More on Death of Army Wife in PA
Maggie
Carlisle Barracks slaying
Military member suspected
Memorial rite on base draws more than 500
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
By Matt Miller
CARLISLE -- Army investigators are focusing on a member of the military as a
suspect in the death of an officer's wife at the Carlisle Barracks last week.
Detectives from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division have not identified
the suspect in the death of Suzanne T. Bartlett, 39, but have said that the
person is "under military control."
The probe includes the house on the barracks where Bartlett lived with her
husband, Lt. Col. David P. Bartlett Jr., 46, and their three young children.
Meanwhile, more than 500 people packed the Carlisle Barracks chapel yesterday
for a memorial service.
A person who attended the private service, and who asked not to be identified,
said Lt. Col. Bartlett did not attend and was not mentioned by name during the
rite.
The Bartlett children, who range from preschool to elementary age, reportedly
are not living with their father.
Lt. Col. Bartlett is a 23-year Army veteran and branch chief of the operations
research group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, an arm of the Army War
College.
Suzanne Bartlett's beaten and strangled body was found about 700 feet from her
home in LeTort Spring Run on the barracks Wednesday.
"I've done funerals for young people. Families here have had babies who died.
This was the hardest one," said Col. Don Rutherford, command chaplain at the
barracks, who conducted the service with the Rev. Richard Ruff, pastor at St.
Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Carlisle, where the Bartletts are
members.
The investigation is in the Army's hands because the killing occurred on
federal property and the Army "has jurisdiction over any soldier anywhere, any
time," said Col. Tom McShane, director of National Security Legal Studies at
the Army War College, which is part of the barracks.
An arrest in the slaying probe is expected to lead to an Army court-martial,
said McShane, a member of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps who has
prosecuted many criminal cases, including murder cases.
"The detectives have to have enough time to investigate. You want to be careful
before you release the names of suspects," McShane said.
The small Judge Advocate General unit at Carlisle Barracks is not authorized to
try murder cases, so the court-martial for Suzanne Bartlett's slaying probably
would convene at Fort Meade, Md., he said.
Charges that can be filed include premeditated murder, a charge equivalent to
first-degree murder in Pennsylvania's civilian courts, McShane said. The Army
can impose life imprisonment or the death penalty for murder convictions, he
said, but death sentences are uncommon.
The accused would be tried by a panel of five to 13 members of the military, he
said, and all of them would have to be senior in rank to the defendant.
As with civilian courts, there is a plea-bargaining process, with pleas
considered by a judge and sentencing imposed by a judge or a court-martial
panel, he said.
A prison sentence imposed by the Army would be served at the U.S. Disciplinary
Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he said.
"And it is a real prison," McShane said.
More than 20 relatives of Suzanne Bartlett attended yesterday's memorial
service, Rutherford said.
"This is a loss for everybody, the community, everyone," he said.
Suzanne Bartlett was one of Rutherford's neighbors, a friend he met when she
brought her children to vacation Bible school soon after her family moved to
the post in July 1999.
Suzanne Bartlett "was a great lady, a great runner," he said. "She was very
friendly. There wasn't a person on the block that she didn't call by name."
Since the slaying -- believed to be the first at the nation's second-oldest
military post -- Rutherford said he has been counseling Bartlett's family and
friends.
"You sort of listen to what they have to say," he said. "They have frustration,
anger, grief."
Matt Miller may be reached at 249-2006 or mmi...@patriot-news.com.
Maggie
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the
experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to
do so."--Douglas Adams.
Ken
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20020326074702...@mb-ch.aol.com...
> Yep--it's the husband. From the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot News:
>
> Carlisle Barracks slaying
> Military member suspected
> Memorial rite on base draws more than 500
>
> Tuesday, March 26, 2002
> By Matt Miller
>
> CARLISLE -- Army investigators are focusing on a member of the military as
a
> suspect in the death of an officer's wife at the Carlisle Barracks last
week.
>
> Detectives from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division have not
identified
> the suspect in the death of Suzanne T. Bartlett, 39, but have said that
the
> person is "under military control."
Did you forget that he was in Afghanistan at the time.
Pat Chup
That's a different case.
Pat C.