Documents: Alcohol, sex and violence collided in murder case involving SEALs and Marines
By DAN LAMOTHE AND BRAD WOLVERTON | The Washington Post | Published: April 16, 2019
After a long night of drinking in Malis capital, two Navy SEALs and two Marine Raiders smashed their way into Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgars room with a sledgehammer.
Armed with duct tape, they had a goal, two of the suspected assailants recalled: to teach the Green Beret soldier a lesson for leaving them behind in traffic on the way to a party at the French Embassy. It was the latest chapter in a feud between Melgar and the SEALs, who had traded accusations about careless behavior that could threaten their mission.
One of the SEALs, Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony DeDolph, a former professional mixed-martial arts fighter and Purple Heart recipient, jumped onto Melgar and put him into a chokehold on his bed sometime after 5 a.m., two of the men later told authorities. The other SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Adam Matthews, grabbed Melgars legs while the two Marines sought to duct-tape them.
They moved on to Melgars wrists, but they realized he had stopped breathing.
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All four men face the same charges, including felony murder, obstruction of justice and hazing, according to U.S. military documents, in the June 4, 2017, death of Melgar, a member of 3rd Special Forces Group who had served two deployments in Afghanistan.
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