A 21-year-old soldier from Fort Bragg who went missing during a camping trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks was decapitated, according to an autopsy report.
Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, was reported missing over Memorial Day weekend. During a 10-day search, Roman-Martinez’s head washed ashore at a Shackleford Banks beach, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command said. Dental records were used to confirm the identity, the Durham Herald-Sun reported on Friday.
Roman-Martinez’s jaw had been broken in at least two places, and there was “evidence of multiple chop injuries of the head,” according to the autopsy report. A toxicology report found no indication that he was under the influence of drugs.
“While decapitation is, in and of itself, universally fatal, the remainder of the body in this case was not available for examination, and therefore potential causes of death involving the torso and extremities cannot be excluded,” the report reads. “A definitive cause of death cannot be determined, (but) the findings in this case are most consistent with death due to homicide.”
Roman-Martinez was a native of Chino, California, and worked as a human resources specialist. When his remains were discovered, it was not initially clear that it was just his head that had been located.
The Army said he was last seen at a campsite on the park’s South Core Banks and that after he went missing, his wallet and phone were discovered still at the site. There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of the person or persons responsible for Roman-Martinez’s death.
