Back from Iraq, Ft. Benning Soldier Slain

Dec. 1 -- While their only son was off fighting in Iraq, Remy and Lanny Davis wrote a card that would never reach him.

"Never let your guard down," Remy Davis said, reading the card that was returned unopened. "We are looking forward to your safe return."

Days after they sent the card, Army Spc. Richard Davis, a member of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, was killed. But he was a victim, not of war, but of murder, and police suspect it was at the hands of his fellow soldiers.

Hours after returning safely from the war in Iraq on July 12, Davis and four of his Army buddies celebrated their homecoming with a rowdy night out at a local strip club near Fort Benning, Ga. According to police reports, Davis insulted one of the dancers and the men were all kicked out of the bar.

Authorities say Davis began to fight with former roommate Jacob Burgoyne. The fight escalated on the drive home. Davis was beaten and two of the men told police that another friend, Alberto Martinez stabbed Davis repeatedly. His body was then dragged to the woods and set on fire, police said. It remained there for months before police learned what happened.

Last week, Martinez, 23, pleaded not guilty in the slaying. The three other soldiers, Burgoyne, Mario Navarrete and Douglas Woodcoff, all 24, are each charged with concealing a death, a felony that could send them to prison for 10 years.

Brainwashed to Kill?

Davis' family didn't find out their son was back in the United States until a soldier from Fort Benning called the family in St. Charles, Mo., to see if he had arrived home. Lanny Davis went to Fort Benning a month later to inquire about his son, and was told the army had listed him as AWOL, or absent without leave. But there were new clothes, and his toothbrush left in the barracks.

Fort Benning began investigating his disappearance in the fall, after Lanny Davis sought help from his local Congressman. The skeletal remains of his son were found on Nov. 7.