Oct. 29 (UPI) — Two members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 are under suspicion in the strangling death of an Army Green Beret stationed in Mali.
The two Navy SEALs and their role in the Green Beret’s death are being probed by officials with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, according to reporting by the New York Times.
Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar, 34, was discovered deceased in U.S. embassy housing in Bamako, the capital of Mali, in June. The Army veteran was sharing quarters with members of several other Special Operations forces, most involved in training and counterterrorism missions in the West African nation.
Melgar’s officials immediately suspected foul play and sent an official with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command to investigate. Army investigators spent several months probing the veteran’s death before handing over the investigation to officials with NCIS.
Though no one has yet been charged in the case, Melgar’s death has been declared a homicide by a military medical examiner.
According to CBS News, the two SEALs under investigation were reportedly involved in an altercation with Melgar. Both were flown from Mali and placed on administrative leave in the wake of Melgar’s death.
No official announcement was made in the immediate wake of Melgar’s death, and there has been no word on why Melgar might have been killed.
Investigators declined to offer reporters further details, agreeing only to confirm the Navy assumed responsibility for the probe in late September.
“NCIS does not discuss the details of ongoing investigations,” Ed Buice, the agency’s spokesman, told the Times in an email.
