Fort Bragg paratrooper found dead in North Carolina was decapitated, autopsy says
An autopsy has found that a Fort Bragg soldier found dead this summer on North Carolina's Outer Banks was decapitated. The Raleigh News & Observer reports that Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez's death was a homicide, but the cause of death remains undetermined because only his head was available for examination, according to the Division of Forensic Pathology at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine.
"While decapitation is, in and of itself, universally fatal, the remainder of the body in this case was not available for examination, and therefore potential causes of death involving the torso and extremities cannot be excluded," the report states.
Among the findings: "Evidence of multiple chop injuries of the head" and a jaw broken in at least two places, the report says.
Roman-Martinez was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was reported missing May 23, while on a Memorial Day weekend camping trip with friends at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Roman-Martinez, 21, was a native of Chino, California.
A $25,000 reward has been offered for tips leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, the Army says. To date, no arrests have been announced.
"All he wanted was to do good in his life, so he joined the military," his sister Griselda Martinez told CBS Los Angeles in August. "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."
