Enrique Roman-Martinez: Cold Case, Charges, and Reward

The Enrique Roman-Martinez case is the unsolved homicide of a 21-year-old Fort Bragg paratrooper whose severed head washed ashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in May 2020 after he vanished during a Memorial Day camping trip with seven fellow soldiers. His death was ruled a homicide. More than five years later, no one has been charged with killing him.¹

What Happened on the Camping Trip

On May 22, 2020, Roman-Martinez and seven other soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division drove to South Core Banks, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, for a Memorial Day weekend camping trip.² The group told investigators they last saw him alive at about 12:03 a.m. on May 23, wearing only blue shorts and without his eyeglasses.³

They did not call 911 to report him missing until roughly 7:00 p.m. that evening, about 19 hours later.³ Before making that call the group encountered a park ranger and did not mention they were searching for a missing person.⁴

What Was Found and What the Autopsy Showed

A search of the national seashore ran for about ten days. On May 29, 2020, partial remains washed up on a beach at Shackleford Banks, a nearby barrier island. The remains were Roman-Martinez’s head, identified through dental records. No other part of his body has ever been recovered.⁵

The autopsy, performed at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, found “evidence of multiple chop injuries of the head” and a jaw broken in at least two places. Because the rest of the body was unavailable, the cause of death was listed as undetermined, though the report noted that “decapitation is, in and of itself, universally fatal.” The manner of death was ruled a homicide, with findings “most consistent with death due to homicide.”⁶ Toxicology testing detected no drugs in his tissues.⁵

What Investigators Have Done

The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division has led the case from the start and classifies it as a cold case homicide.⁷ A task force including CID agents, the FBI, and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit was formed. By mid-2021 it had conducted 400 interviews, executed 100 warrants and subpoenas across seven states, processed 130 items of physical evidence, and analyzed five terabytes of digital data.⁴

Even so, CID Special Agent Steve Chancellor said at that point there was no forensic, physical, or testimonial evidence tying any specific person to the death, and that “all logical theories or suspicions that were developed to date have been investigated and either discounted or disproven.” Investigators appealed publicly to anyone operating a boat near the campsite that night who might recall striking something in the water, noting that a homicide finding does not necessarily mean murder and can include unintentional acts.⁴ CID has since reported that in the year before May 2025 it conducted investigative operations both domestically and internationally, though it has not disclosed the nature or locations of the overseas work.⁸

The Charges Against Three Fellow Soldiers

In January 2022 the Army charged three soldiers who had been on the camping trip under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. None was charged with the killing. The Army said the charges were not connected to Roman-Martinez’s death and the homicide investigation remained open.²

Spc. Alex Becerra, who placed the 911 call, was charged with conspiracy, three specifications of false official statements, three specifications of disobeying a commissioned officer, violating a lawful order, and LSD use. Prosecutors alleged he lied about how many people left the island early on the morning of May 22 to board a ferry, omitting an additional person.⁹

Pfc. Samad Landrum was charged with LSD use, violating COVID-19 travel restrictions, conspiring to make false official statements, and two specifications of false statements. He allegedly omitted the presence of a seventh person at the campsite and denied drug use when questioned on May 24, 2020. Pvt. Annamarie Cochell was charged with LSD use, violating COVID-19 travel restrictions, conspiring to make false official statements, and violating no-contact orders, and allegedly helped conceal the identity of a person who traveled with the group to the ferry.²

Running through the charges was the allegation that soldiers conspired to conceal the presence of an unidentified individual on the trip and made false statements to investigators about the group’s composition and activities. Charge sheets indicated that at least three soldiers used LSD during the outing.⁹

What the Family Says Doesn’t Add Up

Roman-Martinez’s sister, Griselda, questioned how her brother could have walked off in the dark without his eyeglasses. “For him to walk out in the middle of the night without his glasses, it’s not likely. He can’t see, where would he go?”³ The family also disputed accounts from the soldiers suggesting Roman-Martinez had “suicidal tendencies,” saying that description was inconsistent with everything they knew about him.⁴

The family has also criticized how the Army communicated with them. On the House floor, Rep. Norma Torres said Roman-Martinez’s mother and sister first learned about the mutilation of his body from media reports because the Army was “so slow to inform the family,” and that the Army did not reach out about the medical examiner’s homicide ruling until the following Friday.¹⁰

At a January 2022 press conference in Los Angeles, family attorney Dustin Collier called for the Department of Justice and the FBI to take over the investigation and questioned Army CID’s impartiality. Collier said the family had been told in 2021 that soldiers would face “lesser charges” to try to secure a confession, then informed in August 2021 that no charges would be filed and the case had “gone cold,” only to learn from news reports in January 2022 that charges had in fact been filed. He described the experience as a “shock.” Griselda said, “I won’t rest until murder charges come.”¹¹

What the Case Changed in Congress and the Army

On November 10, 2022, Rep. Torres introduced H.R. 9290, the Enrique Roman-Martinez Military Cold Case Justice Act of 2022. The bill would have directed the Secretary of Defense to develop uniform standards for how military criminal investigative organizations handle cold cases, established procedures for referring stalled cases to the Department of Defense Inspector General, required continuity of investigations when individual investigators transferred, and called for a feasibility study on a dedicated cold case unit within Army CID. The bill noted that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations already had such units.¹²

The standalone bill was referred to the House Armed Services Committee and did not advance.¹² Torres also sponsored an amendment to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 targeting military cold case procedures.¹³ In 2022 the Army established a centralized Cold Case Unit within CID, a resource that had not existed when Roman-Martinez disappeared.¹⁴

Where the Case Stands and the Reward

As of May 2025 the death of Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez remains an open, unsolved cold case homicide. No one has been charged with his killing.¹ The Army is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for credible information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of those responsible for his death and dismemberment. When the reward was raised to that level in August 2021, it was the first CID reward to reach $50,000 in more than a decade.⁴

Anyone with information can contact the Army CID Carolinas Field Office at (910) 391-4911 or submit anonymous tips at p3tips.com.⁷

1
Spectrum News. Enrique Roman-Martinez Fort Bragg
2
Army Times. Three Soldiers Charged in Fort Bragg Cold Case; Death Still Unsolved
3
ABC11. Family Wants Justice for Bragg Soldier Dismembered While Camping
4
Army Times. In Rare Move, Army CID Raises Reward to $50K to Solve Paratrooper’s Mysterious Death
5
News & Observer. Autopsy Shows Fort Bragg Soldier Found Dead in North Carolina Was Decapitated
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WCTI12. Autopsy Shows the Ft. Bragg Soldier Found Dead in North Carolina Was Decapitated
7
U.S. Army CID. Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez Unsolved Homicide
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U.S. Army. Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez Unsolved Homicide
9
Fayetteville Observer. Fort Bragg Soldiers Last Saw Soldier Alive Face Court-Martial
10
GovInfo. Congressional Record
11
Daily News. Family of Slain Army Paratrooper From Chino Asks for Answers in Unsolved Case
12
Congress.gov. H.R. 9290 Full Text
13
Congress.gov – Rep. Torres. Rep. Norma Torres Introduces Legislation to Reform Cold Cases in the Military
14
Spectrum News. Enrique Roman-Martinez Cold Case