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Homicide investigation launched after missing soldier Sarah Roque found dead in trash bin at Army base in Missouri
A person of interest is in custody and a homicide investigation has been opened in connection with the death of a soldier stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in south-central Missouri, authorities said.
The body of Sgt. Sarah Roque, 23, of Ligonier, Indiana, was found Tuesday inside a trash bin. She had been reported missing a day earlier after she did not report for formation.
No cause of death was released but the Department of Army Criminal Investigation Division said Friday that her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Roque was a mine dog handler and a member of the 5th Engineer Battalion. She enlisted in 2020.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, commanding general at Fort Leonard Wood, said Roque’s body was found in a dumpster on the base near the living quarters for single soldiers, CBS affiliate KRCG-TV reported.
Army officials did not release further information about the person in custody or a potential motive.
Roque’s military awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Army Service Ribbon, the base said.
Maj. Gen. Beck said in a statement that Roque’s death “has caused a tremendous void” at the Army base.
“The Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood team is deeply saddened by this devastating loss, and we send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fellow Soldiers of Sergeant Roque,” Beck said in a statement. “Sergeant Roque was a daughter, sister, friend and Soldier who chose to serve our country bravely and honorably.”
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Watch Live: Biden delivering apology in Arizona for Indian boarding school atrocities
President Biden is in Arizona on Friday to issue a formal presidential apology to Native American communities for the atrocities committed against Indigenous people during a 150-year era of forced federal Indian boarding schools. The president’s remarks are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. EDT.
The president chose to speak at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, although his apology is for all tribal communities that suffered. From 1819 through the 1970s, the federal government and religious institutions established boarding schools throughout the country to assimilate Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiian children into White American culture by forcibly removing them from their families, communities and belief systems. Many children who attended these boarding schools endured emotional and physical abuse, and hundreds of them died.
“I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago,” Mr. Biden told reporters before boarding Marine One on Thursday afternoon. “Make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years.”
The Department of the Interior, run by the first Native American Cabinet secretary, Deb Haaland, conducted the first-ever federal investigation into the Indian federal boarding school era. It revealed that more than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children’s deaths occurred at 19 of the federal Indian boarding schools, and identified 53 marked and unmarked burial sites at school sites nationwide. The federal government often contracted with Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopalian religious institutions to run the schools.
The report found that when children failed to meet standards or broke rules, they were subjected to corporal punishment, including “solitary confinement; flogging; withholding food; whipping; slapping; and cuffing.” Oftentimes, older children were forced to inflict punishment on their younger classmates.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Arizona on Thursday, Haaland’s voice broke.
“For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as 4 years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions,” Haaland said. “This includes my own family. For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books. But now, our administration’s work will ensure that no one will ever forget.”
How to watch President Biden’s remarks at the Gila River Indian Community
- What: President Biden delivers an apology on behalf of the country for atrocities at federal Indian boarding schools.
- Date: Friday, Oct. 25, 2024
- Time: 1:30 p.m. EDT
- Location: Gila River Indian Community in Arizona
- Online stream: Live on CBS News in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device.