
Update: It has been two years since the body of an Army Master sergeant and an Army veteran were found on Fort Bragg and the FBI is still seeking information about their deaths.
On Friday, the FBI’s Charlotte field office posted on Twitter to solicit the public for any information they may have on their deaths.
#OTD in 2020, two men were found dead on Fort Bragg property. Timothy Dumas, Sr., and Master Sergeant William Lavigne III deserve justice. Help #FBI solve their murders. https://t.co/3g9k7AbbyS pic.twitter.com/oRphsk8u74
— FBI Charlotte (@FBICharlotte) December 2, 2022
Simone Jasper
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
A homicide investigation is underway weeks after two people were found dead on a military base in North Carolina, officials said.
The FBI on Tuesday said it was seeking information about the events leading up to the discovery of two bodies at Fort Bragg on Dec. 2, 2020.
One of the bodies was identified as 37-year-old Master Sgt. William J. Lavigne. Officials said he was in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
“Lavigne was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, officials said in a news release Friday, but an Army source speaking to Connecting Vets on the condition of anonymity confirmed that he was a member of B-Squadron, Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, commonly known as Delta Force,” Audacy reported.
Lavigne had been investigated in the 2018 death Sgt. 1st Class Mark Leshikar, 33, who was a member of the National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group. Leshikar was fatally shot in Fayetteville on March 21 of that year.
The other was identified as 44-year-old Timothy Dumas, a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Pinehurst, McClatchy News previously reported.
At the time the bodies were discovered, officials released few details — but said Lavigne and Dumas weren’t killed in military training.
On Tuesday, the FBI said it was investigating the case as a double homicide.
“As part of the ongoing in-depth investigation into the deaths of Dumas and Lavigne, investigators are asking the public for assistance to create a timeline of their locations and activities on December 1-2, 2020,” the federal agency wrote in a news release.
The FBI, which said it’s teaming up with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, released photos of Lavigne, Dumas and their pickup trucks.
Investigators said Lavigne’s gray Chevrolet Colorado “was found at the crime scene near Manchester Road.” Dumas’ pickup, a Dodge Ram 1500, was found in a location officials didn’t reveal.
The FBI asks anyone with information about the case to contact its Charlotte office at 704-672-6100 or the U.S. Army investigators at 910-396-8777.
Fort Bragg is roughly 10 miles northwest of downtown Fayetteville.
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