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American Morning

Four Special Forces Wives Killed Over Six Weeks

Aired July 26, 2002 - 07:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now on to a developing story. Fort Bragg, North Carolina has been shaken by the recent murders of wives of Army soldiers. Is there a common thread?

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is on the story and joins us now from Washington -- Barbara, what are the details in this story?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Arthel.

Yes, this is a very unsettling story that seems to be developing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where some of the Army's most elite Special Forces units are based. What we have learned is that in the last six weeks the wives of four Fort Bragg soldiers have been murdered, all of them by their husbands, and then two of the men committed suicide.

In three of these cases, the Army believes the men had just returned from Afghanistan from deployment. Some of them had been sent home early to deal with family problems.

But the crimes were brutal. Two of the women were shot. One was strangled. One was stabbed. Again, by their husbands.

Now, the Army and the Special Forces community, we've spoken to them this morning. They tell us that all of these cases were individual. They don't believe there's a common thread. But what they are looking at is whether the Army has the right type of counseling and stress management programs for soldiers who are engaged in very high stress operations.

And what we should say also, in the Special Forces community, these men are very highly trained, in fact, to remain in control at all times. That's how they stayed alive on the battlefield. So the Army is particularly concerned when it has people that cannot deal with stress in their lives.

And apparently in four tragic cases, this is what has happened in the last six weeks. And we've also learned this morning it may not be stopping. There was another murder at Fort Bragg under suspicious family circumstances over the weekend and we are told they've looked back in their files. There was another murder/suicide with an Army family back in May.

So a lot of unsettling news in the Special Forces community -- Arthel.

NEVILLE: Absolutely, Barbara. And I would imagine there has to be some sort of intervention programs that will be set up quickly, because this is definitely a troubling story and this cannot continue. And it's horrible for these families.

STARR: That's right. The installation commander is looking very closely at it. The entire military has a very strong effort in family and stress counseling, especially when soldiers are deployed overseas, and they've been quite concerned for a number of years about suicide in the military, actually. A number of programs have been put into place. And the issue here is they really don't know why this has happened at Fort Bragg.

NEVILLE: Barbara Starr, thank you very much for that story.

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