Solving Army Private LaVena Johnson's Murder
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 23, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 23, 2016
In February of this year, I published an exclusive series of articles that finally solved the 11-year old murder of Army Private LaVena Johnson. Next to winning a full and complete pardon for Clarence Norris (the last known surviving "Scottsboro Boys") in 1976, solving Private Johnson's murder was the second most satisfying accomplishment in my 43-year legal career. I vowed a year ago this month that I would solve Private Johnson's murder, and we did.
We followed the trail of evidence in Private Johnson's murder case to wherever it led us. Between the physical and forensic evidence in Iraq, the post-exhumation autopsy in the U.S., a personal notepad kept by Private Johnson, and the litany of cover-up activities in Washington, all of the pieces of evidence needed to solve Private Johnson's murder were hiding in plain sight, albeit scattered in two countries that are nearly 7,000 miles apart. Since Private Johnson's death in 2005, no media organization beyond our Facebook news team had ever connected all of the dots.
The totality of evidence in Private Johnson's case supports the investigative conclusion that she was murdered in July 2005 on a military base in Balad, Iraq. The murderer was former four-star General Kevin Byrnes, who was one of Private Johnson's Commanders at the time.
For more than 10 years, the military successfully covered up Private Johnson's murder by (a) classifying this crime as a "top secret" and (b) falsely reporting that Private Johnson committed suicide using her military-issued M16 rifle (which bore Serial Number 7097069). Our investigation revealed for the first time that the M16 rifle found at the scene of the murder bore Serial Number 7095028. This was NOT Private Johnson's rifle. The M16 rifle found at the murder scene was actually "planted" at the crime scene after Private Johnson's murder.
Nowhere in the military's criminal investigation records does it disclose who was issued the M16 (Serial Number 7095028) that was located at the murder scene, nor does the military explain what happened to Private Johnson's M16 (Serial Number 7097069).
The military has never disputed the findings in my published reports. These findings were based upon physical and forensic evidence, autopsy reports, crime scene photos, morgue x-rays, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command files, and a plethora of other credible information garnered from inside and outside the Pentagon.
Based upon this indisputable evidence, we established the following facts: (a) Private Johnson did NOT kill herself, as claimed by the Army; she was murdered, execution-style; (b) the murderer was General Kevin Byrnes: (c) the murder weapon was Byrnes' 9MM pistol; (d) the M16 found at the crime scene was not the one issued to Private Johnson; (e) Private Johnson's fingerprints were not on the M16 found at the scene; in fact, nobody's fingerprints were on the weapon; (f) there was no gun powder residue on Private Johnson's hands; (g) General Byrnes continued his extramarital affair with a female contractor after he received a direct ordered from the Army's Chief of Staff to end it; (h) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was briefed by Army officials on General Byrnes' role in Private Johnson's murder; (i) Rumsfeld and the CENTCOM general for Iraqi Operations at the time subsequently gave President George W. Bush a classified briefing about Private Johnson's murder and the situation with General Byrnes; and (j) Byrnes was fired by Rumsfeld as an Army general three weeks after Private Johnson's murder because of his involvement in her death.
Furthermore, it was virtually impossible for Private Johnson, with a fractured neck (from a physical assault on her by General Byrnes) and standing only 5'1", to have had enough mobility left in her battered body to commit suicide by sticking a 40-inch M16 rifle into her mouth and pulling the trigger. Her hands could not reach the trigger on the rifle. Private Johnson's toes could not have pulled the trigger because her shoes were still on her feet. Also, the top and back areas of Private Johnson's head were still intact after she was shot.
Additionally, the fatal bullet from General Byrnes' 9MM pistol travel down from the top of Private Johnson's head and lodged in her tongue, which was inexplicably removed by Army pathologists who performed the first autopsy. No M16 bullet was found at the crime scene.
Private Johnson, who was only 19 years old at the time of her murder, was not a military intelligence officer. She was not killed carrying out a covert military operation against foreign enemies. Private Johnson's death was not an accident or suicide. General Byrnes executed her at point-blank range. She was not murdered to protect classified military secrets in a war zone; Private Johnson was murdered because she stumbled upon General Byrnes while he was engaging in prohibited extramarital conduct in contravention of a lawful order from a superior officer.
Private Johnson met her death on a military base nearly 7,000 miles from her hometown of Florissant, Missouri. By all accounts, she was a great soldier and a wonderful human being.
Private Johnson was ready and willing to die on the battlefield for her nation, but she was not prepared to become a murder victim at the hands of one of her Commanders on a military base in Balad, Iraq. Private Johnson did not deserve to die this way -- alone, unprotected, murdered, and betrayed by her country's top military brass.
Private Johnson is spending this Christmas in a cold grave at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. Her killer remains free, for now. The men who covered up Private Johnson's murder have moved on with their lives.
We are still in pursuit of justice for Private Johnson and we will not rest until her murderer is arrested, charged, tried and convicted for her murder.
Donald V Watkins
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