, JACK MACCASKILL SAID, “SO EVEN IN THE FACE OF EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, THEY’BE HAD TO COVER THEIR A—-S AND STICK TO THEIR STORY.”
THE REPORT CONTAINS CONFLICTING TESTIMONY ABOUT TWO .357 MAGNUM REVOLVERS BROUGHT INT THE BAR-ONE BY MACCASKILL AND THE OTHER BY A FELLOW MARINE GUARD WHO WAS DRINKING WITH HIM AND TWO WOMEN. THE NAVY SAYS THE MARINE LOST HIS .357 MAGNUM THAT NIGHT.
SOME EXPERTS HIRED BY THE MACCASKILLS HAVE EXPRESSED DOUBTS ABOUT THE NAVY’S CONCLUSIONS. BUT ONE SAYS EVIDENCE POINTS TO SELF-INFLICTED WOUND.
THE EXPERTS REVIEWED AUTOPSY REPORTS PHOTOS, EXHIBITS AND X-RAYS, ALONG WITH NAVY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS.
REPORT BY LESLIE LUKASH, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER IN NASSAU COUNTY, N.Y., SAID HE FOUND “NO EVIDENCE OF POWDER RESIDUE ON THE FACE, NOSE, MOUTH” OF MACCASKILL TO INDICATE THAT A GUN WAS FIRED IN HIS MOUTH. HE CONCLUDED THAT THE WEAPON HAD BEEN FIRED AT LEAST 15 INCHES FROM JOHN’S FACE.
RICHARD J. JANELLI, A FIREARMS EXPERT ALBERTSON, N.Y., WROTE IN A REPORT: “IT IS 100 PERCENT SURE THAT THE QUESTIONED FIREARM WAS NOT HELD INSIDE THE MOUTH.”
JOSEPH H. DAVIS, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER FOR DADE COUNTY, FLA., WROTE THAT HE COULD NOT DETERMINE HOW JOHN DIED, LARGELY BECAUSE “THIS IS A POORLY AND INADEQUATELY INVESTIGATED CASE.”
DAVIS ADDED: “THERE IS NO NEED FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT A TARNISHED IMAGE. IT IS TOO LATE FOR THEM TO BE FREE OF CRITICISM.”
EDWIN J. SANOW, A BALLISTICS SPECIALIST IN INDIANA, WROTE IN A REPORT: “THE WEIGHT OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE TAKEN ALL TOGETHER STRONGLY REFUTES ANY POSSIBLE SCENARIO FOR SUICIDE. NO DOUBTS AT ALL EXITS.”
ARMAND GAUDIOSI, A PATHOLOGIST’S ASSISTANT WHO EXAMINED MACCASKILL’S BODY, SAID THE DEATH WAS MORE LIKELY AN ACCIDENT OR HOMICIDE.
“IN 32 YEARS OF DOING AUTOPSIES, AND SEEING MAYBE A THOUSAND DIFFERENT SUICIDES WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS. I HAVE NEVER SEEN ON LIKE THIS,” HE SAID IN A STATEMENT.
HALBERT E. FILLINGER, AN ARSENIC PATHOLOGIST IN HESHAM, SAID HE FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF POWDER RESIDUE OR SCARING AFTER REVIEWING THE ORIGINAL AUTOPSY REPORT. “THE POSSIBILITY OF A SOMEWHAT MORE DISTAN GUNSHOT WOUND MUST BE ENTERTAINED,” WROTE IN 1988.
BUT DURING A 1990 AUTOPSY FILLINGER SAID LAST WEEK, FOUND GUNPOWDER GRANULES EMBEDDED IN JOHNS TONGUE. THAT MEANT THE GUN BAR WAS IN THE MOUTH, HE SAID-EVIDENCE THAT JOHN PROBABLY SHOT HIMSELF.
EVIN SO, FILLINGER SAID, HE BELIEVED THAT MACCASKILLS WERE “ABUSED” BY THE NAVY AND BY THE “DISTINCT ABSENCE OF A COMPETENT, HIGH QUALITY INVESTIGATION.
THE MACCASKILLS SAY THEY STILL ARE NOT CONVINCED THAT JOHN COMMITTED SUICIDE BECAUSE SO MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED.
“THESE ARE COMMON-SENSE QUESTIONS BEFORE ASKED BY ORDINARY PEOPLE,” JACK MACCASKILL SAID.
A STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN IN WASHINGTON DECLINED TO COMMENT ON THE CASE.
IN 1990, THE MACCASKILL SAID, THE NAVY CHANGED THE MANNER OF MACCASKILL’S DEATH FROM “SUICIDE” TO “SELF-INFLICTED”. BUT IT DID NOT ALTER ITS ORIGINAL RULING THAT JOHN FIRED THE GUN THAT KILLED HIM.
THE PENTAGON’S INSPECTOR GENERAL AGREED LAST SUMMER TO REVIEW THE CASE, WITH A REPORT EXPECTED EARLY NEXT YEAR. THE MACCASKILLS SAY THEY ARE SKEPTICAL.
“WE’VE BEEN LIED TO FOR FIVE YEARS,” JOANNE MACCASKILL SAID. ” THE BEST WE CAN HOPE FOR THAT WE’VE MADE THEM MORE ACCOUNTABLE FOR OTHER FAMILIES IN OUR SITUATION.”
AFTER TWO EXHUMATIONS, JOHN’S REMAINS WERE BURIED IN A CEMETERY IN WESTBURY, N.Y. NOT FAR FROM THE HOME WHERE HE WAS RAISED. JOANNE AND JACK REMEMBER HIM AS A YOUNG MAN MADLY IN LOVE WITH THE MARINE CORP SMITTEN BY ITS IDEALS OF SERVICE AND HONOR.
JOHN DIED WITH THE MARINE CORPS EMLEM TATTOOED ON HIS RIGHT ARM. BENEATH IT WERE THE WORDS SEMPER FIDELIS AND MOM.
TEN DAYS BEFORE THE FATAL SHOT WAS FIRED AT THE “M” CLUB, JACK HAD MAILED HIS SON AN AMERICAN FLAG THAT ONCE BELONGED TO JOHNS GRANDFATHER. JOHN WAS MAKING PLANS TO FLY OVER THE U.S. EMBASSY ON MEMORIAL DAY, ONE DAY AFTER HE DIED.
TWO DAYS BEFORE HE DIED, MARINE LT. KIRK VANDERBUR CALLED HIS MOTHER BACK HOME IN IOWA AND ASKED HER TO MAIL HIS FAVORITE SNACKS: HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND RICE KRISPIES BARS.
THE DAY BEFORE HE DIED, VANDERBUR MAILED A CHEERY LETTER ADDRESSED TO HIS “LITTLE SQUIRRELLY BRO,” LARS. KIRK, BASED AT CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., SENT HIS ADDRESS FOR AN OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENT.
THE NEXT DAY-FEB. 16, 1992- KIRK SPENT A RELAXED SUNDAY AFTERNOON SAILING IN NORTH CAROLINA WITH A FRIEND WHO LATER DESCRIBED HIM AS “HIS NORMAL SELF” THAT DAY.
A FEW HOURS LATER, KIRK VANDERBUR WAS DEAD AT AGE 24. HIS BODY WAS FOUND ON A PRIVATE SHOOTING RANGE IN TINY HUBERT, N.C., SHOT NOT ONCE BUT TWICE-IN THE STOMACH AND THE HEAD-WITH TWO SEPARATE WEAPONS FOUND LYING 10 FEET APART.
TEN MONTHS LATER, A 270-PAGE NAVY INVESTIGATIVE REPORT REACHED THE SAME CONCLUSION A LOCAL SHERRIFF HAD ANNOUNCED TWO DAYS AFTER THE EXTRAORDINARY DEATH: VANDERBUR HAD COMMITTED SUICIDE.
THE NAVY REPORT PORTRAYED VANDERBUR AS A TORMENTED YOUNG MAN WITH SERIOUS GIRLFRIEND AND MONEY PROBLEMS. IT SAID HE WAS TORN BY FEELINGS OF “INADEQUACY AND UNWORTHINESS” THAT DROVE HIM TO SUICIDE.
THAT CONCLUSION WAS NOT BASED ON PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. IT WAS THE RESULT OF A “PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY”-A CONTROVERSIAL POSTMORTEM EVALUATION BASED ON COMMENTS FROM VANDERBUR’S FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS, AND A STUDY OF HIS WRITINGS.
THE PROCEDURE IS THE SAME ONE THE MAVY RELIED ON IN 1989, AFTER AN EXPLSION ABOARD THE USS IOWA KILLED 47 SAILORS. THE NAVY FALSELY ACCUSED ONE OF THE DEAD MEN, GUNNER’S MATE CLAYTON HARTWIG, OF SABOTAGING A GUN TURRET AS PART OF A SUICIDE ATTEMPT.
A PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY PREPARED FOR THE NAVY BY THE FBI PORTRAYED HARTWIG AS AN ANTISOCIAL, SUICIDAL LONER.
NINE MONTHS AFTER THE EXPLOSION, A PANEL OF PSYCHOLOGISTS HARSHLY CRITICIZED THE HARTWIG ANALYSIS AS IMPROPER AND INVALID. A CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY SAID INVESTIGATORS, RELYING ON THE ANALYSIS, MADE FALSE ASSUMPTIONS AND SOUGHT ONLY EVIDENCE THAT REINFORCED THEIR PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS ABOUT HARTWIG.
SCIENTIST LATER CONCLUDED THROUGH LAB TEST THAT THE IOWA EXPLOSION WAS AN ACCIDENT. THE NAVY PUBLICLY APOLOGIZED TO HARTWI’S FAMILY.
FOUR YEARS AFTER THE IOWA DEBACLE, THE MILITARY STILL USES PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES TO BUTTRESS RULINGS OF SUICIDE IN SUSPICIOUS DEATHS OF SERVICEMEN, DESPITE MISGIVINGS BY PSYCHOLOGISTS ABOUT THEIR RELIABILITY.
IN THE VANDERBUR CASE, A IN THE IOWA CASE, NAVY AUTHORITIES CITED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY TO EXPLAIN TO GRIEVING PARENTS THE MOTIVATIONS FOR A SON’S PURPORTED SUICIDE. YET INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATORS WHO HAVE REVIEWED THE VANDERBUR INVESTIGATION SAY THERE IS NO PROOF HE WENT TO THE RANGE WITH THE INTENTION OF KILLING HIMSELF. THEY SAY HIS DEATH WAS MOST LIKELY AN ACCIDENT.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES WERE USED IN AT LEAST A DOZEN OF 40 CASES IN WHICH FAMILIES CONTEND THAT THE MILITARY MISHANDLED DEATH INVESTIGATIONS. A REVIEW OF THOSE CASES SUGGEST INVESTIGATORS PUT UNDUE WEIGHT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES TO SHORE UP FINDINGS OF SUICIDE-THE SAME”EXCESS OF CERTITUDE” ATTRIBUTED TO THE IOWA INVESTIGATORS.
IN MANY CASES, THE “PRECONCEPTIONS AND PREJUDICES” ATTRIBUTED TO THE IOWA INVESTIGATORS HAVE BEEN REPEATED. INVESTIGATORS HAVE ASSUMED SUICIDE AS SOON AS A BODY IS FOUND, THEN USED PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES PREPARED MONTHS LATER TO JUSTIFY THEIR CONCLUSIONS.
PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY, DEVELOPED IN THE 1950’S, IS AN IMPERFECT AND LIMITED TECHNIQUE WITH NO SET STANDARDS. THEY SAY IT SHOULD BE USED AS ONE OF MANY TOLLS IN INVESTIGATIONS OF EQUIVOCAL DEATHS, NOT AS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF SUICIDE.
WHEN A PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY IS ASSEMBLED MONTHS LATER BY A MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST WHO KNOWS THE MILITARY HAS RULED A DEATH A SUICIDE, EXPERTS SAY, IT IS OF LIMITED VALUE TO A DEATH INVESTIGATION.
“MY EYEBROWS ARE RAISED,” RONALD S. EBERT, A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WHO TEACHES AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, SAID AFTER REVIEWING THE VANDERBUR PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY. THE PROFILE CONCLUDED THAT VENDERBUR CARRIED OUT A PLAN TO KILL HIMSELF.
“I’M SURPRISED HE CAN COME TO THAT CONCLUSION BASED ON THE AVAILABLE DATA,” SAID EBERT, WHO WAS ON THE PANEL THAT CRITICIZED THE IOWA INVESTIGATION, “THERE ARE TOO MANY INCONSISTENCIES FOR HIM TO COME TO SUCH A DEFINITIVE CONCLUSION.”
THE VANDERBUR PROFILE WAS BASED ON SUMMARIES OF INTERVIEWS BY MILITARY INVESTIGATIORS. EXPERTS SAY A PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY IS OF DUBIOUS VALUE UNLESS A PSYCHOLOGIST PERSONALLY QUESTIONS A VICTIM’S FAMILY, FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS.
“EVEN UNDER THE BEST CONDITIONS, A PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY IS NOT AT ALL THAT SCIENTIFIC,” SAID RONALD W. MARIS, A UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PSYCHOLOGIST WHO HAS WRITTEN OR EDITED 11 CLINICAL BOOKS ON SUICIDE. ” IT’S SUBJECTIVE. IT’S AN AFTER-THE -FACT , THIRD-PARTY PROCEDURE. IT CAN BE A HIGHLY UNRELIABLE TECHNIQUE.”
MANY OF THE MILITARY’S PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSIES CONTAIN SUBJECTIVE AND CONJECTURAL PHRASING. IN MOST CASES REVIEWS BY THE INQUIRER, MILITARY PSYCHOLOGISTS WERE TOLD A SUICIDE HAD OCCURRED AND THEN WROTE REPORTS SPECULATING HOW AND WHY.
THAT IS A QUESTIONABLE EXERCISE, EXPERTS SAY. YET FAMILIES SAY THE MILITARY HAS CITED THE AUTOPSIES TO THEM WHEN THEY EXPRESSED SKEPTICISM ABOUT SUICIDE RULINGS.
“YOU DON’T ASSUME SUICIDE FROM THE BEGINNING,” SAID AARON T. BECK, A PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND A LEADING EXPERT ON SUICIDES. HE SAID HOMICIDE, ACCIDENT, OR NATURAL DEATH SHOULD BE RULED OUT FIRST.
