Barracks Rats

Death of girl, 16, thought to be drug-related
By Michelle Tan - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday Feb 18, 2009 11:08:45 EST

The death of a 16-year-old girl in a barracks room at Fort Lewis, Wash., is being investigated as a possible drug-related case, the spokesman for Army Criminal Investigation Command told Army Times on Wednesday.

“We’re speaking to numerous people that reside in that barracks and are familiar with the post,” Chris Grey said.

Another 16-year-old girl was in stable condition at Madigan Army Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery, said Joe Piek, a spokesman for Fort Lewis.

Emergency response personnel, responding to a 911 call placed by the person manning the staff duty desk, found the girls about 3:30 a.m. on Sunday in a barracks room on post. The girls were unresponsive, and one of them was pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor from Madigan Army Medical Center. The other girl was taken to Madigan for treatment and she is expected to stay there for several more days, Piek said.

It appears that the girls were acquaintances [Barracks Rats] of a soldier who lived in the barracks, Grey said. He declined to say if the girls were found in that soldier’s room. [Meaning they were]

There were no visible signs of trauma on either girl, said Piek, who declined to name the girls. He did say that the girls, who are from the local South Puget Sound area, have no known affiliation with the Army and neither is a military dependent. [That's because they were Barracks Rats!]

A soldier, whose name also was not released, has been questioned by CID special agents.
On Tuesday, Piek said he did not know if alcohol or drugs played a role, and that the investigation will include when and how the girls got onto the installation. He declined to provide more details.

“Anything about the scene or the circumstances leading up to the event are part of the investigation,” he said.

Piek said Fort Lewis leaders are monitoring the investigation and a review of installation policies and procedures is underway.

Currently, civilians who are not members of military families can access Fort Lewis if they are sponsored and escorted onto post by someone with a Defense Department identification card, Piek said. Everyone 16 and older must provide a photo ID before they are allowed on post.
In the barracks, soldiers can have visitors from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and any day preceding a holiday. No overnight visitors are allowed.

Civilians younger than 18 who are not members of the host soldier’s immediate family must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Also, all visitors must be signed in and out of the barracks building through the unit’s charge of quarters or staff duty noncommissioned officer, Piek said.

“The Fort Lewis leadership really considers this a really tragic event, and we feel very badly that a young lady has died in one of our barracks on post,” he said. “We will ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted and then take appropriate actions, depending on where the facts lead us.”