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Thread: Brandon Michael Olivares Sentenced to 40 Years in 2020 TX Murder of US Army Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans

  1. #1
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    Brandon Michael Olivares Sentenced to 40 Years in 2020 TX Murder of US Army Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans





    August 8, 2020

    Texas man charged with murder in death of Fort Hood soldier

    Of eight deaths this year near the Army base, five have been publicly linked to foul play.

    By Vandana Rambaran
    Fox News

    A 28-year old man has been charged with murder nearly three months after the body of U.S. Army Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans of Fort Hood was found on the side of the road in Harker Heights, Texas.

    An arrest warrant for Brandon Michael Olivares in connection with the shooting death of the 27-year-old soldier was issued Wednesday, Harker Heights police said.

    Olivares was already in custody at the Bell County Jail on unrelated charges. Jail records indicate Olivares was arrested earlier in June and charged with third-degree felony possession of a firearm and a parole violation.

    Olivares’ bail is set at $1 million.

    Police found Rosecrans’ body on Fuller Lane on May 18. His abandoned Jeep Renegade was discovered on fire about four miles away.

    Olivares and Rosecrans were driving in Rosecran's SUV when Olivares shot him and left his body on a secluded road near Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Harker Heights, about 11 miles from Fort Hood, according to a police affidavit, ABC 13 reported.

    No details about a possible motive have been released.

    “The arrest just gave us even more questions,” Thomas Berg, Rosecrans’ father, said, according to the Statesman. “We do know there are other warrants that will follow.”

    Rosecrans' death is one in a string of at least seven suspicious deaths and disappearances of soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in the last five months.

    In March, the body of 20-year-old Shelby Tyler Jones was found after he suffered a gunshot wound in south Killeen near Fort Hood.

    A month later, Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén went missing, and authorities took three months to find her body in July. Her alleged killer, who confessed to the murder and authorities believe sexually assaulted Gullien, Spc. Aaron Robinson, committed suicide shortly afterward.

    Another soldier, 24-year-old Gregory Scott Morales, was found dead in a field in Killeen in June, nearly 10 months after he vanished. Fort Hood authorities said in a statement they suspect foul play.

    Most recently, on Tuesday, the body of Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, a 24-year-old soldier based at Fort Hood, was pulled from Stillhouse Hollow Lake after he drowned. An investigation is underway.

    The lake is the same place where another body, that of 26-year-old Pvt. Mejhor Morta, was found in July.

    Of the eight deaths this year, five have been publicly linked to foul play, according to the Army Times.

    Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy on July 10 ordered a review of the command climate at Fort Hood in light of the incidents.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-man...t-hood-soldier
    Last edited by Steven; 03-29-2023 at 06:27 AM.

  2. #2
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    Texas man sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing Fort Hood soldier

    By Rose L. Thayer
    Stars and Stripes

    AUSTIN, Texas — A 31-year-old man was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting and killing a Fort Hood soldier nearly three years ago, according to Texas court documents.

    Brandon Olivares admitted last month to killing Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans on May 18, 2020, in Harker Heights, a small town near the central Texas Army base. He was sentenced Friday in Bell County.

    Rosecrans was found unresponsive from a gunshot wound at about 10:17 a.m. in the 2100 block of Fuller Lane in Harker Heights, according to local police. Investigators determined Olivares was in a vehicle with Rosecrans that morning when he shot the soldier and left him “in an area adjacent to the roadway,” police reported.

    Minutes after police were called about Rosecrans’s body being found in the residential area, fire officials were notified of a burning vehicle on the 2500 block of Jubilation Drive, a residential street about 4 miles from Fuller Lane.

    The vehicle, an orange 2016 Jeep Renegade, belonged to Rosecrans, police said.

    In addition to a charge of murder, Olivares, a Killeen resident, also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He received a 10-year sentence for that charge, which he will serve concurrently.

    As part of the plea agreement, Bell County Judge Paul LePak could have sentenced Olivares to prison for up to 42 years.

    Rosecrans, who is from Kimberling City, Mo., entered the Army in May 2018 as a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairer and had been assigned to the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division since November 2018, according to Fort Hood officials.

    His death was among a string of five homicides at Fort Hood that occurred in early 2020, including the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen. She was killed on base April 22, 2020, by a fellow soldier who later shot himself dead when confronted by police.

    Only one case from 2020 remains unsolved or without a conviction.

    Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen Aug. 19, 2019, driving in Killeen, according to the Army Criminal Investigation Division. His remains were found in a field in Killeen in June 2020. Investigators are offering $50,000 for information about his death.

    https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...r-9623593.html

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