LaVena Johnson was a soldier who recruited in the Military in 2003. She was the first woman from Missouri to die in Iraq. What occurred to this young black woman was terrible.
She was found in her tent with a gunshot wound to the head, a damaged nose, dark eye, loose teeth, acid burns on her genital area, and a trail of blood going away from her tent. What is even more terrible is the Department of Defense has formally decided her death a suicide. The autopsy report and pictures exposed that her death was discrepant with a suicide, and looked consistent with a rape-murder, but as far as the U.S. Criminal Investigative Command for the Military is concerned the case remains shut.
Her father became suspicious when he saw her body in the funeral home and decided to investigate. At first the Department of the Army refused to release information, but eventually it did under the Freedom of Information Act after Pat Tillman’s death. In 2010, a documentary about her family’s struggle to uncover the truth about her death called LaVena Johnson: The Silent Truth was released