unsolved in 2020: enrique roman-martinez

specialist enrique roman martinez was a paratrooper and human resource specialist assigned to the 82nd airborne division at fort bragg in north carolina in may of 2020 the 21 year old was from chino california and had two older sisters his mother maria raised her three children largely on her own and worked two jobs to support them enrique had joined the army at the age of 17 despite concerns held by his family he was aware of the potential risks but hoped that his time serving his country would instill discipline and responsibility in him as well as provide him with the means to eventually attend college he had a difficult time following his father's deportation when enrique was just 11 years old and eventually his grades started to suffer enrique believed that the character development and college benefits he would receive from the army would put him back on track to achieve his goals he received numerous decorations during his service including the army good conduct medal and the national defense service medal enrique had been a shy child who became more social as he grew up but he was still somewhat of an introvert it took some time for him to open up to others but he was quick to cheer up anyone who was feeling down he was somewhat of a homebody liking to stay home and play video games as a result of his sweet and caring nature he did not like confrontation for memorial day weekend of 2020 enrique went camping with seven other soldiers six men and one woman on south core banks a small island off the coast of north carolina that is a part of the cape lookout national seashore he was last seen alive at their campsite near mile marker 46 just before midnight on friday may 22nd at 7 pm the following day 19 hours after enrique was last seen one of the other soldiers he had been camping with called 9-1-1 to report him missing the other campers claimed that enrique had walked away from their campsite just before midnight wearing nothing but a pair of blue shorts enrique's phone wallet eyeglasses and other belongings were all found at the campsite the soldier who called 9-1-1 told the dispatcher that they had gone to bed at 1203 am saturday morning and that enrique was still gone when they woke up and when was the last time you saw him so we all went to bed at night at 1203 and that is the last time he softened the caller also told the dispatcher that the group had spent all day looking for enrique and trying to find park rangers to ask for help without success when we woke up he was not here and we've been looking for him all day we were trying to find the park ranger or their offices or anything however there was a problem with this assertion between 1 and 2 pm the group had been approached by two park rangers who asked them to move their vehicles which were illegally parked too close to the sand dunes the rangers were clearly rangers dressed in park ranger uniforms and driving marked vehicles the group agreed to move their cars but no one in the group informed the park rangers that a member of their party was missing the caller also claimed that he had reason to believe that enrique had harmed himself we might be afraid that he might have hurt himself but we're really not sure he wasn't diagnosed but he did have suicidal tendencies enrique's family has vehemently denied this claim enrique's sister griselda has said that the tone of her conversations with her brother had changed over the previous year but this change was because enrique was focused on his future plans with his family not because he no longer wanted to have a future enrique had been unhappy living in north carolina because he was anxious to return home to his family and begin the next chapter of his life he was less than a year away from completing his service with the army he was scheduled to receive a medical discharge because he suffered from chronic compartment syndrome in his legs a condition which limited his ability to run for long distances he had the option of undergoing surgery to try to correct the problem but the success of such a surgery was not guaranteed enrique planned to instead take the medical discharge and move back to california to be with his family and use his military benefits to enroll in college where he wanted to study pharmacology and psychology he hoped to one day have a career providing medical treatments for individuals suffering from mental illness he also had a more short-term dream of taking a trip to japan with his sister griselda enrique had already made plans to move in with griselda when he returned to california he had talked to her just two days before he went missing and the siblings had discussed how they would set up his bedroom and what kind of car he wanted to buy when he got back to california while it can be argued that enrique's family was not qualified to declare him free of any serious mental illness the same amount of skepticism should be applied to the other soldier's ability to diagnose enrique as suicidal riselda and her mother maria traveled to north carolina as soon as they heard that enrique was missing when they arrived at south core banks they became even more convinced that enrique had not simply wandered off into the night there were no wooded areas or dense vegetation that could have hidden enrique in the immediate area where he was last seen according to park ranger nate touring it is very difficult to get lost on the island for a long period of time without some sort of extenuating circumstance because of the island's geography while the island is 26 miles long it is very narrow with little interior land to disappear into enrique's family was also alarmed by the fact that he had left the campsite without his glasses he could not see without them and would have had an even more difficult time without them while it was dark outside a massive search was launched for enrique multiple agencies searched the area beginning at the campsite and working out from there from the air and on the ground the ocean and nearby sounds were also searched the army criminal investigation command the coast guard the north carolina marine patrol the canine team from the wayne county sheriff's office and the carteret county sheriff's office were all a part of the search unfortunately several of the days following enrique's disappearance were rainy and windy leading to rough waters and complications for the search effort few clues were found over the following several days on may 29th partial human remains washed ashore on shackleford banks another barrier island just west of south core banks they were sent to the medical examiner's office and a week later it was confirmed that the remains were of enrique his dental records were used to make the identification the medical examiner's office ruled enrique's death a homicide and the army criminal investigation command is investigating it as such they are currently offering a 25 000 reward for information that leads to the apprehension and conviction of enrique's killer or killers because of their ongoing investigation army cid has released very little information about the case to the public in order to protect any possible future prosecution of whoever killed enrique unfortunately this also means that they have had to leave enrique's family without many answers as well an unnamed army official did tell abc news that there is no suspicion that the murder was a reprisal or hate crime the medical examiner's office also told griselda martinez that her brother's injuries were consistent with dismemberment rather than with coming in contact with a boat propeller or wildlife after he was in the water there is not an animal in that sea that could have done that she was told while army cid cannot provide them with information right now enrique's family believes that they are working diligently on enrique's case they also suspect that they may have a person of interest in the case but not enough evidence to make an arrest they have therefore been very active in the media imploring anyone with information to come forward given the inconsistencies and problems with the account provided by the other soldiers enrique was camping with it seems most likely that a big break in the case will come from one of them providing a more complete statement however they are not the only potential witnesses because it was a holiday weekend south kore banks was very busy at the time enrique went missing park ranger nate touring estimates that there were thousands of visitors to the island that weekend any number of whom could have seen something that they did not realize was important at the time according to his family's religious beliefs enrique's soul will not be at peace until his killer has been found enrique's mother maria is too distraught to even sleep and his sister griselda is both haunted and pushed onward in her quest for justice by a conversation she had with enrique many years before his death he asked me one time will you always be there to protect me i said yes griselda recounted now that it's happened it breaks my heart i feel guilty that i couldn't protect him the most i can do is find out what happened to him you

Channel: heavy casefiles.

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Keywords: unsolved cases 2020, unsolved mysteries in 2020, unsolved 2020, true, unsolved in 2020, recent cases, cases from 2020, 2020 mysteries, 2020 cases, documentary, unsolved mysteries, unsolved, mystery, enrique roman martinez, enrique roman martinez fort bragg, soldier murdered

Id: ki_bLI2S8rY

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020