Duty, Death, Dishonor

A Soldier Returns From War And Vanishes

(CBS) 
The Richard Davis case is now closed, but the trial failed to answer one crucial question. In fact, it barely came up at all: why was Richard murdered?

At this point, only one man may know. Although Alberto Martinez wouldn't talk to 48 Hours, he did talk to Mario Navarette but didn't say much.

"When I asked, he has no explanation. He told me he didn't do it," Navarette tells Moriarty.

And Woodcoff also says he doesn't know why Martinez stabbed Richard.

Incredibly, both Woodcoff and Burgoyne claim they never even asked him.

"I didn't wanna say nothin' more to that man," says Burgoyne.

But Lanny Davis thinks he may know the reason. In an article about Richard's murder published in May 2004, Playboy magazine reported that Martinez and Navarette were alleged to have raped a young Iraqi woman while guarding a mall, and that Richard might have known about it.

"I believe that what he might have seen over there, whether it was a rape or some other atrocities, I believe that he probably reported that. There's no way I can prove that, but knowing my son, he would say something," says Lanny.

An Army investigation launched after the article was published found no evidence of rape, but it did find that some soldiers paid for sex with Iraqi women. Douglas Woodcoff says this was common knowledge, and that he did not think Richard's murder had anything to do with it.

However, Woodcoff does think there could be a connection between their combat experiences in Iraq and Richard's brutal murder so soon after they returned.

"There could be an elaborate reason, or it could be just cause," he says.

"Just cause? It seems too violent," Moriarty remarks.

"It does seem too violent. But we were only back for a couple days at the most," says Woodcoff. "And coming from a battle zone where you solved your problems with violence."

"I mean that's how war is. You train and train to hone your skills to gain the knowledge you need to kill. But then, when it's done, people aren't looking at the other side," says Burgoyne.

"Do you think that's what was going on? That Martinez was acting in the same way as he would have in Iraq?" Moriarty asks Woodcoff.

"It could have been," he replies.

What drove Martinez to kill that night may always be a mystery, but there is evidence that this war is taking a psychological toll on soldiers. One recent Army study found that nearly one in five Iraq war veterans reported mental health problems, and another study recommended better counseling.

"Nobody ever sat down in a room, one on one, and talked about what we went through and what was going on in our minds," says Navarette.

Ironically, on the very night Richard was murdered, Woodcoff was still worried about his post-war state of mind. "That night I did distinctively remember before I started drinking, I didn't take a belt with me, a knife with me because I didn't want to take that chance of being put in the situation with me thinking I'm still in Iraq and taking it out on a local," he explains.

The Army refused to comment on any aspect of the Richard Davis case, or how they deal with the issues facing soldiers returning from Iraq, including Jacob Burgoyne. Instead, they released a short statement to 48 Hours, saying they mourn Richard's loss, and are grateful that those responsible for his murder have been bought to justice.

As soldiers from Richard’s unit train for a third deployment to Iraq, Lanny continues to mourn for a soldier who will never fight again, and who will never come home.

"I keep hoping he's alive,” Lanny says. “That might sound funny but I just sort of hope all this has been a bad dream."

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Mario Navarette's motion for a new trial was denied this week.

Alberto Martinez is appealing his conviction. Martinez claims he suffered from post traumatic stress and his lawyers never presented that at trial.