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| Who killed Private First Class LaVena L. Johnson? |
By NNPA News Service |
Published
06/17/2008
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National
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Who killed Private First Class LaVena L. Johnson?
by Sandra Jordan
For New Pittsburgh Courier
ST. LOUIS (NNPA) - The Army claims the 5’1” African-American soldier from North County, Mo., died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with a rifle on July 19, 2005.
Her father, John H. Johnson, Ph.D. of Florissant, said color photos and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the military suggest otherwise.
 | Private First Class LaVena L. Johnson
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“Our worst fears were substantiated when we started going through information from the Army,” Johnson said.
Since his daughter’s death, Johnson has been searching for answers that align with the evidence in the case. Johnson hopes a congressional body can push for answers beyond the official report.
“The House Armed Services Committee is looking into Private Johnson’s case, but no decisions have been made regarding a formal investigation,” said Lara Battles, press secretary for the committee.
Johnson was the first woman soldier from Missouri killed in Iraq. Questions surrounding her death were brought to the attention of U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton during her parents’ visit in April to Washington D.C., to speak with him and other members of Congress. Skelton spoke with the father and mother, Linda Johnson.
Mr. Johnson, who previously served in the U.S. Army and worked and retired as a civilian personnel specialist for the Army, said efforts to obtain a CD-ROM of color photos taken by Army investigators were unfruitful until U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay spoke about the case at the Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch Congressional hearing.
“Clay put them on the spot during the Jessica Lynch hearings, so they sent (the images) to me,” Johnson said, calling the photos “horrible.”
He said the pictures and documents from the incident proved that his daughter had been brutalized – raped, beaten, shot and set on fire.
“Someone poured lye in her vagina to destroy evidence,” her father said. “Her body was dumped in a dirty, filthy contractor’s tent.
“I told my wife I could let it go, but someone would get away with murder and I couldn’t live with myself.”
Photos taken of PFC Johnson where her body was found and at autopsy were examined by the [St. Louis] American. Although the body was fully clothed and on its back at the scene, nude images taken at autopsy show burns to the right side of the body and lividity (the pooling of blood inside the body after death) on her left side.
The victim’s nose appeared to be broken and pushed inward to the left side. There was an imprint that appeared to be a bullet lodged in the front of her head above her left eye, on the side of what was described by medical examiners as an exit wound.
A copy of a sketch in an official investigative document her father received from the Army, titled “Rough Sketch Depicting Crime Scene,” raises questions about how Johnson could have shot herself with her own rifle, when, as outlined in the sketch, a cot is located neatly between the body and her weapon.
The written autopsy report by the Army called her death a suicide. Her father had the body exhumed and re-examined in 2007 by Dr. Michael Graham, medical examiner in St. Louis, who said Johnson died of a gunshot wound to the head.
After her death, the Army promoted LaVena Johnson to the rank of Private First Class and awarded her with a Good Conduct Medal and an Army Commendation Medal.
Johnson picked up quite a few allies in his fight for justice for his daughter, including Army Ret. Col. Ann Wright, who resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service in protest against the Iraq War, several journalists and Veterans for Peace, a national organization headquartered in St. Louis.
Prior to the press conference updating activities surrounding the case, Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace said, “In the military, there is an epidemic of sexual assault not only to women but to men as well.”
He offered a challenge to men.
“In order for us to ensure that our wives, our daughters, our aunts and our women are safe, we have to step up to the plate and hold men accountable in order for this to stop.”
Johnson and his family intend to keep talking about the case and pursuing a thorough investigation until someone is held accountable in the death of his daughter.
In July, Johnson is slated to speak about his daughter’s case at a National Organization for Women conference in Bethesda, Md. as a panelist about rape and violence against women in the military.
A rough sketch depicting the crime scene portrays the inside of the tent where PFC Johnson’s body was found in Iraq on July 19, 2005.
In the sketch, the victim is shown face up, lying on her back in the larger of two pools of blood with her right forearm covering her face. An aerosol can is located between the window of the tent, an area where a fire was set and Johnson’s right leg. A litter, or stretcher is shown beside the body and her loaded M16 rifle is on the left side of litter.
Her father said Johnson was right-handed. The Army told her family she died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Johnson’s family believed she was murdered eight weeks after arriving in Iraq and that her death was ruled a suicide as a cover-up for the crime.
Her father said that prior to seeing the color photographs, he knew something was wrong by looking at black-and-white copies of the body, crime scene and the sketch.
Missouri congressman Ike Skelton is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee that is looking at the case to determine whether there should be a hearing.
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Comments
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Comment #1
(Posted by Kim B.)
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If that was my daughter with that type of overwhelming evidence, I wouldn't stop until I get some answers from somebody either and justice. I blogged this case also at: www.myspace.com/femalevet "DEADLY WALL OF SILENCE"
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Comment #2
(Posted by Sharriyf Kent)
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I heard her father on the radio and when he told the story i cried as if it was my own daugter.When a white female civilian went to Aruba got drunk and disapered the nation media morned and gave the mother airtime and suport. How come this story is so quiet. What con i do to help?
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Comment #3
(Posted by Luke Easter)
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LaVena Johnson (In Memorial)
Just when you think you’ve heard it all,
Another name is slammed into a brick wall,
LaVena Johnson an Army Private First Class,
Is she the first? Certainly this PFC isn’t the last.
Is it any wonder Osama Bin Laden can’t be found?
With a criminal loose in our camp running around,
Destroying evidence, burning bodies, again & again,
Calling themselves soldiers, claiming they are men.
What a shame when the real enemy is on the same side,
Behind the color of camaraderie these cowards hide,
Punched in the face, loose teeth, she was only 5 feet 1,
The Army claims its suicide, that’s all, over and done.
How many before shooting themselves bust their own lip,
Severe enough to the point it needs more than one stitch,
Surprisingly they didn’t say she tried to saw herself in half,
Which lie would be easier to swallow? You do the math.
So, how did that chemical burn get on her private parts?
Oh yeah, maybe a tattoo, some kind of new wave art,
Why would someone waste time getting rid of DNA?
Just maybe without detection they’re free to get away.
The U.S. Army actually tried lying, hooray for her dad,
He gave that crap the smell test and oh did it smell bad,
7/19/05 her dead body found in a contractor’s tent, HBR,
Broken nose, black eye, shot in the head and body scars.
Military personnel or civilians aren’t we on the same side?
Who is the American Government protecting, why that lie?
Had to be someone with pull to get her alone, you’d think,
I don’t have to be standing next to skunk to know it stinks.
Where’s Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the infamous NAACP?
She could not have been more violated, do you not agree?
A 19-year-old honor student should be shown more respect,
But, this is how she’s being treated. Hey! What the heck?
Can’t call it racial because all women are treated the same,
Even academies and bases in the states there is this claim,
We are truly near the end of days soon God will work it out,
Vengeance will certainly be more than a punch in the mouth.
The Uniform Code Of Military Justice aka the U.C.M.J.,
But, where is this promise for LaVena, her assailant got away,
Judging by the condition of her remains, she put up a fight,
Now John and Linda Johnson are paving the road to right.
Funny thing though, seems they have a roadblock in Iraq,
It’s from the U.S. Army, who supposedly has their back,
The saying, “with friends like these who needs enemies?”
Guess the Army thinks first the perpetrator said, “please?”
Here's a little something to me that is simply down right scary,
The hole in her head was from a pistol, which she did not carry,
Oh yeah, if you think that's something how does this fact sound?
The fatal bullet that went through her head was never even found.
If there ever was this kind of incompetence in World War II,
Adolph Hitler or his off spring would be telling us what to do,
Oops, I don't mean us because there'd be no Blacks or Jews,
And only if the Furor liked Mexican food maybe a Hispanic or 2.
Whomever, wherever, whatever, an injustice did occur,
We can’t make it right for others without justice for her,
Hey, White House, the most powerful office in the world,
Do you have the gonads to speak out for this Johnson girl?
A petition was signed that is over twelve thousand strong,
The Army closed the case anyway saying nothing’s wrong,
Nothing like U.S. Intelligence, it’s the reason for the attack,
If they hadn’t been storing WMD’s we wouldn’t be in Iraq.
Poems By Luke Easter
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