GI SLAY MY$TERY
The Navy SEALs being investigated in the strangulation death of Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar in Mali offered the Green Beret a cut of some dirty military money he’d discovered they were pocketing but he refused, according to a published report.
Sources told The Daily Beast that Melgar stumbled upon their scheme — which involved skimming cash from a fund used to pay informants — and confronted the two men about it.
They tried to get him to join in on the alleged plot, but he declined and eventually wound up dead, according to the sources.
It’s unclear when the SEALs were approached by Melgar or if his death stemmed from the dispute. All investigators know is that the staff sergeant died of “homicide by asphyxiation” on June 4.
But as more time passes, holes emerge in the SEALs’ story.
According to US officials, Melgar stopped breathing at around 5 a.m. and was rushed to a French clinic in Mali, where he was stationed, by another Green Beret and the two SEALs. He was already dead when he arrived at the facility.
Sources told The Daily Beast that the SEALs, who were also in Mali on a counterterrorism mission, claimed to have found Melgar. They reportedly tried to open an airway in his throat, though it’s unclear if they were successful.
The SEALs told their superiors that Melgar was drunk while taking part in “combatives” before his death, a military term for hand-to-hand fighting exercises.
But no drugs or alcohol were found during his autopsy, ac- cording to a former AFRICOM official who saw the military’s official report.
Moreover, several people were reportedly skeptical that Melgar was drunk on the fateful day — or that that he even drank alcohol at all.
And Melgar’s wife, Michelle, repeatedly raised concerns about her husband’s cause of death and his alleged drinking, with sources saying she provided e-mails in which he indicated that he was having problems with the two SEALs in question, according to the report.
Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, then-commander of Special Operations Command-Africa, alerted the Army Criminal Investigation Command and asked commanders in Mali to collect and preserve evidence.