LaVena Johnson was a very ambitious young girl who enrolled in the military as soon as she left high school, much to her parents dismay. On 18 July, 2005, 19-year-old LaVena called her parents to let them know that she would be leaving Iraq in time to be home for Christmas. Tragically, she never made it home and onset one of the most horrific cases of injustice in modern day history…
Just eight days shy of LaVena’s 20th birthday, her bloody body was discovered in her tent at a military base in Balad, Iraq - she had sustained a gunshot wound to the head and her death was ruled as a suicide. However, the autopsy report and photographs revealed that LaVena also had a broken nose, bite marks, loose teeth, scratch marks, a black eye and burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals. It was also suspected that the chemical burn was an attempt to destroy DNA evidence from rape.
LaVena’s family and friends were adamant that LaVena would not take her own life. LaVena was only 5′1″ and her service weapon, which she supposedly shot herself in the mouth with, was a 40 inch M-16. It would be physically impossible for somebody of her height to maneuver the weapon into her mouth and shooting. Two ballistic experts reported that the gunshot wound looked too small to be from a M-16 but looked more like it came from a 9mm pistol.
LaVena’s family continued to fight for justice for their daughter and got in contact with mainstream media. CBS paid for a second autopsy which discovered that LaVena’s neck was broken and disturbingly, that part of her vagina, tongue, and anus had been removed - something the military autopsy took no note of.
Despite CBS and ABC both putting a lot of money and time into investigation the story, they suddenly dropped it. It was alleged that they were contacted by the military who threatened they would stop buying ad space. As it stands, LaVena’s death is still ruled as a suicide and her family are still fighting for justice.
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