A World War II veteran from Baltimore has finally been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, 13 years after his body was discovered in a trunk along Route 340 in Loudoun County.
The burial marks the end to a tragic story of romance, deception, and a decades-long identity theft scheme.
Jasper “Jack” Watkins, who served honorably with the U.S. Army, met Nancy Jane Siegel, now 61, of Baltimore, in 1994. Ironically enough, the encounter began when Siegel, Watkins’ eventual murderer, sold him a mausoleum and burial services. The two later developed a romantic relationship, according to witness testimony.
By December 1994, Siegel had gained access to Watkins’ financial accounts, and was using his money extensively to purchase a variety of goods, including jewelry and women’s apparel.
In April 1996, Siegel sold Watkins’ home, but was quickly running out of ideas on how to prolong the scheme. She began taking steps to have him wrongfully committed to psychiatric care while pawning his possessions, according to federal prosecutors.
On May 13, 1996, Siegel drove to Loudoun County and dumped Watkins’ body, stuffed in a trunk, near a trash can along Route 340. For seven years, she continued to use Watkins’ identity to access his existing accounts and open new ones, as well as collect his social security and retirement benefits.
Siegel was apprehended in August 2003 and sentenced in April 2009 to 33 years for murder and fraud.
Watkins’ body was not identified until 2003 because there was no ID with his remains. He was 76 at the time of the murder.
Representatives who worked the case from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office attended the funeral service, which took place Friday.
“It took thirteen years of hard work by intrepid investigators and persistent prosecutors for the trunk that served as Jack Watkins’ coffin to make it from a curb in Loudoun County, Va., to a courtroom in Baltimore, Md., to his final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
