Be On the Look Out
From Stars and Stripes;
A manhunt is under way for a U.S. Special Forces soldier who fled after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a German woman.
Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart — who was found guilty of multiple charges including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman in an August 2008 incident — was last seen early Thursday morning by his escort at an on-post hotel.
Stewart, 36, is an Iraq war veteran who trains fellow Special Forces soldiers at the International Special Training Center in Pfullendorf.
“He’s an angry animal and not a human,” said the 29-year-old victim, standing outside the Vilseck courthouse Thursday morning after learning he had disappeared. “I know how dangerous he is. It’s impossible to believe that they left him alone last night.”
I guess he was facing a well-deserved eight years in prison, reduction to E-1 and a Big Chicken Dinner.
Category: Military issues
I guess I would have to agree with the victim’s assessment on this. He should have never been in a position to escape.
He should have at least had multiple guards on him.
“was last seen early Thursday morning by his escort at an on-post hotel”
Since when do they call prison a “hotel”? Or…….
I’m glad you posted it though.
8 years….seems kinda light to me. I gotta ask though, What is a “Big Chicken Dinner”??
Jonn wrote: Bad Conduct Discharge – BCD. Sorry, I thought everyone knew.
“The prosecution’s case was based, almost entirely, on the victim’s statements and that, since she didn’t report the incident for several months, there was no forensic evidence to back up her claims. She didn’t leave the room when Stewart took a shower, didn’t call for help from a bedside phone and she wrote her cell phone number on hotel stationery in the room before she left the next morning.”
Being a practicing attorney, I find this behavior bizarre for a woman who supposedly endured “a sadistic rape that included blows to the head and body, hair-pulling and biting” After the hearing, the victim said, “He’s an angry animal and not a human”
However, and this is a fact that was apparently not disputed, she left him a note with her cell number AFTER he did all horrific things to her? I have seen victims wait months to report an attack – that does not shock me as there are a number of psychological factors which explain delayed reporting and it happens fairly consistently among victims. However, I have never seen anyone leave their attacker a cell phone number as they were walking out the door after the attack.
practicing attorney, can one rely on a news article for the facts presented at trial?
I didn’t see where the phone number claim was a fact and was not disputed, do you have access to that info? I would be interested to see it.
regardless of that, there many cases that never get this type of high level review. The SAPRO numbers reflect trends of low level review over courts martial.
Here’s a quote from the article….
“During the court-martial, he was found not guilty of rape, abusive sexual contact and communicating a threat.”
Can I assume that is a misprint? or were those charges in addition to kidnapping, sodomy, and sexual assault? Seems like there are some missing details in the story
Jen, regarding you r post #2 “Since when do they call prison a “hotel”? Or…….”
I think he may have been in transit, that’s why the hotel. What doesn’t make sense to me is that this was after he was convicted, not pre-trial, so I’m wondering why the low security to begin with.