2 men found dead at Fort Bragg identified

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Two men were found dead on a training area at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, a soldier with deep Special Forces experience and an Army veteran — and officials are offering few details on what occurred except to say the deaths were not related to any official unit training

Their bodies were discovered together on Wednesday, prompting an investigation, the Army said. On Friday, officials identified Army Master Sgt. William Lavigne II, 37, as one of the men but did not release further information. The second man was identified as Army veteran Timothy Dumas, 44, of Pinehurst, N.C. Dumas, who also had a special forces background, previously served at Fort Bragg, but no further information on him was available.

Early signs suggest the men may have been engaged in criminal activity before their deaths, according to a defense official familiar with the incident. Their remains were found together in a remote part of the training area, with one body in a car, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the circumstances are under investigation.

A separate news release said Lavigne enlisted in the Army in 2001. In 2007, he graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course and was assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) with a follow-on assignment to the command. Lavigne deployed multiple times to Afghanistan and Iraq, the news release said.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigating.