Action Alert: PFC Lavena Johnson “suicide” looks more like murder; help to reopen the case

Gina McCauley from What About Our Daughters is calling for action in the case of PFC Lavena Johnson. By all accounts PFC Johnson was murdered by her colleagues. Here’s a recap of the story by WAOD & Jezebel:

• (Johnson) enlisted in the Army right out of high school in 2003 and was sent to Iraq, where she died. When the Army returned her mutilated body to her grieving parents as a suicide, her dad, Dr. John Johnson, said to himself and the Army coroner, “Somebody murdered my daughter and you picked the wrong person to fuck with.”

• When LaVena’s father finally brought himself to look at his daughter’s corpse in 2005, sent home from Iraq with a report that she’d committed suicide by shooting herself in the left side of her head with an M-16 — which, by the way, is not a handgun but a relatively long rifle, he thought there was something wrong.

• Private LaVena Johnson’s nose was broken, teeth were loose, one eye was concave and there were abrasions over her body. The supposed M-16 hole to the head was far too small for the revolver-sized exit wound, and was on the wrong side of her skull for a right-handed woman to have pulled the trigger. Her genital area showed evidence of acid, perhaps used to destroy DNA evidence. She had white military gloves glued to her burned hands.

• Since then, the Army has continued to insist that the LaVena committed suicide by pointing her rifle with her non-dominant hand at the side of her head and set herself on fire, all after she beat herself up and poured acid on her genitals (since their was no apparent investigation into whatever happened there). Oh, and there was a trail of blood leading away from the tent where her body was found.

For more visit www.lavenajohnson.com
Gina has laid out the first steps that we can take while we wait for the word about this tragic tale to get out. We must first contact our congressional representatives and ask them to petition the Department of Defense. Fill out a Privacy Act Release Form which gives these representatives the authority to act your behalf. They can then ask that the Army reopen this case.

If you live in House District No. 30 like myself and Eddie Bernice Johnson is your Congressperson then you can click here for the Privacy Act Release Form to send to her office.

For all Texans, click here to get the form for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchision, and here for Sen. John Cornyn.

I have already faxed my inquiry to Congresswoman Johnson and plan to contact the Senators tomorrow. I suggest all of you do the same for your representatives. For those who cry foul on the media for the lack of coverage of African-American women who have gone missing or are victims of abuse, here is a chance to make a difference.

I will follow up when I have have something but by all means comment on this post if you hear back before I do.