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Updated: 10:15 AM Jul 18, 2008
Report: Army Didn't Search For Deserters Charged With Minister Murder
The Army says it can't dedicate resources to finding soldiers who take off. Posted: 7:41 AM Jul 18, 2008Reporter: WSAZ News Staff Email Address: news@wsaz.com |
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va (WSAZ) -- Two soldiers accused of murdering a Huntington minister walked away from their base two months ago.
And now the Army says they did nothing to track them down.
Records show Daniel Smith and Stephen Wilson deserted Fort Drum, N.Y., in early May and made their way to West Virginia.
That's when prosecutors say they came across Reverend Mark McCalla at a Wayne County shooting range and killed him.
A Huntington newspaper interviewed Lt. Col. George Wright, the acting deputy director of media relations for the Army.
Wright told the paper that the Army didn't send a unit to look for Wilson and Smith because they can't typically dedicate resources finding deserters.
Instead, he says the Army entered their names into an FBI database.
Latest Comments
Posted by: ghandi
on Jul 19, 2008 at 10:43 AM
its sad but the army also trained these two to kill & that will be their defense and it will keep them out of the electric chair....also if the mccalla family are true christians they are to forgive and that will prompt the judge to give mercy maybe 25 to life in a military prison...god bless the mccalla family
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Posted by: Matt
on Jul 19, 2008 at 09:56 AM
First folks... get your facts straight. These guys are soldiers. They are enlisted in the Army. I am a former soldier myself, and I don't like giving them that label... but it's a fact. Second... no one is blaming the Army. The story was done because there are a lot of questions surrounding the circumstances of how and why these guys ended up murdering a Huntington minister. No one is blaming or implying that the military did anything wrong. Read the story. All deserters are treated this way, not just two guys that were bent on murder. It's just an interesting piece of the puzzle... not an assignment of blame.
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Posted by: FP
on Jul 19, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Couple of things here..one i agree it is not the army's fault that these men did this horrific crime! Secondly...why blame a president currently in office that had absolutely nothing to do with the cutting back of military funding. Check out the the ones that have continually voted against funding or lets go back even further to the one that closed several of our bases and instituted a majog cut in military funding. Who was that you may ask..Clinton..so before we go bashing and blaming others...we must place blame on where it lies...and that is with the TWO MEN (not true soldiers) that did the crime. Everyone is and must always be accountable for their OWN actions.
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