A 21-year-old U.S. Army soldier based at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri has been charged with murdering a female sergeant in the same military unit who was found dead in a dumpster last week, Army officials said on Thursday.
The soldier, Army Specialist Wooster Rancy of North Miami, Fla., was charged on Wednesday with murdering Sgt. Sarah Roque, 23, and obstructing justice, according to a news release from Fort Leonard Wood. Specialist Rancy is a combat engineer assigned to the 509th Engineer Company, and served in the Fifth Engineer Battalion with Sergeant Roque, Fort Leonard Wood officials said.
Army officials did not disclose any additional details regarding the case but said that a news conference would be held on Friday morning.
Sergeant Roque was reported missing on Oct. 21 after she did not show up for duty that morning and her unit could not find her, Army officials said. Her body was found that evening in a dumpster next to military housing, Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck said last week. Prosecutors said in an emailed statement on Thursday that Sergeant Roque was killed on Oct. 20, but they did not say how.
Specialist Rancy, who enlisted in the Army in 2022, was taken into custody on Oct. 24 by his battalion commander, according to the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, which brought the charges against him. He was taken to the Midwest Joint Regional Confinement Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., on Wednesday, where he is being held, prosecutors said.
Sergeant Roque was a bridge crew member, an Army group that constructs bridges and rafts to help soldiers over rough terrain and water. She served as a mine dog handler with the K9 detachment, which uses dogs to detect explosives, according to Army officials. Since she enlisted in 2020, she had received several military awards, including the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
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