Nineteen yearold LaVena Johnson was serving in Iraq for about 6 weeks when she was found shot to death July 19, 2005. Her death was ruled a suicide by the army they said she killed her self with a M-16.However, several discrepancies were soon brought forth. The apparent trajectory of the bullet did not match what one would expect from that type of gun. The bullet that killed her was never found. One of the first responders claimed that a gun was not even found at the scene. The two witnesses who found her body reported hearing explosions coming from her tent. When they went inside it, they two fires next to her body.
The autopsy report showed that she had been tortured and possibly sexually assaulted prior to her death. Photographs of her body indicated that she had a broken nose and a split lip, scratches and bruises on her arms, and burns on her right leg and hand. There were also serious injuries, including burns, to her genitals. Her family is convinced that she was murdered and that her death was a cover-up by the army.