Latest news with #U.S.ARMY
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Army husband of missing pregnant wife is expected to plead guilty
COURTESY U.S. ARMY Dewayne Johnson 1 /2 COURTESY U.S. ARMY Dewayne Johnson COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson. 2 /2 COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson. COURTESY U.S. ARMY Dewayne Johnson COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson. A Schofield Barracks soldier, whose 19-year-old pregnant wife disappeared in the summer of 2024, has agreed to plead guilty to charges in a hearing next week, a spokeswoman from the U.S. Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel said today in an email. Pfc. DeWayne Arthur Johnson II's defense counsel negotiated a plea deal with the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel, which is not releasing any details on the charges at this time. A June 3 – 5 hearing at Wheeler Army Airfield Courtroom is scheduled. Johnson's wife, Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson, was six months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. The woman's family last heard from her July 12, 2024. On Aug. 27, the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel preferred charges of providing false official statements, obstruction of justice and the production and distribution of child pornography in violation of Articles 107, 131b and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and 14 unnamed specifications against Dewayne Johnson. Preferral of charges is a formal process in the military when a prosecutor drafts the charges, and a commander signs and reads the service member the charges. See more : 0 Comments By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our. Having trouble with comments ? .
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Yahoo
Murder case against Schofield soldier advances toward trial
U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SPC. JOSHUA LINFOOT U.S. Army Pfc. Dewayne Johnson 1 /2 U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SPC. JOSHUA LINFOOT U.S. Army Pfc. Dewayne Johnson COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson 2 /2 COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SPC. JOSHUA LINFOOT U.S. Army Pfc. Dewayne Johnson COURTESY PHOTO Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson The Army's case against Pfc. Dewayne Johnson, 28, a Schofield Barracks-based soldier suspected of murdering his pregnant teenage wife, is moving closer to trial by court-martial. On Wednesday the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel referred five charges and 19 specifications against Dewayne Johnson. In a news release the Army said 'the general nature of the charges are for the murder of Mischa Johnson, intentionally killing her unborn child, obstruction of justice, providing false official statements, possession of child pornography and the production and distribution of child pornography.' Dewayne Johnson is being held in pretrial confinement and waived his right to an Article 32 preliminary hearing. Now that charges are referred, the case will be assigned to a military judge who will schedule dates for an arraignment, pretrial hearings and the trial itself. Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson, 19, was last seen at her home at Schofield Barracks on July 31. She has not been found but the Army says she is 'presumed deceased.' After initially searching for her for more than two weeks, Army officials arrested her husband, Dewayne Johnson, on Aug. 19. Johnson, who hails from Maryland, enlisted in 2022 and was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks as a cavalry scout in June 2023. Mischa Johnson was born and raised on Oahu and grew up in Ewa Beach. At the time of her disappearance, she was six months pregnant with a baby girl. Shortly after Dewayne Johnson's arrest, Mischa Johnson's family spoke about the investigation during an appearance on an Instagram livestream by podcast Always Always Support Local on Aug. 22 and asked the public to help Army investigators. The family said Army investigators told them they were investigating Dewayne Johnson engaging in extramarital sexual relationships with several local teenage minors, as well as producing and distributing pornography depicting minors. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. During the podcast appearance Mischa Johnson's mother, Frances Tapiz-Andrian, broke into tears, telling those who tuned in, 'I can't even bury my daughter. … Please don't fail Mi scha. I'm asking, I'm pleading. Please, please come out. I hurt every day.' Though the case is moving toward trial the Army said the 'case remains an ongoing investigation ' and urged anyone with information regarding the case and Mischa Johnson's whereabouts to contact the Army Criminal Investigation Division Pacific Field Office at 808-208-0559, or via /tip For information about court-martial proceedings, the Army facilitates public access to its docketing information online through the Army's eDocket system at : .
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Military launches new effort to ID unknown soldiers from West Loch Disaster
AUSTIN BOUCHER / U.S. ARMY / OCT. 7 Members of the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency walk beside a casket during a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. At least 163 people were killed and 396 injured in a series of explosions triggered by an accident that occurred while troops loaded weapons and munitions onto amphibious landing ships at the West Loch peninsula of Pearl Harbor. 1 /4 AUSTIN BOUCHER / U.S. ARMY / OCT. 7 Members of the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency walk beside a casket during a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. At least 163 people were killed and 396 injured in a series of explosions triggered by an accident that occurred while troops loaded weapons and munitions onto amphibious landing ships at the West Loch peninsula of Pearl Harbor. ARIEL OWINGS / U.S. AIR FORCE / NOV. 4 U.S. service members from the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency participate in a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Eight sets of remains were disinterred as part of the West Loch Project, an ongoing effort to identify service members who died in the West Loch Disaster during World War II. 2 /4 ARIEL OWINGS / U.S. AIR FORCE / NOV. 4 U.S. service members from the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency participate in a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Eight sets of remains were disinterred as part of the West Loch Project, an ongoing effort to identify service members who died in the West Loch Disaster during World War II. U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES / 1944 Above, billowing black smoke from the disaster could be seen for days. 3 /4 U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES / 1944 Above, billowing black smoke from the disaster could be seen for days. STAR-ADVERTISER / 2019 An escort boat cruises past wreckage of LST 480 in Walker Bay at Hanaloa Point during the 75th-anniversary observance of the May 1944 West Loch Disaster, when 34 amphibious landing ships were clumped together and being loaded with weapons and munitions when a chain-reaction explosion occurred. 4 /4 STAR-ADVERTISER / 2019 An escort boat cruises past wreckage of LST 480 in Walker Bay at Hanaloa Point during the 75th-anniversary observance of the May 1944 West Loch Disaster, when 34 amphibious landing ships were clumped together and being loaded with weapons and munitions when a chain-reaction explosion occurred. AUSTIN BOUCHER / U.S. ARMY / OCT. 7 Members of the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency walk beside a casket during a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. At least 163 people were killed and 396 injured in a series of explosions triggered by an accident that occurred while troops loaded weapons and munitions onto amphibious landing ships at the West Loch peninsula of Pearl Harbor. ARIEL OWINGS / U.S. AIR FORCE / NOV. 4 U.S. service members from the Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency participate in a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Eight sets of remains were disinterred as part of the West Loch Project, an ongoing effort to identify service members who died in the West Loch Disaster during World War II. U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES / 1944 Above, billowing black smoke from the disaster could be seen for days. STAR-ADVERTISER / 2019 An escort boat cruises past wreckage of LST 480 in Walker Bay at Hanaloa Point during the 75th-anniversary observance of the May 1944 West Loch Disaster, when 34 amphibious landing ships were clumped together and being loaded with weapons and munitions when a chain-reaction explosion occurred. The U.S. military is working on a new effort to identify the remains of service members killed in the infamous World War II-era West Loch Disaster. On May 21, 1944, as American troops prepared for the invasion of Japanese-occupied Saipan in the Northern Marianas, a series of explosions in West Loch killed at least 163 people and injured 396, though some historians have alleged that shoddy record keeping by military officials in a rush to keep the operation on track may have left more uncounted. The Oahu-based Defense Prisoner of War /Missing in Action Accounting Agency began exhuming the remains of unidentified victims of the disaster in October and disinterred the last eight Jan. 27. In the aftermath of the carnage, 50 of the bodies recovered were identified using a mixture of dog tags found with them and dental records, while about 49 other bodies recovered from the wreckage were buried as 'unknowns ' at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl Crater—or so it was thought. The violent explosions blew bodies apart, making it difficult to properly sort the remains. 'We see a lot of commingling within these sets, so multiple individuals or bones of multiple individuals are mixed together, ' said Reshma Satish, the lead anthropologist working on the project. 'I've been doing a lot of the analyses on these cases, and I have not actually had a single case that's been one person.' With the list of dead greater than the number buried, the graves at Punchbowl might actually contain far more people than believed. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. The DPAA, which is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, conducts operations across the globe to find and identify missing American service members. The West Loch Disaster has always been an area of interest, but there were deep doubts about actually being able to identify the dead. Jennie Jin, DPAA's special projects manager, explained, 'We learned in the late'90s that a lot of remains buried at Punchbowl, they do not yield DNA very well.' At first they didn't understand why bodies and bone fragments found on far-flung battlefields and exposed to the elements for decades yielded DNA while better -preserved remains in Punchbowl didn't. They ultimately learned that many WWII and Korean War dead had been treated with chemicals to mask the smell of death as they were being transported for burial. 'Bone is organic and inorganic, so it killed all the organic part and that's why it's so beautifully preserved with all the inorganic parts left, ' Jin said. 'So when West Loch came on our historians' radar, we were like, 'Should we do this or not ?' 'It means a lot here, especially because it's local and it was kept as a classified disaster for a long time, right ? So it means a lot. But can we make IDs ?' It's a serious matter to exhume the dead after they've already been buried. But in October 2016, DPAA dug up one of the unidentified dead from the West Loch Disaster and found the remains actually did have strong DNA readings. The agency determined that because the bodies had been recovered and buried locally rather than shipped back from a distant battlefield, the military hadn't felt the need to chemically treat them to alleviate the smell. But while they found DNA readings, there was nothing to actually match them to. Those remains are still unidentified. 'If we don't have anybody, any family members, to compare the DNA results to, there's no point of doing it, ' Jin said. 'So after 2016 was successful—it successfully used the DNA—we reached out. We, DPAA internally, decided to make this a project that we want to pursue.' DPAA staff have been contacting families to collect DNA samples and other information. Beyond DNA samples, they are also looking at the medical records of those listed as killed in the explosion. For instance, Satish explained that near the end of World War II and during the Korean War, soldiers were required to get X-rays of their chest as part of tuberculosis screenings, records DPAA has used in other cases to identify dead service members. But even with new resources and resolve, it will be a challenge. 'Just the nature of the disaster, we're going to see a lot of bones with burning, ' Satish explained. 'There are things that we can't really assess as well as a result of these explosions, because it wasn't even just like it (happened ) on one ship.' The West Loch Disaster has sometimes been called a 'second Pearl Harbor, ' a tragedy that military leaders at the time wanted the public to ignore—and to forget. On May 21, 1944, sailors, Marines and soldiers were working on several vessels docked at West Loch loading weapons and munitions onto amphibious landing ships known as LSTs. Troops loaded supplies onto the boats throughout the day, but at 3 :08 p.m. something caused an explosion aboard LST-353 near its bow. The blast killed service members on board and flung burning debris onto nearby vessels, where it ignited fuel and munitions stored on their decks and setting off an explosive and deadly chain reaction. Some vessels managed to navigate their way to safety, while others were abandoned and allowed to drift in the channel leaking oil. The oil spread across the water and caught fire, igniting piers and the shoreline. The fires raged for more than 24 hours before more tugboats and salvage ships from Pearl Harbor managed to contain the spreading fires. In the end, explosions and airborne debris destroyed six LSTs. In the immediate aftermath, the military ordered a press blackout, even though the sounds of the explosions rang out loudly in the surrounding area and billowing smoke could be seen far and wide for days. Four days after the incident, officials released a notice telling the public simply that an explosion had occurred causing 'some loss of life, a number of injuries and resulted in the destruction of several small vessels.' Those who survived were ordered not to mention the disaster in letters home or to even speak of it. The official investigation determined that the most likely cause of the explosion was mishandled munitions, probably a service member dropping a mortar round and causing a chain reaction. About a third of the casualties that day were Black members of the Army's segregated 29th Chemical Decontamination Company. During the war, Black serv ice members were often assigned menial but sometimes hazardous tasks that white troops didn't want to perform. Two months after the West Loch Disaster, another munitions-loading accident at Port Chicago in California caused explosions that killed 320 sailors and wounded 390, most of them Black. A month later Black sailors at Port Chicago mutinied due to continued unsafe conditions. The West Loch and Port Chicago disasters forced the Navy to change the way it handled munitions, and ultimately played a role in spurring the military to begin desegregating its ranks. But the West Loch Disaster would remain secret until the military finally declassified all files on the incident in 1962. Now, more than 80 years later after the tragedy, DPAA is navigating all the records and samples it can get a hold of to match the dead recovered from West Loch to the names of the men who were there. 'It is an absolutely amazing feeling to be able to do this, ' Satish said. 'I mean, some of these families, they've been waiting for eight decades at this point, right ? So to be able to provide them with answers and be able to give them—even if it's not all of their service member, even if it's like a couple of bones—I think that's really meaningful.'
