The Army Criminal Investigation Division on Friday renewed a $15,000 reward for information about how an Army veteran was found dead 20 years ago inside of a sewage treatment tank at Fort Carson, Colo. (Jeffrey Castro/U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division)
The Army Criminal Investigation Division on Friday renewed a $15,000 reward for information about how an Army veteran was found dead 20 years ago inside of a sewage treatment tank at Fort Carson, Colo.
Joseph E. Barker, 21, was last seen on the morning of Feb. 8, 2006, in a barracks room, and then later as unknown people led him to a dark-colored vehicle, according to Army CID.
He’d been documented the day prior on Walmart surveillance footage with friends. They were involved in an exchange with people in another vehicle, according to CID.
Amber Stone, the veteran’s wife, reported him missing on Feb. 14, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
His body was found by a worker Feb. 21, floating in a basin at the base’s wastewater treatment facility. An autopsy was unable to determine his cause of death.
“Cold cases are continually reviewed and updated if new information is found. Protecting the integrity of this ongoing investigation prevents us from releasing further details at this time,” Thomas Hamilton III, CID spokesman, said Friday about the timing of the reward announcement.
Barker, of Tulsa, Okla., had deployed to Iraq before being honorably discharged in May 2005. He remained friends with soldiers at Fort Carson, according to CID.
Investigators in the past told Stone that they needed someone to come forward to solve the case, and she is still hopeful that it can happen, according to the Gazette.
Anyone with credible information concerning this incident should contact the Army CID Cold Case Unit at (520) 706-8685, usarmy.belvoir.hqda-usacid.mbx.cold-case-unit@army.mil or submit an anonymous tip online at www.p3tips.com/armycid.
