Two Navy SEALs and two Marines have been charged with murdering Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, who was found strangled last year in Mali.
The SEALs and the Marines, charged Wednesday, allegedly barged into Melger’s room on June 4, 2017 in Bamako, Mali. Melger had been sleeping and was subsequently confined with duct tape and choked to death, according to charge sheets. The SEALs and the Marines also provided investigators with misleading information surrounding Melger’s death.
The SEALs and Marines have been additionally charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, hazing, and burglary. They could spend a lifetime behind bars or be sentenced to death if they are convicted.
The charge sheets claim that the people behind the incident headed to Marine quarters to get duct tape and then returned to the shared quarters, where they broke into Melger’s locked room and “strangled SSG Melgar by placing him in a chokehold.”
Although their names were redacted in the charge sheets and the Navy has not provided names, an Army Criminal Investigative Division report from September 2017 included quotes from Navy SEAL Tony DeDolph, who claimed he and SEAL Adam Cranston Matthews wrestled with Melgar. The identities of the Marines remain uncertain.
In that report, DeDolph said that the three men fell on Melgar’s bed and that Melgar was crushed by Matthews. The SEALs claimed they then realized that Melgar was not breathing and tried to resuscitate him with CPR and attempted to open an airway in his throat, NBC News first reported last year.
The document also claims DeDolph admitted to a witness after Melga’s death that he “‘choked Logan out.’”DeDolph admitted to the witness that he ‘choked Logan out.'”
The charge sheets from Thursday claim that those involved with the scheme provided “a false timeline of events to the Navy chain of command,” and intentionally did not disclose the use of duct tape.
The September 2017 report notes that one witness said DeDolph, Matthews, and other were frustrated with Melgar “after they felt he intentionally tried to evade them while he was driving to a party.”
According to the Daily Beast, a source familiar with the situation said that Melger and DeDolph were at odds with one another over the SEALs’ professionalism.
Commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Rear Adm. Charles Rock agreed to move forward with the charges after the Navy concluded its criminal investigation into Melger’s death last week, at which time the Navy’s chief spokesperson Capt. Greg Hicks told the New York Times Rock would “review all relevant information pertaining to Staff Sergeant Melgar’s death and make determinations regarding administrative or disciplinary actions as appropriate.”
The SEALs are chief petty officers assigned to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and the Marines are assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. Their names were redacted in the charge sheets, and the Navy has not provided their identities.
An Article 32 investigation — essentially a preliminary hearing under the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice — is slated for Dec. 10 in Norfolk, Va.
“If these allegations of misconduct are substantiated, they represent a violation of the trust and standards required of all service members,” said U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Navy Capt. Jason Salata, according to the U.S. Naval Institute’s news division. “We trust our service members to safeguard our nation’s most sensitive interests and to do so with honor.”
