More Remains of US Soldier Killed in Niger Ambush Found

What exactly happened to Sgt. La David Johnson remains a mystery
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2017 12:29 PM CST
More Remains of US Soldier Killed in Niger Ambush Found
Myeshia Johnson kisses the casket of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson during his burial service at Fred Hunter's Hollywood Memorial Gardens in Hollywood, Fla. on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017.   (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)

The military and an FBI team that traveled to the site of an October ambush in Niger have found more remains of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in the ambush, CBS Miami reports. His body was recovered by African forces two days after the attack, his hands tied and with a head wound indicating he had been executed. The bodies of the three other US soldiers killed in the attack had been found near their team's truck. Last month, Johnson's widow said she wasn't allowed to see his body before his casket was buried, the Miami Herald reports. How Johnson got separated from his team and exactly what happened to him in the 48 hours between him going missing and his body being found remains a mystery, CNN reports.

"On Nov. 12, 2017, a joint US Africa Command military investigation team discovered additional human remains at the site where Sgt. La David T. Johnson's body was recovered following the Oct. 4 attack. Today, we can confirm that the Armed Forces Medical Examiner has positively identified these remains as those of Sgt. Johnson," Dana W. White, chief spokesperson for the Department of Defense, says in a statement, per ABC News. "The department continues to conduct a detailed and thorough investigation into the deaths of Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, and Sgt. La David T. Johnson. We extend our deepest condolences to all of the families of the fallen." (More La David Johnson stories.)

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