When a Missouri honor student decides to follow in her father’s footsteps by joining the Army after highschool, she’s soon deployed to Iraq, where her life ends under unthinkable circumstances. After receiving contradictory information regarding his daughter’s death, her father—a doctor of behavioral psychology—attempts to piece together what really happened in this episode of Last Seen Alive .
LaVena Johnson was 19-years-old when she was last seen alive in Balud, Iraq on July 19th, 2005.
Pictured Army investigators’ sketch of the death scene.
LaVena was enthusiastically anticipating celebrating the winter holidays with her family in Missouri when she died under mysterious circumstances in July of 2005.
Pictured: LaVena’s Army-issued M16.
Pictured: the contractor’s tent were LaVena was found deceased.
Although she was an honor student, LaVena chose to follow in her father’s footsteps by joining the Army immediately after high school. Pictured: LaVena (left) and her father, Dr Johnson (right).
Pictured: the contractors’ tent inside of which LaVena was found deceased.
Army Report of Casualty 1/2: LaVena Johnson.
Army Report of Casualty 2/2: LaVena Johnson.
Pictured: LaVEna’s
Sources used to research this episode:
Soldier’s Family Challenges Army Suicide Report (Michel Martin / NPR)
10 Years Later, a Soldier’s Family Still Grieves and Questions the Army’s Version of her Death (Mary Detach Leonard / St. Louis Public Radio)
A Death with Two Stories Evidence (David Zucchino / Los Angeles Times)
Is There an Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers? (Ann Wright / TruthOut)
Who Killed Private 1st Class LaVena L. Johnson? (Sandra Jordan / New Pittsburgh Courier)
Local Family Seeking Answers After Military Daughter’s Alleged Suicide 17 Years Ago (Jenna Rae / KMOV4)
The Truth About LaVena Johnson (Jamala Rogers / St. Louis American)
The Varying Size of Exit Wounds from Center-Fire Rifles as a Consequence of the Temporary Cavity (Annette Thierauf et al. / International Journal of Legal Medicine)
Wound Ballistics of High-Velocity Cartridges (Mike Callahan / Police1)
‘A Poison in the System’: The Epidemic of Military Sexual Assault (Melinda Winner Moyer / NY Times)
Combat Deployment is Associated with Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault in a Large, Female Military Cohort (Cynthia A Leardman et al. / National Library of Medicine)
What’s The Military Hiding About LaVena Johnson & Kamisha Block’s Deaths? (Megan Carpentier / Jezebel)
Sexual Violence Against Women in the US Military: The Search for Truth and Justice (John Lasker / Toward Freedom)
If you have any information about the death of LaVena Johnson, please report your tip to the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division. You can submit a tip online at: https://www.cid.army.mil/Submit-a-Tip/
Thanks for all you do.
Regards
-Amy ♡
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