Fort Bragg Families Look for Distress Signals

Aug. 1 -- As Army officials at Fort Bragg, N.C., look deeper into a series of domestic slayings at the base, the families of the military spouses who were victims are wondering what went wrong, and whether signals of trouble were missed.

Joan Shannon, the 35-year-old wife of an Army special operations officer has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of her husband, Maj. David Shannon, 40.

Joan Shannon could be heard screaming in what seemed like a desperate 911 call for help on the night of July 23.

Operator: "This is 911, we just received a call from there, is everything OK?"

Joan Shannon: "I need an ambulance …"

Operator: "What?"

Shannon: "I need an ambulance here, I need the police here now."

Operator: "Ok, what do you need a police officer for?"

Shannon: "Somebody shot my husband."

Police say Shannon's call was a lie. They say financial gain was one of the primary motives in the slaying — just the latest in a string of domestic-related killings on the base.

In the course of six weeks, between June 11 and July 23, four Army soldiers from the base allegedly killed their wives. Two of the men killed themselves.

Three of the men were special operations soldiers who had recently returned from Afghanistan. It has raised the question: Is the military doing enough to smooth the soldiers' transition to civilian life?

Col. Tad. Davis, the Fort Bragg garrison commander and the chairman of Fort Bragg's Family Advocacy Program, said Tuesday that the base offers a full range of counseling services and is working to get to the bottom of what happened in each of the killings.

"What I can tell you is that we have a wide range of programs that contain training and counseling for both our soldiers and their spouses," Davis told Good Morning America. "I can assure you that we take our responsibilities here very seriously."

After hearing Davis' comments on GMA, dozens of women from Fort Bragg reached out to a local reporter who has been closely covering the story for the Fayetteville Observer.