Re: UPDATE: Arrest in Megan Touma Murder/Pregnant Fort Bragg Soldier

Photo of perp at link:
Soldier arrested in slaying of Megan Touma


Posted: Today at 7:54 p.m.
Updated: 48 minutes ago

Fayetteville, N.C. - Police arrested a soldier Tuesday evening in the death
of a Fort Bragg soldier who was found in a Fayetteville motel room over a
month ago, Fayetteville police Chief Tom Bergamine said.

Edgar Patino, 27, of 374 Lairgate Lane in Hope Mills, has been charged with
first-degree murder in the death of Spc. Megan Touma, police said. They
withheld details about how he knew Touma.

Patino was being held Tuesday evening in the Cumberland County Jail without
bond. Police were releasing few details about him, saying they planned a
press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Touma's body was found at the Fairfield Inn at Cross Creek Mall on June 21
after a motel employee responded to guests' complaints about an odor coming
from Touma's room.

Her body was discovered in the bathtub, and police said she had been there
for a few days. A "Do Not Disturb" sign had been hung outside the door since
Touma checked in on June 17, so no motel employee had entered the room
during that time, police said.

Touma, 23, who was seven months pregnant, was assigned to Fort Bragg base on
June 12. A dental specialist from Cold Spring, Ky., who had been in the Army
for five years, she previously was assigned to Army dental clinics in
Germany and at Fort Drum, N.Y.

The Army and the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill have
completed autopsies, but the cause of death has not been disclosed. A
spokeswoman for the Fayetteville Police Department said last week that
toxicology results were pending.

Police questioned an unidentified soldier at the John F. Kennedy Special
Warfare School at Fort Bragg, part of Army Special Operations, but he was
not called a suspect in the case. His name was not released.

A week after Touma's body was found, someone sent a letter to The
Fayetteville Observer newspaper claiming to be her killer. The letter
included a symbol at the bottom that was similar to one used by "the
Zodiac," a California serial killer in the 1960s who was never caught.

Fayetteville police told the paper that although the letter is valuable
evidence, they believe it was written to mislead investigators and the
public.

Investigators seized two section of drywall containing a red substance
suspected to be blood from Touma's room, according to search warrants.
Swabbings of DNA and other items also were taken from the hotel room and a
rented Chevrolet Trailblazer parked outside.

Touma was the second pregnant service member to die under suspicious
circumstances in North Carolina in recent months. Marine Lance Cpl. Maria
Lauterbach was found dead near Camp Lejeune in January. A fellow Marine,
Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has been charged in her death and is awaiting
extradition from Mexico.



http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3299937/


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