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2:10

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers And

2:13

I'm Brett. And Later this week is veterans day here in the U S a day to honor the commitment and sacrifices of those who serve our country in the armed forces.

2:23

And for some people, military service is a family tradition for others.

2:28

It's a lifelong career, but for a lot of Americans joining the military is a stepping stone, a way to learn some skills and make some money while planning for the next thing.

2:38

And the story I have for you today is about a young man who at just 21 was just months away from starting.

2:46

His next thing.

2:47

When the unthinkable happened, leaving an endless list of unanswered questions.

2:52

This is the story of specialist and Rica, Roman Martinez.

2:57

It's

2:57

almost

2:57

7:00

2:57

PM

2:57

on

2:57

Saturday,

2:57

May

2:57

23rd,

2:57

2020

2:57

a

2:57

day

2:57

into

2:57

the

2:57

Memorial

3:35

weekend. When a call comes into nine one, one dispatch in Carteret county, North Carolina, it's from a young man camping out on the islands of the outer banks.

3:57

The address to your emergency.

3:57

We are keeping count.

4:00

We were at Cape lookout island and between mile marker, 46 and 47 jetties.

4:08

And we, we lost our friend.

4:11

We don't know where he has gone.

4:13

And the, he, something happened to him.

4:18

Where's the, where's the last spot you saw him at last y'all went to bed last night.

4:26

And when we woke up, he was not here and he'd been looking for him all day.

4:30

We were trying to find a park ranger or their offices or anything, and all the way to the, to the ferry and found work that we needed to dial 9 1 1.

4:40

We weren't sure if that's what we had to do out here so we can get core park service in contact with you, sir.

4:45

Are you, are you on core banks or Shackleford?

4:47

Are you like closer as close to Cape lookout?

4:49

Gee, we're on Cape lookout.

4:52

Okay. I'll ask you where you're at. Okay.

4:53

All right. And how long has he been missing?

4:56

We

4:56

woke

4:56

up

4:56

at,

4:56

I

4:56

woke

4:56

up

4:56

at

4:56

eight

4:56

30

4:56

and

4:56

we've

4:56

been

4:56

looking

4:56

for

4:56

him

4:56

all

5:04

day. We weren't sure if he wait, we might be afraid of him might've hurt himself or where we're, we're really not sure.

5:13

Okay. Hold on one second. And you said between mile marker?

5:16

13 30, 6 and 37, no, 46 and 46 and 47.

5:21

Okay. Sorry about that.

5:22

And

5:22

when

5:22

was

5:22

the

5:22

last

5:22

time

5:22

you

5:22

saw

5:25

him? So we all went to bed at night at 1203 that's when we all decided to go to bed.

5:31

And that is the last time he saw her.

5:35

Okay. Hold on one second, sir.

5:36

All

5:36

right,

5:39

sir. I'm sorry about that. What's the phone number you're calling from.

5:42

Okay. And what's your name? Alex.

5:43

And how old is he?

5:45

He's 22.

5:47

22 or 21. I'm sorry, 21.

5:50

Okay. And does he have any physical medical or mental conditions that we need to be aware of?

5:53

He did.

5:54

He wasn't diagnosed, but he did have suicidal tendencies.

6:00

Okay.

6:02

Okay. I just need a description of him. What's his race?

6:05

He is Mexican.

6:08

Okay. He has black hair, brown eyes.

6:11

And what's his name?

6:13

His name is Roman Martinez or Enrique Martinez.

6:17

Okay. And then what kind of, sorry? It was actually, I'm sorry.

6:21

Let me backtrack Greek it Roman.

6:25

I'm sorry. That is Henry gave Roman and this, his name.

6:30

Okay. Do you know what kind of clothing he was wearing at all?

6:32

So he was just, when we locked on, he was just wearing blue shorts.

6:36

Do you know his height or weight at all?

6:38

I would say he's around 1 8 25 and he's probably 5, 6, 5, 7.

6:46

Okay. And was anybody last seen with him or do you think he went off by himself?

6:49

Oh, he had to have gone off by himself.

6:52

Okay. Like I said, we all, we all went to sleep.

6:55

Okay. And he would've left on foot?

6:57

Yes. That's the only way he had to. We only have two cars in there.

7:00

Both still here. Okay.

7:01

Do you know of anywhere he may have gone on the island at all?

7:05

No clue. This is our first time being here.

7:07

So we have no clue.

7:09

Do you know if he took any personal items with him?

7:12

We searched his tent and everything is still there.

7:14

He even left his phone in his wallet.

7:16

Okay. So he doesn't have any trackable technology.

7:19

Okay. No, sir. Do you know if he might have any weapons with him or anything?

7:23

Negative. Okay. And did he leave any notes, letters or threats or anything?

7:26

We have looked through everywhere and it's not even his phone.

7:31

We maybe we don't have the password, so we can't look on that.

7:34

Okay. All right, sir, if you're able to just try to find a recent photograph him, we are getting in contact with park service to come in contact with you.

7:42

If he does come back, just give us a call back immediately.

7:45

Yes, sir.

7:46

And that's it.

7:48

I'm sorry, sir. That's the thing.

7:50

Just let us know. And we are getting contact pockets.

7:53

Everything may give you a call before they come out there and talk to you.

7:56

So it may come from a blocked or restricted number.

7:59

So just make sure you answer it. Yes, sir.

8:03

The ranger arrives a few minutes later at 7:15 PM.

8:06

And according to Jessica Denovos reporting for ABC seven, the ranger finds a group of seven people, six men and a woman, all of them, soldiers from the Fort Bragg army base near Fayetteville, which is about four or so hours away.

8:20

They had taken the ferry from the mainland over to Cape lookout the evening before with plans to camp on the beach for the long weekend.

8:28

I'm not sure how much information the friends provide during this conversation.

8:32

But based on media reports, I was able to piece together a few details about their time on the island, up to the point that they were talking with the ranger, Heather, Leah and Brian Mims reported for WRL that the first night of the trip, which was Friday, a tropical storm, came through the area.

8:48

And at some point before midnight, when they all went to bed and regains tent got knocked over.

8:53

And so the other members of the group helped him set it back up.

8:57

And the group says that they last saw Enrique at 12:03 AM when they went to bed.

9:03

Okay. That's actually something that stood out in the 9 1, 1 called me like 1203 is a very specific time.

9:09

Like they didn't say around midnight a little bit after midnight, they said exactly 1203.

9:16

Yeah. I thought it was a little weird too.

9:18

But besides the exact time, I can't figure out from the source material, whether that's the point, they all like went their separate ways for the night or if they actually saw him walk away, my gut says it's the former, like they all are just went into their tents and apparently looked at their watches at that exact time.

9:35

But either way the camper say they didn't realize that their friend was missing until they got up the next day at like eight 30 in the morning.

9:43

Why didn't you say the nine 11 call came in like that evening?

9:47

Yes. Saturday At 7:00 PM.

9:50

But they knew he was missing at eight 30 in the morning.

9:52

What took them so long to report him missing?

9:57

It's a great question. And one, I wish I could answer for you, but his friends really don't say why not publicly.

10:03

Anyway. Now remember the guy who made that nine 11 called told the dispatcher that their group has spent the entire day searching for Enrique themselves and looking for park authorities because they didn't know that they were supposed to just call nine 11.

10:15

Honestly, I don't think I would know.

10:17

I was supposed to look for park authorities. That would be like my initial go-to.

10:19

Yeah, but even beyond that, something about that doesn't line up for me because according to w I T N T V in Greenville around two o'clock that day, the group actually ran into park Rangers who had approached them and asked them to move their vehicles away from the sand dunes.

10:38

And during that interaction with the people they say they've been looking for all day, no one said a thing about a missing person, but there's no time to question this.

10:49

Now, when the deputies on scene, they need to start searching ASAP.

10:52

If they're going to make any progress at all before the sun goes down, the upside for the search team is that geographically, the area is pretty contained.

11:01

Actually, let me show you a map.

11:03

So you know what we're working with and you can kind of describe it for everyone.

11:08

Okay? So the islands form kind of a wishbone, like a V-shape around the mainland with south core banks on the right side and Shackleford banks on the left and Cape lookout, where, and Ricky and his friends had been camping is basically the very bottom of that V and it's connected to south core banks, almost like a check mark, but the Shackleford side is its own landmass.

11:33

Like you couldn't get from one to the other without a boat Right

11:37

now, at this point, they're thinking if and regain is somewhere on this island, it shouldn't take them long to find him a park spokesperson told a reporter from w I T N.

11:48

That is very rare that someone stays lost at Cape lookout for long.

11:52

They usually their way to one of the beaches before too long, the search team starts at Enrique, his last known location, his campsite, and they move outward from there.

12:02

There is no sign of Enrique that same day park officials post a picture of him on their Facebook page, along with a written description, hoping somebody out there remembers seeing him on Sunday coast guard, boats and helicopters join the search, but they to come up empty Monday, the North Carolina Marine patrol joins in and on Tuesday, the army sends in soldiers from Fort Bragg to help.

12:25

And all this searching by the way is happening in the rain and wind and rough seas, which must've had an impact, not just on their ability to physically search for Enrique, but also could have destroyed any potential clues to tell them where he might have gone.

12:39

So did they find anything during those multiple days of Searching?

12:42

Well, in a piece for the army times, Kyle Rumford wrote that quote, very few clues were found by those scouring, the island and quote, which I realized says that they didn't find much, but very few clues.

12:55

Isn't no clues. So it sounds like maybe they found something, but what exactly?

13:00

I have no idea, but I'll give this search team.

13:03

One thing they don't let up wind rain, choppy waters, they trudge through it all, but they're running out of areas to search.

13:11

And the longer Enrique is missing, the more worried everyone gets park officials make a new plea for information on their social channels, asking anyone who may have seen and regained to come forward.

13:22

And at this point, since he hasn't turned up anywhere on the island, they're looking for anyone who might have given him a lift off the island.

13:30

Yeah. I was just going to ask, is it possible he left the island The

13:34

possibility they're considering for sure.

13:36

Enrique sister Griselda spoke to our team a few weeks ago and mentioned that the Army's knee-jerk reaction when a soldier goes missing is to assume they've gone.

13:46

AWOL army investigators had called Enrique his family back on Sunday to ask if they'd seen him, like had he come by home by chance, but he hadn't.

13:53

He couldn't have, even if you wanted to, because in Rico, his family is in Chino, California on the literal other side of the country.

14:01

And he didn't even own a car nor did he have any identification with him to board a plane.

14:06

He'd brought his wallet on the trip at his friends, found it in his tent the morning they couldn't find him.

14:11

So if he left the island, he did it a on foot and be with no phone, no ID, no wallet, not even a shirt, not to mention no glasses.

14:22

And he needed his glasses all the time for every, I

14:26

mean, I can definitely identify with that.

14:28

And I mean, I guess I wouldn't say those are impossible circumstances for making yourself disappear, but they definitely aren't ideal, like walking away from a campsite with no shoes, glasses, ID, starting a new life someplace else.

14:42

Like you'd have to do some serious advanced planning, like at least get a second set of glasses and hide them in the woods somewhere or something.

14:48

And that kind of planning.

14:49

I don't think that's what's Happening

14:51

here. Griselda told our team that Enrique even going on this trip was totally spur of the moment.

14:56

So your, to your point of like, oh, did he like plant things?

14:59

And then come back later, like this was literally so spur of the moment.

15:02

In fact that he had to buy a pair of swimming trunks and attend on the way to go to this trip.

15:06

So this didn't feel like part of some grander plan to go AWOL.

15:10

Anyway, the park services call for information.

15:13

Doesn't bring anyone forward to say, yeah, I gave this kid a lift, but someone does come forward on the Cape, lookout national seashore, Facebook page with a tip and here, Brett, I'm going to get you to read this for us.

15:28

So it looks like this was posted as a comment on the Park's missing person.

15:32

Notice about Enrique. And the comment says, quote, he looks like the guy I saw Saturday standing on the step rails of a silver Jeep Wrangler with other people flying down the beach.

15:42

As they passed us, we were just past the last set of bathrooms on the south end and quote, wait, this was on Saturday.

15:49

Wasn't Enrique already missing on Saturday.

15:53

Well, at least after eight 30 in the morning and listen, the tipster, doesn't say what time this happened.

15:58

But in regains friend's story has always been that they never saw him after they woke up.

16:04

So if this is him writing, like who the heck is he writing with now?

16:09

Internet people jump on that right away saying it couldn't have been in Rica.

16:13

He was already gone by Saturday. This guy must be mistaken, but he says, he's sure it was Saturday.

16:19

It's like burned into his mind because the Jeep was driving so fast along the beach.

16:23

And he says that one of the people riding on the outside of the Jeep rails looked just like and Rica.

16:29

So Do these guys drive a Jeep?

16:31

Like the campers that are ringing was with They

16:34

do actually. And that's probably why park service actually pays attention to this because normally I wouldn't even mention a random Facebook comment if it wasn't a confirmed sighting, except in this case two days later or park Rangers make yet another request to the public asking specifically for anyone who saw the exact same thing, the Jeep roaring down the beach with this guy hanging from the side rails.

16:59

And they want anyone who saw that to come forward.

17:01

And they specifically say that the Jeep would have been followed by a bright blue Ford ranger pickup.

17:08

So maybe the park service was vetting that tip during those two days.

17:12

That's what I was wondering too. But if that tip generates any new leads in the search for Enrique, it doesn't appear anywhere else in the source material like it never got reported on.

17:23

And really any updates may have gotten swallowed up entirely.

17:26

When news comes out later, that same day that partial human remains had washed up on Shackleford banks.

17:33

The very beach just across from Cape lookout.

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18:45

According

18:45

to

18:45

an

18:45

army

18:45

news

18:53

release. It's not the first time this has happened.

18:56

They say Shackleford banks is an area where quote, the prevailing tides have.

19:01

Unfortunately washed ashore remains in years past and quote, while investigators have a pretty good hunch from the star that the remains belonged to their missing soldier.

19:10

It's not until the next day Monday that they're able to confirm through dental records that the remains belong to Enrique.

19:17

Now the medical examiner performs an autopsy, but unfortunately isn't really able to give investigators very much insight into what happened to Enrique Or

19:26

why not. Because All they had to go off of was his head.

19:31

The rest of his body, wasn't found Griselda, shared the autopsy report with our team.

19:36

And while the Emmy wasn't able to determine cause of death, his report does note several injuries that speak to manner of death.

19:44

In particular, he talks about seeing several chop injuries, a broken jaw cuts and a fractured cervical spine.

19:53

What do you mean by chop injuries?

19:55

I mean Exactly what it sounds like injuries caused by chopping.

19:59

And actually I'm going to get you to read straight from the autopsy report here.

20:05

It says, quote, well, decapitation is in and of itself.

20:08

Universally fatal.

20:09

The remainder of the body in this case was not available for examination and therefore potential causes of death involving the torso and extremities cannot be excluded and quote.

20:19

So does the Emmy have a guess as to how these chop injuries happened?

20:24

Like I'm wondering if it could have been something like a shark attack to cause something like that to happen?

20:29

Well, the Emmy found evidence of some post-mortem animal activity.

20:32

Like for example, the eyes are missing along with other soft tissue, consistent with scavenging, but the so-called chop injuries, those were for sure not caused by animals.

20:41

The autopsy did reference some things like accident, a shark attack, maybe even something involving a boat propeller.

20:47

So it seems like the EMI must have considered those at some point for them to like make note of it.

20:53

But in the end he determined that quote, the findings in this case are most consistent with death due to homicide end quote.

21:01

Okay. But what does Most consistent with even mean?

21:03

Like we can't rule it out or it's for sure.

21:07

A homicide, Well, you're not the only one asking that question when Enrique, his family learns about the ruling, which they do by the way, not from officials at Fort Bragg or any officials or the Emmy, but from the media Rozelle to actually called up the Emmy's office and is like, are you sure it was a homicide?

21:24

And the Emmy told her absolutely 100%, the only way in reggae could get those injuries is from a person with a weapon.

21:34

Now the moment and regains death is ruled a homicide, the Army's criminal investigation division who'd been involved from the onset.

21:42

They actually take over the investigation completely, which means it's also the point where the flow of information to the public pretty much stops that same month in June, the army offers a $15,000 reward for information which actually raises to $25,000 in July.

21:59

That's also around the same time that the FBI announces its joining the investigation in August, 2020 and Rico's remains are released to his family so he can be laid to rest.

22:09

And then silence September, October, November, all come and go with nothing, no updates, no news, nothing in early December.

22:20

The details of Enrique, his autopsy report hit the news for the first time up to this point, the only thing the public knew was that his death was a homicide.

22:29

They knew nothing about the decapitation or the fact that the remains that washed up in Shackleford banks was just his head.

22:37

But on the same day, people find this stuff out, Cape lookout, national seashore announces that they're closing the beaches and the waters in this area for the next six days for quote joint training exercise with the national park service, the us coast guard and the U S army end quote And

22:55

where they're doing these joint training exercises is this relevant to Enriquez case.

23:01

According to mark prices, reporting for the news and record, it's near one of the parks camping areas and is directly across from Shackleford banks.

23:09

So basically the area where in regain his friends were camping.

23:12

So yeah, no on any other day, a closure like this might not have caught people's attention, but because of the timing, right on the heels of this autopsy report, hitting the press, it takes exactly zero minutes where people to start asking questions, like, what do you mean joint training exercise?

23:29

Does this have to do with the murder investigation?

23:31

And more importantly, what are you looking for?

23:35

Right. Eventually several days into this so-called training exercise authorities finally fess up that like, oh wait.

23:42

Yeah, no, actually the FBI dive team is out here looking for evidence in that case, evidence and body parts.

23:50

And did they find anything? Not That I'm aware of, but maybe because after this search, the radio silence comes right back.

23:58

And to those of us watching this investigation and waiting for news, it sure seemed like nothing was happening for months.

24:06

All of 20, 21 practically, but things were happening behind the scenes.

24:13

Things like in late February 21 when the army quietly exude and Rico's remains and sent them to the Army's medical examiner service in Delaware for a second autopsy.

24:24

Oh, Do

24:26

we know why? Like what changed to make them want to do a second autopsy?

24:30

No idea. As far as I know, the second autopsy report has never been made public.

24:34

I don't think the public even knows the autopsy happened.

24:37

Let alone what it said, but we know because we have a copy Today's

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26:02

Brett, I'm going to have you read a couple of sections from the report.

26:06

Okay. It said during decomposition of the human body in a natural aquatic environment, it is extremely rare for the human head to separate from the body slash post cranial skeleton with the cervical vertebrae column remaining in an articulated state, the aquatic recovery of the head and entire cervical vertebral column of the deceased.

26:26

In addition to the insights slash cut marks to the base of the seventh.

26:30

Cervical vertebrae are the result of decapitation by a sharp cutting instrument examination of the head and neck tissues, as well as the cervical vertebrae exhibit no injury pattern that would be consistent with that of a propeller strike from a powered watercraft, nor from an aquatic predatory attack by a large fish, such as a shark fracturing of the mandible is the result of blunt force trauma.

26:53

Then it goes on to say, there is clear evidence of trauma to the skull and the cervical spine due to the absence of the remainder of the body.

27:00

Determination of the specific cause of death cannot be determined.

27:04

The opinion of this office is in agreement with the findings of the original autopsy, that the manner of death is homicide by undetermined means.

27:12

So all that to say, heads don't just come off like that on their own.

27:17

It wasn't a shark.

27:18

It wasn't a boat. He, 100% was decapitated by a human using some sort of weapon.

27:24

So I guess the end of this is hard.

27:27

Yes. To homicide, but still TBD on how he actually died.

27:31

Yeah. Again, army officials didn't make a peep about this when it happened and not because they didn't have a chance to, there's actually another blast of media interest on the first anniversary of Enrique staff in May, 2021, but they say nothing, not just about the second autopsy, but like they say nothing about anything in her coverage for the Fayetteville observer, Rachel Riley wrote that at the one-year anniversary of Enriquez murder, the army would only say that the investigation is ongoing and no further details will be released.

28:02

The only hint that a second autopsy happened is buried in a news release army CID issues in early August, 2021 in it, they list like a bunch of other agencies that they've worked with on this case, the park Rangers, the coast guard, the FBI local police and the armed forces medical examiner, the end.

28:23

But I don't think anyone really picked up on that reference at the time or if they did the army didn't comment any further in that media update, the army officials say that over the last year and a bit they've executed 100 warrants and subpoenas conducted 400 interviews and chased leads all the way to Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and California, not to mention all those searches seven in total, in north Carolina's outer banks, there are searches, which includes cell phones and vehicles have turned up more than 130 pieces of evidence and five terabytes of digital data.

29:00

And they examined all of it yet.

29:03

Despite all of that, they haven't found a single thing, not one single thing that connects anyone to Enrique is murder, no physical evidence, no digital evidence, no testimony, nothing.

29:16

They say they've considered all the logical theories or suspicions about what happened that night and disproved or discarded every last one.

29:25

Clearly at this point, they're desperate for leads.

29:28

So the army increases the reward for information again, to a practically unprecedented $50,000.

29:35

And

29:35

this

29:35

is

29:35

where

29:35

I

29:35

notice

29:35

a

29:35

shift

29:35

in

29:35

the

29:35

way

29:35

investigators

29:35

talk

29:35

publicly

29:35

about

29:35

this

29:35

case

29:35

up

29:35

until

29:35

now,

29:35

their

29:35

official

29:35

statements

29:35

have

29:35

been

29:35

brief

29:35

for

29:35

starters,

29:35

but

29:35

also

29:35

include

29:35

messages

29:35

like

29:35

this

29:35

was

29:35

a

29:35

senseless

29:35

act

29:35

of

29:35

violence

29:35

and

29:35

working

29:35

to

29:35

find

29:35

the

29:35

people

29:55

responsible. But it's at this point just a couple of months ago, starting in August, 2021, that they suddenly start saying something else.

30:03

CID special agent Steven chancellor, the lead investigator on Enrique case is quoted in their news release saying, please understand that homicide basically means that someone's death was caused by someone else.

30:18

That means that the death could have been intentional or it could have been unintentional.

30:24

For example, in this case, someone running over someone with a boat while the person was in the water, et cetera, and quote, But

30:34

I thought the medical examiner two medical examiners actually said that this was definitely not the result of a Well,

30:42

they said the decapitation definitely was not from a boat.

30:46

So Are they thinking that in regains death was actually accidental and the decapitation was, I don't know, a way to try to cover it up.

30:54

They aren't saying that because they aren't saying anything.

30:57

The closest they come to presenting a theory is the paragraph.

31:00

I just read you usually in every news release, which is still only like three in total for this entire investigation, the army includes this like boiler plate paragraph, basically encouraging people to come bore with information.

31:12

It's really vague.

31:13

But in this same release as August 22, 1 release the one where they upped the ante to $50,000 start talking about homicide as a possible unintentional incident.

31:22

The request for information also becomes very specific.

31:26

They say, quote, if you were operating a boat in that area, the night of May 22nd, 23rd, 2020, and recall possibly hitting something in the water, or if you have any other information, regardless of how trivial it might seem, we want you to come forward and quote.

31:45

So How is that? Not a theory.

31:48

Sure. Reads like a theory to me.

31:50

Yeah. And there are other hints to that point to other potential scenarios that the army has at least considered in their investigation.

31:57

For instance, there's a reference to drug use on that camping trip, which is the first time officials have addressed this.

32:04

As far as I can tell though, they knew it since the early days of the investigation, the release itself only has this one line that says that they investigated, suspected illegal drug use on the evening of May 22nd period.

32:17

None that they confirmed it or found anything or think drugs may have been involved just that they investigated suspected illegal drug use.

32:24

Now in reggae, sister told our team that she knows the group was drinking and using drugs on that trip.

32:31

But in her mind it was like typical 20 something stuff, nothing more.

32:35

Now, I'm not sure what comes to your mind when you think of typical 20 something stuff, but it could have been LSD in a feature story for rolling stone.

32:44

Seth harp wrote that acid is actually one of the most commonly used substances on army bases because there's this misconception out there that it can't be detected through your analysis, which is apparently wrong, by the way it totally can be.

32:58

But that's what Griselda says.

33:01

She thinks that they were using that night acid.

33:03

Here's the problem though.

33:05

According to mark prices reporting in the daily press, the medical examiner found no evidence of drug use in and re gaze tissues.

33:18

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34:20

That's the E T T E R H E L p.com/crime junkie.

34:34

Not only were there no drugs found in his tissue, but when I go back to the original autopsy report, it doesn't even indicate that in Riga had been drinking.

34:41

There is alcohol found in his system, but the report says just quote, toxicological testing performed on brain tissue, detected ethanol at 90 mg percent.

34:51

This is attributed to post-mortem bacterial metabolism and quote, which I'm pretty sure is saying no booze just decomposition so Well,

35:02

or at least reasonably sure that the group was drinking and using drugs at night, but actually Enrique wasn't doing either of those things.

35:10

And our interview with Griselda, she told us that Enrique was the guy who supplied the group with drugs.

35:15

Like he was the one who brought the LSD on this camping trip, like As

35:19

a dealer. Well, not as a dealer, no.

35:22

Or at least Griselda doesn't think so.

35:24

She said that her brother actually shared a bank account with her.

35:27

And so if he was making money, selling drugs, dealing drugs, like there's no evidence of that, but he did have a personal interest in psychoactive drugs though, not for partying or just get high, but like the whole microdosing thing using really small doses of drugs, like LSD to treat mental illness.

35:42

And that's the kind of work he wanted to get into when he left the army actually.

35:46

But apart from what seemed like more of a philosophical interest in LSD and other drugs like it, and Ricky's family says that he really wasn't a part of that world, at least not to their knowledge.

35:58

So is this one of those, I know a guy kind of situations like here's happened to be the one with the hookup.

36:04

Yeah. More like that. Like his sister thinks Enrique acted as sort of a go between.

36:08

Maybe like he had a source and he would pick stuff up for friends.

36:12

If it Wasn't to make money though.

36:14

Why do it at all, Again,

36:16

in that conversation with Griselda, she said that first of all, he really believed in the potential power of LSD that it could be used for good for people.

36:24

But also he did it just because like, as a way to be a good friend or make friends or whatever, Good

36:30

friend, or make friends with the seven people who waited, I don't know, an entire day to even bother reporting you missing.

36:36

Well, That's the other thing, actually, when you read the coverage about this case, you'll often hear references to this group of friends who went camping together for the weekend.

36:44

But actually, I don't know that they were really that good of friends or at least maybe not with Enrique.

36:51

What makes you think that? Well, I mean, again, if you go back to that 9 1, 1 call, it's clear that the caller basically doesn't know anything about Enrique.

36:59

I mean, first he gets his age wrong.

37:01

Then he says, he's not even sure of his name.

37:03

Like it's Roman Martinez and Enrique Martinez.

37:06

Then finally he settles on Enrique Roman when his full name is actually Enrique, Roman Martinez.

37:11

I mean, he even gets the physical description wrong.

37:14

Now I realize he's estimating and maybe I shouldn't read that much into it.

37:18

But the color says that Enrique is around a hundred eighty one eighty five and like five, six or five seven.

37:23

But the physical description of him that goes with the missing person poster puts him at five, four and one 20, which Is

37:30

a significant difference, right?

37:33

I mean, it's interesting to me, but in one very short text exchange that our investigative team had with one of the campers, they said like he was our friend, we lost our friend.

37:43

So at least from their perspective from these exchanges, we had, there seems to be a claim of like a deeper friendship.

37:51

And do we know if other campers were investigated Sort

37:54

of, I mean, it's not in the official media coverage or anything, but that camper who texted us, they said, quote, I loved the man as a brother, but I was a number one suspect.

38:04

And now I've been proven innocent and quote, but I'm not sure that they actually have been proven innocent because right after that, this person says that the army is quote, trying to push article 15 stuff to court-martial things.

38:18

And now I might go to jail for my friend dying and quote, Nope, take it all with a grain of salt.

38:24

Of course it's text after all, I would have loved to tell you more, but this person that we reached out didn't want to do an interview on the record.

38:31

They didn't want to have their identity revealed.

38:33

They just sent two texts in response to ours.

38:36

And that's it. Now we talked a couple of weeks ago about a geo-fencing warrant.

38:40

And I wonder if that's an option or even something they considered here.

38:45

I mean, I know they got all that terabytes of data, but like I can't stop thinking about that as like a potential lead.

38:51

Yeah. Cause that would kind of narrow down who was, and wasn't on the island at night.

38:55

I mean, it limits you to people with cell phones, but I have to imagine there aren't a ton of towers where they were camping or where this potential boating accident might have happened.

39:04

To me. It's a process of elimination.

39:06

You have basically an eight hour window in a small area when a guy for sure is murdered.

39:11

So who was Right?

39:13

And I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been more of a public investigation into the people he was with.

39:17

Like, I know authorities said that they looked into them and I'm not saying they are responsible, but you always start with those closest to the victim and then move outward.

39:26

So usually we see so much more released to us as to why they are ruled out or what loose threads are still out there.

39:33

I mean, besides that 9 1, 1 call, I feel like we don't really know anything, Right?

39:37

I mean, all we have is that nine one one call and the nine one one call actually brought up a lot of questions for me.

39:43

So our team actually reached out to mark MacLeish, a former us Marshall and a statement analysis expert.

39:49

And we asked him to review the call and give us his findings.

39:52

Brett, do you want to tell everyone what he said?

39:54

Like give us a little synopsis. Sure.

39:56

So in his analysis, mark noted several points where the nine 11 caller started to say something but left the thought unfinished.

40:04

And that happens like five or six times during the call.

40:07

And in Mark's opinion, quote, I believe the caller is being truthful and that they do not know what happened to Enrique because there were several unfinished thoughts, more may have been going on than what the caller told the 9 1, 1 operator And

40:22

maybe investigators already know the things that the caller left out.

40:26

Okay. But it sounds like based on everything, investigators do have a pretty good idea of what happened to Enrique and maybe even who might be involved, maybe they just don't have the evidence.

40:36

They need to close it. The case maybe.

40:38

I mean, I would say I, 100% agree with you if we were talking about a regular old police investigation, but we're not, we're talking about a us army investigation in that rolling stone piece set harp road that the Army's emo in situations like these is to quote, shut out the public declined to answer questions, apprehend no perpetrators and quote.

40:59

So if you're a cynic like me, you'll think that is what's happening here because the real unvarnished truth is that in regains death was not a one-off.

41:08

This is one of, at least 44 Fort Bragg soldiers who died by homicide or suicide in 2020 alone, one of 44.

41:17

I mean last year, around this time, I told you the story of Vanessa again and about the staggering number of unexpected and unexplained deaths at Fort hood.

41:25

When we released that episode, there had been 26 at Fort Bragg.

41:29

And now we're talking about 44 dead by homicide or suicide in one calendar year from one military base, it's almost unfathomable before his mother signed the papers, allowing Enrique to enlist in the army at just 17 years old, she had asked the recruiter a question, will he be safe?

41:49

And the recruiter said, yes.

41:51

They said, there are some dangers with deployments, of course, but here at home he'll be safe, but he wasn't safe.

41:59

He wasn't on deployment.

42:00

He didn't die in action.

42:02

He wasn't the victim of a tragic accident, even though his literal job as a paratrooper was to jump out of airplanes.

42:09

Somebody killed him and somebody out there knows who and how and why and what happened.

42:16

And we need that somebody to come forward and tell the truth.

42:19

It's the only way to give and regain his family, the justice they deserve just last month in October, 2021, Congresswoman Nora Torres told the Los Angeles times that the army closed the investigation into Enrico's murder in the summer.

42:34

Now no one from the army has officially confirmed or denied that.

42:38

But she's requesting that the case be re-examined by the inspector general of the department of defense in that same story in army spokesperson told reporter Nolan, McCaskill, that quote, we welcome an outside view and we'll follow up on any investigative leads that the IgE identifies and quote.

42:57

If you're looking for a way to get involved, you can sign the justice for Enrique Roman Martinez [email protected].

43:03

We're

43:03

going

43:03

to

43:03

put

43:03

that

43:03

right

43:03

in

43:03

the

43:03

show

43:03

notes,

43:03

adding

43:03

your

43:03

name

43:03

helps

43:03

Enrique

43:03

family

43:03

as

43:03

they

43:03

work

43:03

to

43:03

keep

43:03

his

43:03

case

43:03

front

43:03

and

43:03

center

43:03

and

43:03

to

43:03

ensure

43:03

a

43:03

law

43:03

enforcement

43:03

knows

43:03

that

43:03

it's

43:03

still

43:03

a

43:16

priority. You can also donate to a go-fund me that the family has set up to cover the family's legal fees in their fight for justice.

43:23

Again, we're going to put both of those links, right in the show notes and on our website.

43:28

And don't forget there is a $50,000 reward for information in this case.

43:33

If you know anything, if you even think you might know something, but aren't sure please say something.

43:38

You can call army CID special agents@nineonezerothreeninesixeightsevensevensevenorsubmitatipanonymouslyatcid.army dot M I L.

43:53

That contact information will also be in the show notes and on the website.

43:58

Again,

43:58

you

43:58

guys,

43:58

please

43:58

check

43:58

the

43:58

show

43:58

notes

43:58

for

43:58

everything

43:58

you

43:58

can

43:58

do

43:58

to

44:23

help. There is action. You can take to make a difference.

44:25

You can find all of the source material for this episode on our website, crime podcast.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram at crime junkie podcast, we'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

44:38

Crime

44:38

junkie

44:38

is

44:38

an

44:38

audio

44:38

Chuck

45:00

production. So what do you think, Chuck, do you approve.

45:04

It's the most wonderful time of the year. That's rice crumb, junkies, It is time for the merch store to open. This merch store is opening this week starting Thursday at noon eastern until midnight on Sunday for our fan club members. It is a preorder only. That means that you have a better chance of getting exactly what you want So don't miss your chance to beat the rush, to join the fan club, and get early access, go to crime CrimePodcasts dot com. This podcast is sponsored by better podcast is sponsored by help. Better health is professional counseling done securely online with a licensed therapist that is matched specifically to you and your Betterhelp is professional counseling done securely online with a licensed therapist that has matched specifically to you and your needs. And when you sign up, you can begin your communication in under 48 And when you sign up, you can begin your communication in under forty eight hours. So Is there something preventing you from achieving your goals or interfering with your happiness? Visit betterhelp dot com slash crime junkie. That's better HELP dot com. And joined over one million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. In fact, so many people have been using better help that they're recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states special offer for crime junkie In fact, so many people have been using better help that they're recruiting additional counselors in all fifty states. Special offer for crimping listeners. Get 10% off your first [email protected] slash crime get ten percent off your first month at betterhelp dot com. Slash junkie. Today's episode is made possible with Sling. Some things are too good to be true, but Sling TV is the real deal. Sling was actually built to bring you the channels you love and save you Sling was actually built to bring you the channels you love and save you money. That means access to all your favorite comedies, dramas, action adventures, thrillers, news, and sports channels. In whistling. You can build your perfect channel lineup for more personalized you can build your perfect channel lineup for more personalized experience. And your first one is only 10 your first one is only ten bucks. Sign up in five minutes and start streaming right away on your TV and phone. Sling mix TV, fair, flexible, and just flat out better, all at the same time. Take control of your TV with sling. Go to sling.com to sign up right now and get your first month for just 10 Go to sling dot com to sign up right now. I get your first month for just ten bucks. Hi, CrimeJunkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt. And later this week is Veterans Day here in the US, a day to honor the commitment and sacrifices of those who serve our country in the armed forces. And for some people, military service is a family tradition. For others, it's a lifelong career. But for a lot of Americans joining the military is a stepping stone. A way to learn some skills and make some money while planning for the next thing. And the story I have for you today is about a young man who at just twenty one was just months away from starting his next thing when the unthinkable happened, leaving an endless list of unanswered questions. This is the story of specialist Enrique Roman Martinez. It's almost seven PM on Saturday, May twenty three, twenty twenty, a day into the Memorial weekend. When a call comes into nine eleven dispatch in Carterhead County, North Carolina. It's from a young man camping out on the islands of the outer banks. Carter, I can. And on one with that. Just a emergency call there. We are on Kingstown. We are at Kingstown Island. And between mile marker forty six and and forty seven -- Uh-huh. -- by the jetties. And we we lost our friend. We don't know where he had gone. And and it kinda worried that he something happened to him. Where's where's the last spot you saw him at? So so last y'all went to bed last night, and when we woke up, he was not here and even looking for more day, we were trying to find the park ranger or week their offices or anything, and so he went all the way to the to the steering the downward if we needed the downward one, we weren't sure if that's what we had to do out here. So Yeah. We can we can get core park service in contact with you, sir. Are you Are you on core banks or Shackleford? Are you, like, close to close to Cape Lookout? Yeah. We're on Cape Lookout. Okay. Oh, I see where you're at. Okay. Alright. And how long has he been missing? We woke up at I woke up at eight thirty and we've been looking for him day. We weren't sure if he what we might he afraid if he might have hurt himself or we're we're really not sure. Okay. Hold on one second. And you said between mile marker thirty thirty six and thirty seven? No. Forty six and forty six and forty six forty seven. Okay. Sorry about that. And when was the last time you saw him? So we all went to bed at mid at at twelve o three, and that's when we all decided to go to bed, and that be last time he saw this. Okay. Hold on one second, sir. Alright, sir. I'm sorry about that. What's the phone number you're calling from? Okay. What's your name? Howard. And Howard, is he? He is twenty two. Twenty two. Twenty one. I'm sorry. Twenty one. Okay. And does he have any physical, medical, or mental conditions that we need to be aware of? He did. He he wasn't diagnosed, but he did have suicidal tendencies. Okay. Okay. I just need a description to him. What's his race? He is Mexican. Okay. He has black hair, brown eyes. And what's his name? His name is Roman Martinez or Enrique Martinez. Okay. And then what kind of Sorry. It's actually I'm I'm sorry. One of your plumbing is back, Trey. No problem. Ricay Roman. I'm sorry. That is Enrique GoFundMe his name? Yes. Okay. And do you know what kind of clothing he was wearing at all? So he was just when we left on, he was just wearing blue shorts. Do you know his height or weight at all? I would think he's around one eighty one eighty five, and he's probably 5657. Okay. And was anybody last seen with him or do you think he went off by himself? Oh, he had to have gone offline. So Okay. Like I said, we all we all went to sleep. Oh, Okay. And he would've left on he would have left on foot? Yes. That's the only way he had to. We only have cars in there, both still here. Okay. Do you know anywhere he may have fallen on the island at all? No clue. This is our first time being here. Gotcha. -- we have no clue. Do you know if he took any personal items with him? We searched his tent and everything is still there. He even left his phone in as well with Okay. So he doesn't have any trackable technology. I'm kind of upset. Do you know if you might have any weapons with him or anything? Negative. Okay. And then would do you leave any notes letters or threats anything? I think we have looked through everywhere, and it's not on his phone. We we we don't have the password, so we can't look on that it's looking hard. Alright, sir. If you're able to just try to find a recent photograph 10, we are getting contact with park service to come in contact with you If he does come back, just give us a callback immediately. Yes, sir. And that's it. No. I'm sorry, sir. It's okay. It's been nothing more just let us know, and we are getting contact pockets. Everything may give you a call before they come out there and talk to They may give you a call before they come out there and talk to you. So it may come from a block or restricted number, so just make sure you answer it. Yes, sir. The Ranger arrives a few minutes later at seven fifteen PM. And according to Jessica 10 reporting for ABC seven, The ranger finds a group of seven people, six men and a woman. All of them soldiers from the Fort Bragg army base near Fayetteville which is about four or so hours away. They had taken the ferry from the mainland over to Cape Lookout the evening before with plans to camp on the beach for the long weekend. I'm not sure how much information the friends provide during this conversation, but based on media reports, I was able to piece together a few details about their time on the island up to the point that they were talking with the ranger. Heather Leah and Brian MEMS reported for WRL that the first night of the trip, which was Friday, a tropical storm came through the area. And at some point before midnight when they all went to bed, Enrique's tent got knocked over. And so The other members of the group helped him set it back up. And the group says that they last saw Enrique at twelve o three AM when they went to bed. Okay. That's actually something that stood out in the nine eleven called me. Like, twelve o three is a very specific time. Like, they didn't say around midnight a little bit after midnight, they said exactly twelve o three. Yeah, I thought it was little weird too, but besides the exact time. I can't figure out from the source material whether that's the point they all like went their separate ways for the night or if they actually saw him walk away. My gut says it's the former like they all just went into their tents and apparently looked at their watches at that exact time. But either way, the campers say they didn't realize that their friend was missing until they got up the next day at like eight thirty in morning. Wait, didn't you say the nine eleven call came in like that evening? Yes. Saturday at seven PM. But they knew he was missing at eight 30 in the they knew he was missing at eight thirty in morning. Mhmm. What took them so long to report him missing. Yeah. It's a great question and one I wish I could answer for you, but his friends really don't say why, not publicly anyway. Now remember, the guy who made that nine eleven call told the dispatcher that their group had to spend the entire day searching for Enrique themselves. And looking for park authorities because didn't know that they were supposed to just call nine eleven. Honestly, don't think I would know I was supposed to look for park authorities. That would be like my initial go too. Yeah. But even beyond that something about that doesn't line up for me because according to WITN TV in Greenville, around two o'clock that day. The group actually ran into park rangers who had approached them and asked them to move their vehicles away from the sand dunes. And during that interaction with the people they say they've been looking for all day, No one said a thing about a missing person. But there's no time to question this. Now, when the deputies on scene, they need to start searching now when the deputies on scene. They need to start searching ASAP if they're gonna make any progress at all before the sun goes down. The upside for the search team is that geographically the area is pretty contained. Actually, let me show you a map so you know what we're working with and you can kind of describe it for everyone. Okay. So the islands form kind of a wishbone like a v shape around the mainland with south core banks on the right side and Shackleford Banks on the left and Cape Lookout where Enrique's friends ended Camping is basically the very bottom of that v. And it's connected to south core banks, almost like a check mark, but the shekelford side is its own land map. Like you couldn't get from one to other without a boat. Right. Now, at this point, they're thinking if Enrique is somewhere on this island, it shouldn't take them long to find him. A park spokesperson told reporter from WITN that is very rare that someone stays lost at Cape Lookout for long. They usually find their way to one of the beaches before too long. The search team starts at Enrique's last known location, his campsite, and they move outward from there. But there's no sign of Enrique. That same day, park officials post a picture of him on their Facebook page along with a written description hoping somebody out there remembers seeing him. On Sunday, coast guard boats and helicopters joined the search, but they too come up empty. Monday, the North Carolina Marine Patrol joins in. On Tuesday, the army sends in soldiers from Fort Bragg to help. And all this searching by the way is happening in the rain and wind and rough seas. Which must have had an impact not just on their ability to physically search for Enrique, but also could have destroyed any potential clues to tell them where he might have gone. So did they find anything during those multiple days of they find anything during those multiple days of searching? Well, in a piece for the Army Times, Kyle Rempefer wrote that quote, very few clues were found by those scouring the island, end quote, which I realized says that they didn't find much but very few clues isn't no clues. So it sounds like maybe they found something, but what exactly I have no idea? But I'll give this search team one thing. They don't let up wind, rain, choppy waters, they trudge through it all. But they're running out of areas to search. And the longer Enrique is missing, the more worried everyone gets. Park officials make a new plea for information on their social channels asking anyone who may have seen Enrique come forward. And at this point, since he hasn't turned up anywhere on the island, they're looking for anyone who might have given him a lift off the island. Yeah. I was just gonna ask, is it possible he left the island? I mean, that's possibility they're considering for sure. Enrique's sister, Griselda, spoke to our team few weeks ago and mentioned that the Army's knee jerk reaction when a soldier goes missing is to assume they've gone AWOL. Army investigators had called Enrique's family back on Sunday to ask if they'd seen him like had he come by home by chance, but he hadn't he couldn't have even if he wanted to because Enrique's family is in Chino, California on the literal other side of the country. Tree and he didn't even own a car nor did he have any identification with him to board a plane. He'd brought his wallet on the trip, but his friends found it in his tent the morning they couldn't find him. So if he left the island, he did it a on foot and b with no phone, no ID, no wallet, not even a shirt, not to mention no glasses, and he needed his glasses all the time for everything. I mean, I can definitely identify with that. And I mean, I guess I wouldn't say those are impossible circumstances for making yourself disappear, but they definitely aren't ideal, like walking away from a campsite with no shoes, glasses, ID, starting a new life someplace I mean, I guess I wouldn't say those are impossible circumstances for making yourself disappear, but they definitely aren't ideal. Like, walking away from campsite with no shoes, glasses, ID, starting a new life someplace else. Like you'd have to do some serious advanced planning, like at least get a second set of glasses and hide them in the woods somewhere or Like, you'd have to do some serious advanced planning. Like at least get a second set of glasses and hide them in the wood somewhere or something and not kind of planning. Yeah. I don't think that's what's happening here. Riselda told our team that Enrique even going on this trip was totally spur of the moment. To your to your point of like, oh, did you, like, plant things? And then come back later, like this was literally so spur of the then come back later? Like, this was literally so spur of the moment in fact that he had to buy a pair of swimming trunks in a tent on the way to go to this trip. So This didn't feel like part of some grander plan to go AWOL. Anyway, the park services call for information doesn't bring anyone forward to say, yeah, I gave this kid a lift. But someone does come forward on the Cape Lookout National C Sure Facebook page with a tip. And here, Brett, I'm gonna get you to read this for us. So it looks like this was posted as a comment on the Parks missing person notice about Enrique and The comment says, quote, he looks like the guy I saw Saturday standing on the step rails of a Silver Jeep Wrangler with other people flying down the beach as they passed us. We had just passed the last set of bathrooms on the south end. End quote. Wait. This was on Saturday. Wasn't Enrique already missing on Saturday? Well, at least after eight thirty in the morning, and listen, the tipster doesn't say what time this happened, but Enrique's friends story has always been that they never saw him after they woke up. So if this is him writing, like, who the heck is he writing with? Now, Internet people jump on that right away saying it couldn't have been Enrique. He was already gone by Saturday. This guy must be mistaken. But he says he's sure it was Saturday. It's like burned into his mind because the Jeep was driving so fast along the beach. And he says that one of of people riding on the outside of the Jeep rails looked just like Enrique. So do these guys drive a Jeep like the campers that Enrique was with? Yeah. So they do actually. And that's probably why park service actually pays attention to this because Normally, I wouldn't even mention a random Facebook comment if it wasn't a confirmed sighting. Except in this case, two days later, park Rangers may get another request to the public asking specifically for anyone who saw the exact same thing. The Jeep roaring down the beach with this guy hanging from the side rail and they want anyone who saw that to come forward. And they specifically say that the Jeep would have been followed by a bright blue Ford Ranger pickup. So maybe the park service was vetting that tip during those two days. Yeah. That's what I was wondering too. But if that tip generates any new leads in the search for Enrique, it doesn't appear anywhere else in the source material, like 10 never got reported on. And really, any updates may have gotten swallowed up entirely. When news comes out later that same day that partial human remains had washed up on Shackleford banks. The very beach just across from Cape Lookout. This episode is made possible with butcher box. So true story. 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Everything is packed fresh and shipped frozen for your convenience, so you can save time on your next grocery trip. Skip the lines for your Thanksgiving Turkey. This holiday butcher box is proud to give new members a free release. It's not the first time this has Just go to butcher box dot com slash crime junkie to sign up. That's butcher box dot com slash crime junkie to receive a free turkey with your first box. According to an army news release, it's not the first time this has happened. They say Schackleford Banks is an area where, quote, the prevailing tides have unfortunately washed ashore remains in years past. And, quote, While investigators have a pretty good hunch from the start that the remains belonged to their missing soldier, it's not until the next day, Monday that they're able to confirm through dental records that the remains belonged to Enrique. Now the medical examiner performs an autopsy, but unfortunately isn't really able to give investigators very much insight into what happened to Enrique. Why not? Because all they had to go off of was his head. The rest of his body wasn't found. Riselda shared the autopsy report with our team and while the Emmy wasn't able to determine cause of death. His report does note several injuries that speak to manner of death. In particular, he talks about seeing several chop injuries a broken jaw, cuts, and a fractured cervical spine. What do you mean by chop injuries? I mean exactly what it sounds like injuries caused by chopping. And actually, I'm gonna get you to read straight from the autopsy report here. It says quote, well, decapitation is in and of itself universally fatal. The remainder of the body in this case was not available for examination. And therefore, potential causes of death involving the torso and extremities cannot be excluded. End quote. So does the ME have a guess as to how these chop injuries happened. Like, I'm wondering if it could have been something like a shark attack to cause something like that to happen. Well, the Emmy found evidence of some post mortem animal activity. Like, for example, the eyes are missing along with other soft tissue consistent with scavenging. But the so called CHOP injuries, those were for sure not caused by animals. The autopsy did reference some things like accident, a shark attack, maybe even something involving a boat propeller. So it seems like the ME must have considered those at some point for them to make note of it. But in the end, he determined that, quote, the findings in this case are most consistent with death due to homicide. End quote. Okay. But what does most consistent with even mean? Like, we can't rule it out or it's for sure a homicide. Well, you're not the only one asking that question. When Enrique's family learns about the ruling, which they do, by the way, not from officials at Fort Bragg or any officials or the ME, But from the media, Riselda actually called up the Emmy's office and it's like, are you sure it was a homicide? And the Emmy told her absolutely one hundred percent. The only way Enrique could get those injuries is from a person with a weapon. Now, the moment in Rieke's death is ruled a homicide, the army's criminal investigation division, who'd been involved from the onset they actually take over the investigation completely, which means it's also the point where the flow of information to the public pretty much stops. That same month in June, the Army offers a fifteen thousand dollar reward for information, which actually raises to twenty five thousand dollars in July. That's also around the same time that the FBI announces it's joining the investigation. In August twenty twenty, Enrique's remains are released to his family so he can be laid to rest. And then silence. September, October, November, all come and go with nothing. No updates, no news, nothing. In early December, the details of Enrique's autopsy report hit the news for the first time. Up to this point, the only thing the public knew was that his death was a homicide. They knew nothing about the decapitation or the fact that the remains that washed up in Shackelsberg Banks was just his head. And where they're doing these joint training exercises is this relevant to Enriquez on the same day, people find this stuff out. Cape Lookout National Seashore announces that they're closing the beaches and the waters in this area for the next six days for, quote, joint training exercise with the National Park Service, the banks. So basically the area where in regain his friends were Coast Guard, and the US Army. End quote, And where they're doing these joint training exercises? Is this relevant to Enrique's case? According to Mark Price's reporting for the news and record, it's near one of the park's camping areas and is directly across from Schackelford Banks. So basically, the area where Enrique and his friends were camping. So yeah. Now on any other day, a closure like this might not have caught people's 10, but because of the timing right on the heels of this autopsy report hitting the press, it takes exactly zero minutes for people to start asking questions. Like, what do you mean joint training exercise? Does this have to do with the murder investigation? And more importantly, what are you looking for? Right. Eventually, several days into this so called training exercise, Authorities finally fessed up that, like, oh, wait. Yeah. No. Actually, the FBI's dive team is out here looking for evidence in that case. Evidence and body part. And did I find anything? Not that I'm aware of, but maybe because this surge, the radio silence comes right back. And to those of us watching this investigation and waiting for news, it sure seemed like nothing was happening for months. All of twenty twenty one practically. But things were happening behind the scenes. Things like in late February twenty one when the Army quietly exhumed Enrique's remains and sent them to the Army's medical examiner service in Delaware for a second autopsy. Oh, do we know why? Like, what changed to make them want to do a second autopsy? No idea. As far as I know, the second autopsy report has never been made public. I don't think the public even knows the autopsy terrified. That's why there's no better time than now to invest in simply let alone what it said, but we know because we have a copy. This episode is made possible by get upside. I drive a lot, mostly to and from the office, sometimes seven days a week, so I am constantly at the gas pump. So when I heard about saving money with get upside, it really caught my attention. 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Get upside earns you cash back on things you need so you can spend your money on what you love. Brid, I'm gonna have you read a couple of sections from the report. Okay. It's a During decomposition of the human body in a natural aquatic environment, deceased. In addition to the insights slash cut marks to the base of the it is extremely rare for the human head to separate from the body slash post cranial skeleton with the cervical vertebrae column remaining in an articulated state. The aquatic recovery of the head and entire cervical vertebral column of the deceased in addition to the insides slash cut marks to the base of the seventh cervical vertebrae are the result of cavitation by a sharp cutting instrument. Examination of the head and neck tissues as well as the cervical vertebrae exhibit no injury pattern that would be consistent with that of propeller strike from a powered watercraft, nor from an aquatic predatory attack by a large fish such as a shark. Fracturing of the mandible is the result of blunt force trauma. Then goes on to say there is clear evidence of trauma to the skull and the cervical spine. Due to the absence of the remainder of the body, determination of the specific cause of death cannot be determined. The opinion of this office is an agreement with the findings of the original autopsy that the manner of death is weapon. So I guess the end of this is by undetermined means. hard. So all that to say, heads don't just come off like that on their own. Mhmm. It wasn't a shark. Mhmm. It wasn't a boat. He one hundred percent was decapitated by a human using some sort of weapon. So I guess the end of this is hard yes to homicide, but still TBD on how he actually died? Yeah. Again, army officials didn't make a peep about this when it happened and not because they didn't have a chance to. There's actually another blast of media interest on the first anniversary of Enrique's death in May twenty twenty one, but they say nothing. Not just about the second autopsy, but like they say nothing about anything. In her coverage for the Fayetteville observer, Rachel Reilly wrote that At the one year anniversary of Enrique's murder, the army would only say that the investigation is ongoing and no further details will be released. The only hint that a second autopsy happened is buried in a news release army CID issues in early August twenty twenty one. In it, they list like a bunch of other agencies that they've worked with on this case. The park rangers, the coast guard, the FBI, local police, and the armed forces medical examiner, the end. But I don't think anyone really picked up on that reference at the time or if they did, the army didn't comment any further. In that media update, the Army officials say that over the last year and a bit, they've executed one hundred warrants and subpoenas, conducted four hundred interviews, and chased leads all the way to Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and California. Not to mention all those searches, seven in total in North Carolina's outer banks. Their searches which includes cellphones and vehicles have turned up more than one hundred thirty pieces of evidence and five terabytes of digital data, and they examined all of it. Yet despite all of that, they haven't found a single thing, not one single thing that connects anyone to Enrique's murder. No physical evidence, no digital evidence, no testimony, nothing. They say they've considered all the logical theories or suspicions about what happened night and disproved or discarded every last one. Clearly, at this point, they're desperate for leads. So the army increases the reward for information again to a practically unprecedented fifty thousand dollars. And this is where I notice a shift in the way investigators talk publicly about this case. Up until now, their official statements have been brief for starters, but also include messages like this was a senseless to violence and we're gonna find the people responsible. But it's at this point just a couple of months ago starting in August twenty twenty one, that they suddenly start saying something else. CID special agent Steven Chancellor, the lead investigator on Enrique's case, is quoted in their news release saying. Please understand that homicide basically means that someone's death was caused by someone else. That means that the death could have been intentional or could have been unintentional. For example, In this case, someone running over someone with a boat while the person was in the water, etcetera. End quote. But I thought the medical examiner two medical examiners actually said that this was definitely They aren't saying that because they aren't saying not the result of a vote. Well, they said the decapitation definitely was not from a boat. So are they thinking that Enrique's death was actually accidental and the capitation was, I don't know, a way to try to cover it up, they aren't saying that because they aren't saying anything. The closest come to presenting a theory is the paragraph I just read you. Usually in every news release, which is still only like three in total for this entire investigation, the army includes this like boilerplate paragraph basically encouraging people to come forward with information. It's really vague. But in this same release, this August twenty twenty one release, the one where they up the ante to fifty thousand dollars start talking about homicide as a possible unintentional incident. The request for information also becomes very specific. They say, quote, if you are operating a boat, in that area the night of May twenty second, twenty third, twenty twenty, and recall possibly hitting something in the water. Or if you have any other information regardless of how trivial it might seem, we want you to come forward. End quote. So how is that not a theory? Sure. Read like a theory to me. Yeah. And there are other hints too that point to other potential scenarios that the Army has at least considered in their investigation. For instance, there's a reference to drug use on that camping trip which is the first time officials have addressed this as far as I can tell, though they knew it since the early days of the investigation. The release itself only has this one line that says that they investigated suspected illegal drug use on the evening of May twenty second period. Not that they confirmed it or found anything or think drugs may have been involved, just that they investigated suspected illegal drug use. Now Enrique's sister told our team that she knows the group was drinking and using drugs on that it. But in her mind, it was like typical twenty something stuff. Nothing more. Now, I'm not sure what comes to your mind when you think of typical twenty something stuff, but it could have been LSD. In a feature story for Rolling Stone, Seth Harp wrote that acid is actually one of the most commonly used substances on army bases because there's this misconception out there that it can't be detected through your analysis, which is apparently wrong, by the way. It totally can be, but that's what Griselda says she thinks that they were using that night, acid. Here's the problem though. According to Mark Price's reporting in the daily press, the medical examiner found no evidence of drug use in Enrique's tissues. anymore. I've come to terms with the fact that being healthy is more than just, you know, annual checkups with my doctor, for my body and eye appointments and dental This episode is made possible by Warby Parker. You guys, it never fails. Every time I do an Instagram story, I get hundreds of DMs me. Therapy is just routine maintenance for your mental and emotional wellbeing to prevent bigger issues down the me where my glasses are from and I keep telling you guys Warby Parker has the most stylish frames. And if you're like, oh, well, they look good on you, but I don't know if they're gonna look good on me, then the even better part is Warby Parker is offering you a free at home try on program when you go to warbyparker dot com slash crime junkie. Don't let your FSA or HSA dollars go to waste. camera. If you don't want to, it's much more affordable than in-person to good use on Warby Parker prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses contact lenses, and eye exams. 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So we know or at least reasonably sure that the group was drinking and using drugs at night, but Actually, Enrique wasn't doing either of those things. Well, in our interview with Griselda, she told us that Enrique was the guy who supplied the group with drugs. Like, he was the one who brought LSD on this camping trip, like, as a dealer? Well, that is a dealer? No. Or at least, Griselda doesn't think so. She said that her brother actually shared a bank account. With her and so if he was making money selling drugs, dealing drugs, like there's no evidence of that. But he did have a personal interest in psychoactive drugs though. Not for partying or just to get high, but like the whole microdosing thing using really small doses of drugs like LSD to treat mental illness. And that's the kind of work he wanted to get into when he left the army actually. But apart from what seemed like more of philosophical interest in Ellis and other drugs like it. And Ricky's family says that he really wasn't a part of that world, at least not to their knowledge. So is this one of those I know a guy kind of situations? Like, he just happened to be the one with the hookup? Yeah. More like that. Like, his sister thinks Enrique acted as sort of a go but clean, maybe like he had a source and he would pick stuff up for friends. If it wasn't to make money though, why do it at all? Again, in that conversation with Griselda, she said that first of all, he really believed in the potential power of LSD that it could be used for good for people, but also he did it just because, like, as a way to be a good friend or make friends or whatever, be a good friend or make friends with those seven people who waited I don't know, an entire day to even bother reporting you missing. Well, so that's the other thing actually. When you read the coverage about this case, you'll often hear references to this group of friends who went camping together for the weekend, but actually I don't know that they were really that good of friends or at maybe not withinrique. What makes you think that? Well, I mean, again, if you go back to that nine eleven call, it's clear that the caller basically doesn't know anything about Enrique. I mean, first he gets his age wrong, then he says he's not even sure of his name. Like, it's Roman Martinez, and Enrique Martinez, then finally he settles on Enrique Roman. When his full name is actually Enrique Roman Martinez. I mean, he even gets the physical description wrong. Now, I realize he's estimating and maybe I shouldn't read that much into it, but the caller says that Enrique is around a hundred eighty, one eighty five and, like, five six or five seven. But the physical description of him that goes with the missing person poster puts him at five four and one twenty, which is a significant difference. Right? I mean, it's interesting to me, but in one very short text exchange that our investigative team had with one of the campers they said, like, he was our friend. We lost our friend. So at least from their perspective, from these exchanges we had. There seems to be a claim of, like, a deeper friendship. And do we know if other campers were investigated? Sort of. I mean, it's not in the official media coverage or anything, but that camper who texted us, they said, quote, I loved the man as a brother. But I was a number one suspect and now I've been proven innocent. But I'm not sure that they actually have been proven innocent because right after that, this person says that the army is, quote, trying to push article fifteen stuff to court martial things and now I might go to jail for my friend dying. End quote. Now take it all warrant. And I wonder if that's an option or even something they considered a grain of salt, of course. It's text after all. I would have loved to tell you more, but this person that we reached out didn't want to do an interview on the record. They didn't wanna have their identity revealed. They just sent these two texts in response to ours, and that's it. Now, we talked a couple of weeks ago about a geofencing warrant, and I wonder if that's an option or even something they consider here. I mean, I know they got all that terabytes of data, but like I can't stop thinking about that as like a potential lead. Yeah. Because that would kind of narrow down who was and wasn't on the island 10 night. Yeah. I mean, it limits you to people with phones, but I have to imagine there aren't a ton of towers where they were camping or where this potential boating accident might have happened. To me, it's a process of elimination. You have basically an eight hour window in a small area when a guy for sure is murdered, so who was there? Right. And I'm kinda surprised there hasn't been more of a public investigation into the people he was with. Like, I know authorities said that they looked into them, and I'm not saying they are responsible, but you always start with those closest to victim and then move outward. So me. So our team actually reached out to mark MacLeish, a former us Marshall and a statement analysis we see so much more release to us as to why they're ruled out or what loose threads are out there. I mean, besides that time on one call, I feel like we don't really know anything. I mean, you're right. All we have is that nine eleven call. And the nine eleven call actually brought up a lot of questions for me. So Our team actually reached out to Mark McClish, a former US marshal and a analysis expert, and we asked him to review the call and give us his findings. Brit, do you wanna tell everyone what he said, like, give us a little synopsis? Sure. So in his analysis, Mark noted several points where The nine eleven caller started to say something, but left the thought unfinished. And that happens like five or six times during the call. And in Mark's opinion, quote, I But it sounds like based on everything, investigators do have a pretty good idea of what happened to Enrique and maybe even who might be involved, maybe they just don't have the the caller is being truthful and that they do not know what happened to Enrique. Because there were several unfinished thoughts more may have been going on than what the caller told the 919 operator. End quote. And maybe investigators already know the things that the caller left out. Okay, but it sounds like based on everything. Investigators do have a pretty good idea of what happened to Enrique and maybe even who might be involved. Maybe they just don't have evidence they need to close the case. Maybe. I mean, I would say I one hundred percent agree with you if we were talking about a regular old police investigation, but we're not. We're talking about the US army investigation. In that rolling stone piece, Seth Harp wrote that the army's MO in situations like these is to, quote, shut out the public, decline to answer questions, apprehend no perpetrators. End quote, So if you're a cynic like me, you'll think that is what's happening here. Because the real unvarnished truth is that Enrique's death was not a one off. This is one of at least forty four Fort Bragg soldiers who died by homicide or suicide in twenty twenty alone. One of forty four. I mean, last year around this time, I told you the story of Vanessa Guillaume and about the staggering number of unexpected and unexplained deaths at Fort Hood. When we released that episode, there had been twenty six at Fort Bragg, and now we're talking about forty four dead by homicide or suicide in one calendar year from one military base. It's almost unfathomable. Before his mother signed the papers allowing Enrique to enlist in the army at just seventeen years old, she had asked the recruiter a question, will he be safe? And the recruiter said yes. They said there are some dangers with deployments of course. But here, at home, he'll be safe. But he wasn't safe. He wasn't on deployment he didn't die in action. He wasn't the victim of a tragic accident even though his literal job as a paratrooper was to jump out of airplanes. Somebody killed him and somebody out there knows who, and how, and why, and what happened. And we need that somebody to come forward and tell the truth. It's the only way to give Enrique and his family the justice they deserve. Just last month, in October twenty twenty one, congresswoman Nora Torres told the Los Angeles Times that the Army closed the investigation into Enrique's murder in the summer. Now no one from the army has officially confirmed or denied that. But she is requesting that the case be reexamined by the inspector general of the Department of Defense. In that same story, an army spokesperson told reporter Nolan Macaskill that, quote, we welcome an outside view and will follow-up on any investigative leads that the IG identifies. End quote. If you're looking for a way to get involved, you can sign the justice for Enrique Roman Martinez petition. At change dot org. We're gonna put that right in the show notes. Adding your name helps in Rick Case familys as they work to keep his case front and center and to ensure law enforcement knows that it's still a priority. You can also donate to a GoFundMe me that the family has set up to cover the family's legal fees in their fight for justice. Again, we're gonna put both of those links right in the show notes and on our website. And don't forget, there is a fee fifty thousand dollar reward for information in this case. If you know anything, if you even think you might know something but aren't sure, please say something. You can call Army CID special agents at 9103968777 or submit a tip anonymously. At CID dot army dot MIL. That contact information will also be in the show notes and on the website. help. There is action. You can take to make a difference. You can find all of the source material for this episode on our website, crime podcast.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram at crime junkie podcast, we'll be back next week with a brand new Again, you guys please check the show notes for everything you can do to help. There is action you can take to make a difference. You can find all of the source material for this episode on our website, crime junkie podcast dot com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at kramjanki podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. production. So what do you think, Chuck, do you approve. Crime

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