nastyleg
08-20-2011, 07:04 PM
Bragg pvt., spc. face 1st-degree murder charges
BY MICHAEL BIESECKER - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | POSTED : FRIDAY AUG 19, 2011 9:53:07 EDT
SPRING LAKE, N.C. — Two Fort Bragg soldiers were charged with first-degree murder after a teenager’s body was found dumped in woods near his hometown, authorities said Friday.
Army Pvt. Sebastian Gamez, 20, of Hidalgo, Texas, and Spc. Christopher Blackett, 20, of Vista, Calif., were each charged with first-degree murder and disposing of a corpse, the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Both men lived at the same Spring Lake address and were being held without bond at the county’s jail, the sheriff’s office said. Spring Lake is a town of about 8,000 residents less than five miles from Fort Bragg.
Both paratroopers worked as truck drivers and are members of Alpha Company, 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, spokesman Staff Sgt. Andrew Alfano said.
The body of Vincent Carlisle Jr., 17, was found Thursday afternoon, almost four days after he left his home Sunday night, family members said. Blackett and Gamez had moved in next door about six months ago.
“Vincent was a good kid: happy, jolly,” said Pamela Marks, a family friend who answered the door at Carlisle’s home. “It’s just senseless.”
Shawn Chavis, a cousin of Carlisle’s, said the family was at a loss to explain what had happened, and that no one knew of any disagreement or bad blood between the teenager and his neighbors.
Located in a quiet cul-de-sac off busy Bragg Boulevard, Carlisle’s home stands about 20 feet from where the soldiers were living. A basketball hoop stands in Carlisle’s back yard, testament to his dreams of playing for the University of North Carolina one day.
The neighborhood is full of rental properties, and it’s common for people to come and go, neighbors said. No one who answered their door in the neighborhood Friday said they knew the soldiers.
Carlisle had attended Overhills High School in Spring Lake but transferred to a school about 30 miles north because he wanted to break out of a social circle that didn’t value education, said Melanie Stewart, principal of Johnathan’s House Christian School in Fuquay-Varina. Carlisle was entering his senior year of school and was planning to tour the UNC campus in Chapel Hill this week, Stewart told The Associated Press.
“He was trying to change,” Stewart said. “He said, ‘I want to show my mom. I want to show everyone I can do this.’ ”
Carlisle had poor grades upon entering her school, but Stewart said he rapidly improved once he was out of a peer group she said was hostile to education. She plans to present his family with a posthumously-awarded diploma and graduation cap and gown.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and I’ve never lost a student,” Stewart said. “Every day when he’d leave me, he’d go back into that neighborhood. It was the neighborhood that got him.”
Associated Press writers Tom Breen and Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this story.
http://www.ARMYTIMES.com/mobile/index.php?storyUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.armytimes.com% 2Fnews%2F2011%2F08%2Fap-bragg-soldiers-face-teen-murder-charges-081911%2F
BY MICHAEL BIESECKER - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | POSTED : FRIDAY AUG 19, 2011 9:53:07 EDT
SPRING LAKE, N.C. — Two Fort Bragg soldiers were charged with first-degree murder after a teenager’s body was found dumped in woods near his hometown, authorities said Friday.
Army Pvt. Sebastian Gamez, 20, of Hidalgo, Texas, and Spc. Christopher Blackett, 20, of Vista, Calif., were each charged with first-degree murder and disposing of a corpse, the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Both men lived at the same Spring Lake address and were being held without bond at the county’s jail, the sheriff’s office said. Spring Lake is a town of about 8,000 residents less than five miles from Fort Bragg.
Both paratroopers worked as truck drivers and are members of Alpha Company, 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, spokesman Staff Sgt. Andrew Alfano said.
The body of Vincent Carlisle Jr., 17, was found Thursday afternoon, almost four days after he left his home Sunday night, family members said. Blackett and Gamez had moved in next door about six months ago.
“Vincent was a good kid: happy, jolly,” said Pamela Marks, a family friend who answered the door at Carlisle’s home. “It’s just senseless.”
Shawn Chavis, a cousin of Carlisle’s, said the family was at a loss to explain what had happened, and that no one knew of any disagreement or bad blood between the teenager and his neighbors.
Located in a quiet cul-de-sac off busy Bragg Boulevard, Carlisle’s home stands about 20 feet from where the soldiers were living. A basketball hoop stands in Carlisle’s back yard, testament to his dreams of playing for the University of North Carolina one day.
The neighborhood is full of rental properties, and it’s common for people to come and go, neighbors said. No one who answered their door in the neighborhood Friday said they knew the soldiers.
Carlisle had attended Overhills High School in Spring Lake but transferred to a school about 30 miles north because he wanted to break out of a social circle that didn’t value education, said Melanie Stewart, principal of Johnathan’s House Christian School in Fuquay-Varina. Carlisle was entering his senior year of school and was planning to tour the UNC campus in Chapel Hill this week, Stewart told The Associated Press.
“He was trying to change,” Stewart said. “He said, ‘I want to show my mom. I want to show everyone I can do this.’ ”
Carlisle had poor grades upon entering her school, but Stewart said he rapidly improved once he was out of a peer group she said was hostile to education. She plans to present his family with a posthumously-awarded diploma and graduation cap and gown.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and I’ve never lost a student,” Stewart said. “Every day when he’d leave me, he’d go back into that neighborhood. It was the neighborhood that got him.”
Associated Press writers Tom Breen and Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this story.
http://www.ARMYTIMES.com/mobile/index.php?storyUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.armytimes.com% 2Fnews%2F2011%2F08%2Fap-bragg-soldiers-face-teen-murder-charges-081911%2F