How Did Specialist Ciara Durkin Die?
Soldier In Finance Unit At Bagram Air Base Said To Have "Discovered Things" Is Found Dead
-
Play CBS Video Video Military Death Questioned The family of Ciara Durkin, who was killed under suspicious circumstances while on deployment in Afghanistan, is demanding answers from high-ranking military officials. Kelly Wallace reports.
-
Spc. Ciara Durkin worked in the finance unit at Bagram Air Base. She'd told her sister a few weeks ago, "I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies because of it." Durkin was later found dead from a gunshot wound within the air base. (CBS)
-
Photo Essay Pat Tillman A look at the former NFL player who died fighting as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan.
Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin, part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had died of injuries "suffered from a non-combat related incident" at Bagram Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are under investigation.
Durkin had a desk job doing payroll in an office about three miles inside the secure Bagram Air Base. About 90 minutes after she left work last Friday, her family says she was found dead near a chapel on the base with a single gunshot wound to the head.
The 30-year-old soldier, who was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. as a little girl, felt safer deployed in Afghanistan over Iraq, her family told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace. Yet she was found dead within a highly secure base, with few answers.
"The family has been informed that she was in the compound, and she was shot in the head," Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, told the Boston Globe. "She was in a secure area of the compound, which, even though the investigation is not complete, leads the family to believe it was what is called friendly fire," she said.
Adding to the mystery is something the Army Specialist told her family: if something happened to her in Afghanistan, they should look into it. She was concerned about things she was seeing over there, one of her eight brothers and sisters said in an interview.
Canavan told the Quincy, Mass. Patriot Ledger on Wednesday that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across that raised some concern with her: "She was in the finance unit and she said, 'I discovered some things I don’t like and I made some enemies because of it.'"
Canavan revealed that Durkin said if anything happened to her, to make sure it was investigated.
"At the time we thought it was said more as a joke," Canavan told the paper.
The family is also wondering whether Durkin's sexual orientation - she was gay - played a role in her death.
"We just want full disclosure, that's all we want - to know what happened to our sister," Diedre Durkin said.
Massachusetts Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Rep. William Delahunt are pressing for answers.
We just want full disclosure, that's all we want — to know what happened to our sister.
Diedre Durkin, sister of CiaraDurkin's extended family has also asked for help from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.
The family doubts suicide, pointing to an upbeat "Happy Birthday" voicemail Durkin left for her brother just hours before she died.
"I thought it was cute at the time," Pierce Durkin said. "Now it's priceless."
The family's grief, made more torturous by the limited information being released and rumors, is not helped by remembrances of past instances where misinformation followed the deaths or injuries of service members.
The military initially said Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in an enemy firefight in Afghanistan in 2004, even after evidence came to light that he had been killed by friendly fire.
There were also reports circulated that captured Army pfc. Jessica Lynch had bravely fired upon insurgents after being wounded, though she testified later that that was not so.
Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and 1st Lt. Andre Tyson, killed in Iraq in 2004, were first reported to have been killed in an insurgent ambush, when they were actually killed by two Iraqi soldiers they were training.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 50 Commentsciara''s loved ones DO NOT deserve to listen to your propaganda and JUNK!!!!!!
HAVE RESPECT AND LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart goes out to her family and friends. It would be bad enough to lose a loved one in the war from enemy fire, but to think that someone, one of us, at that, may have murdered her has got to add to their grief. I hope they get answers soon, one way or the other.
Those on here who are posting hateful,disrespectful, and flippant comments need to stop it. This is a human being we''re talking about, here, and a soldier. Have some respect, if you can''t have any compassion.
Posted by parrots7 at 12:25 PM : Oct 05, 2007
We only talk about it. The libs are actually trying to silence people with lies. Or haven''t you been keeping up with current events? Of the two, YOUR bunch are the true nazis.
Posted by zootallures2 at 11:24 PM : Oct 04, 2007
Oh wow.....you are really, really clever. Did you make that up all by yourself? What a pathetic little piece of horse squeeze you are.
Dublin, Ireland
It was censorship by the powers behind all this mess.
I would much rather believe she was offed because she uncovered massive corruption or some other evil conspiracy leading to the Bush regieme but my instincts tell me it was a "routine" killing. The ol'' flyer is probably correct; or if not, at least makes the most sense given what we know now. My only difference with him (her?) is she was certainly murdered. If there is any absolute in this world it would be her death is the result of foul play.
A secure base. In a capacity as far removed from combat as a soldier can get. Doing what''s essentially common garden club accounting. There is no way she was not murdered.
But REGARDLESS of how Ciara died, her family deserves all the support they can get. It must be horrible and I hope they gain closure and soon....
Who Is Paying For Your Vote To Keep Control Of You And To Keep This War Going? Remember The Bankers Hold The Stock In Companies That Are Getting Billions In War Contracts!
Obama''s Contributers: Bankers / Special interest!
http://tinyurl.com/2nd4f8
Hillary Clinton''s Contributers Lawyers / RealEstate:
http://tinyurl.com/2ontpq
Rudy GIULIANI Contributors: Bankers / Hedge Funds!
http://tinyurl.com/2m2c4n
Ron Pauls Money Is From the People! We have someone who is NOT Paid Off By Special Interest or Bankers Money!!!
http://tinyurl.com/2q8vr3
If you ever want this War to End Vote Ron Paul 2008, No One Else Is Going To End It!
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues
Ron Paul Will:
** Stop Iraq War Immediately
** Eliminate IRS
** Eliminate Federal Reserve
** Eliminate Government Wasteful Spending
** Restore America''s Work Force & Values
** Restore America''s Freedom!
RON PAUL RAISES $5.1 MILLION 3RD Q!
It''s Not About Democrat Or Republican. It Is About
the People And Ron Paul Is America''s Last Hope!
********* VOTE RON PAUL 2008! *********
Join A ReVoLuTiOn Group In Your City:
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/cities/
Now all the silly children have to play pretend about the subject.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 50 Comments