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Various news outlets reported that a soldier with US Army Alaska was found dead. A US Army release announced that Spc. Brandon Ricardo Diaz, 20, was discovered on Friday morning, living on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska. The US Army Criminal Investigation Division is still looking into his cause of death. Diaz was stationed in Alaska in January 2020 after joining the Army in June 2019. He served as an Army joint fire support specialist with the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at JBER. He earned the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.

It is noteworthy that US Army Alaska, also known as USARAK or “America’s Arctic Warriors”. It is a division of the Army headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. Many news outlets also reported that a Fort Hood soldier Jennifer Sewell has been reported missing after she didn’t show up for work on the base. The Fort Hood Directorate of Emergency Services said Sewell was a private first-class soldier, last seen around 4 p.m. on Thursday leaving her on-post barracks. She was believed to have left on her own accord, but she has since failed to report to work and hasn’t returned calls from her family, superiors, or law enforcement.  Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact military police.

The US military officials said, “Military officials are in constant contact with Sewell’s unit, her family, and close friends to ensure her health and safety”. The base has been plagued with tragic disappearances and deaths over the past few years, including the high-profile case of missing soldier Vanessa Guillen who was found bludgeoned to death in June 2020. Point to be noted that searchers looking for a missing New Jersey woman in California’s Yucca Valley discovered human remains. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said investigators were in the open desert looking for 31-year-old Lauren Cho, missing since June, when the remains were found. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement and said, “During the search for Cho, unidentified human remains were located in the rugged terrain of the open desert of Yucca Valley”.