Experts to look for links to military spouse killings

WASHINGTON -- Alarmed by a series of domestic killings and suicides at Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army is sending in a team of health specialists to study a range of possible explanations, officials said Friday.

The Army disputed reports that it is focusing mainly on the possibility of a link to use of the anti-malarial drug, Lariam, although officials said this was among the issues to be examined.

Lariam was prescribed to troops who fought in Afghanistan. Three of the four soldiers involved in the killings had recently returned from duty there, although the Army will not say how many of them took Lariam.

The team will consider factors related to how the Army prepares soldiers and their families to deal with personal and other problems before an overseas deployment and supports them upon their return.

The Army said it would look into "behavioral health issues" related to overseas deployments that are not unique to Fort Bragg, home of the Army Special Operations Command and the 18th Airborne Corps. Soldiers from those units featured prominently in U.S. ground operations in Afghanistan.

The inquiry at Fort Bragg will last most of next week, the Army said. Consultants in psychology, social work and psychiatry will join Army epidemiologists and chaplains as well as officials from the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Fort Bragg killings began June 11.

That day, Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves, 32, a Special Forces soldier, fatally shot his wife and then himself, two days after he had returned from Afghanistan. Later that month, according to police investigators, another Special Forces soldier, Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, killed his wife and weeks later led authorities to her body.

On July 19, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd, reportedly a member of the secret Delta Force, shot his wife and then killed himself.

Also in July, Marilyn Griffin, who had separated from her husband in May, was stabbed to death and her body set on fire in her home. Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, who is with the 18th Airborne Corps and had never been to Afghan-istan, was charged.