Slain Army wives wanted to leave marriages, newspaper reports
Posted on 08/05/2002 5:39:51 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Slain Army wives wanted to leave marriages, newspaper reports
Post review to look at how military deals with marital problems
08/05/2002
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Four Army wives who investigators say were killed by their husbands all wanted to get out of their marriages, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The deaths at Fort Bragg in June and July have prompted post officials to promise a review that will include how the military deals with marital problems.
Three of the husbands were special operations soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan, but investigators discounted a direct connection to wartime service.
"It's not like all three went to Afghanistan, came back and killed their wives," Lt. Sam Pennica of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office told The Fayetteville Observer. "They all had ongoing marital problems before the war."
The newspaper reported that Jennifer Wright, 32, told her parents in January that she was "tired of being a military wife" and wanted a divorce.
Investigators said her husband, Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, killed her at the end of June, then confessed three weeks later and led authorities to her body.
Marilyn Griffin, 32, separated from her husband of eight years in May, for the third time. Two months later, she was stabbed to death and her body set on fire in her home.
Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, who worked in the commissary and had never been to Afghanistan, was charged.
Investigators and family believe Teresa Nieves and Andrea Floydalso told their husbands they wanted to separate in June.
Lawmen said Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves shot and killed his wife and himself June 11. Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd killed Andrea on July 19, then turned the gun on himself.
There was no indication that threats of separation played a role in a fifth death, on July 23, of Maj. David Shannon, 40. His wife and a teenager were arrested last week. Investigators believe that Mr. Shannon was killed for insurance money.
Andrea Floyd's mother, Penny Flitcraft, told the newspaper she believes that her daughter's desire to leave undercut Brandon Floyd's sense of control.
Kendra League, one of Ms. Floyd's best friends, said he was a perfectionist and wanted the perfect wife.
"She struggled to please him. She was tall, blond and beautiful. He would tell her she was fat and she needed to do something with herself," said Ms. League, who lives in Syracuse, N.Y.
That need for control is a common trigger for men who kill their wives, said people who work with victims of domestic abuse.
"We do know that the most dangerous time for a woman who is in an abusive relationship is when she leaves," Bill Duke, former director of CARE Center, a shelter and advocacy group for battered women in Fayetteville, told the newspaper.
The media have been full of stories of the four "wives" who were killed, but this is the first I've heard of the Major. How come?
Many years ago, "abusive husbands" was always the cry from the military wives and lawyers. Well it was that many were such. However, MANY got away with that as an excuse, everyone else knew what was reality, cheating wives. The husbands were unable to maintain personal control.
Think she was a step daughter.
Don't leave your wife at home alone with the Lifetime channel.
Unlucky, I guess?............
Fort Bragg Major Murdered In Fayetteville Home
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/721505/posts?page=57#57
Didn't have time for the news this morning, so I hadn't heard this yet.
Shoulda asked for a transfer to Stepford CT.
LOL. Is there a base there? :)
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