Agent: No physical evidence in Iraqis’ deaths

Agent: No physical evidence in Iraqis’ deaths
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, December 5, 2008

VILSECK, Germany — Investigators have no physical evidence linking 172nd Infantry Brigade soldiers to the alleged execution of four Iraqi detainees in Baghdad last year, according to a lawyer representing Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, one of three soldiers facing murder charges.

Mayo, 27, who appeared before the Article 32 hearing at the Rose Barracks courthouse Thursday, is charged with premeditated murder along with 1st Sgt. John E. Hatley and Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr.

Criminal Investigation Command (CID) Special Agent Chief Warrant Officer David Eller, who testified via telephone from Fort Belvoir, Va., said he did not know of any physical evidence — such as photographs, satellite or surveillance images of the incident or bodies recovered in the case.

The four detainees were allegedly shot and dumped in a Baghdad canal.

"I don’t feel that it was such a remote location. It wasn’t way out in the ocean or buried in the desert. I thought it was more likely than not that we might be able to find the corpses," Eller said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59223



uhc comment: And the four detainees are allegedly dead.