Jennifer Wright, the wife of an army officer from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, went missing suddenly in the summer of 2002. However, her battered body was soon discovered nearby a few days later, confirming suspicions of her murder. The timeline of Jennifer’s death is detailed in Investigation Discovery’s “Forbidden: Dying for Love” in Season 4 Episode 4 titled “Onward Christian Soldier.” Want to know more about the shocking case? Let’s figure it out together.
How did Jennifer Wright die?
Born in Mason, Ohio, Jennifer Wright married Sergeant William “Bill” Wright in 1990. In August 1998, the couple moved to Fort Bragg. According to the church community, Jennifer was a devout Christian and a devoted wife and mother to her three sons. She also conducted the children’s choir of the Arran Lake Baptist Church. Bill, on the other hand, spent 18 years in the Special Forces and had to be out of the house for an extremely long time. This often caused tension between the couple from the start and Jennifer even briefly left him in 1991.
About 12 years after the marriage, Jennifer further requested that Bill either quit his job or at least be home more, which he declined. In February 2002, he left for college in Georgia, which made Jennifer feel even more lonely when she did the housework and homeschooled their three boys alone. However, she soon shared with her friends that she was receiving anonymous threats and letters to stay away from the church choirmaster. In addition, she revealed that she and her husband were separated and that their sons knew about it.
In early March 2002, Bill returned from Georgia and attended the funeral of a fellow soldier, Stanley Harriman, with Jennifer. Shortly after, he was deployed to Afghanistan, and Jennifer would become involved with the choir director. In addition, she eventually confessed to Stanley’s wife Sheila that she lied about the divorce and threats because she found comfort in her new lover after Bill left. Around May 2002, Bill returned home hoping to reconnect with his wife, but she was adamant about a divorce.
On July 1, 2002, Bill went to the Cumberland County Sherriff’s Department and reported that Jennifer was missing. After police searched for her for three weeks, the body of 32-year-old Jennifer was found, wrapped and buried in the woods near Fort Bragg. To everyone’s shock, it was Bill who sent the police to the body.
Who Killed Jennifer Wright?
Jennifer had apparently confessed to Bill that she was attracted to another man while he was away in Bosnia, about two years before her unfortunate death. This caused a rift between the couple and tensions continued for a while. In May 2002, while in Afghanistan, Bill ran into a fellow church member from home who told him about Jennifer’s affair with the choir director.
A troubled Bill then requested permission to return home to settle his family affairs and returned to Fort Bragg. In addition, he wrote three emails to Tracy Quinn, the area’s family readiness specialist, for help in saving his marriage. Furthermore, she sent him a list of resources for help. However, Jennifer and her relatives soon began to see a change in Bill’s behavior after returning from Afghanistan. The otherwise mild-mannered soldier began drinking heavily and had random fits of rage.
Jennifer’s father Archie Watson shared in an interview: “He was like a different person to me and his boys and to her… He would talk to you and then he would do something else, something that had nothing to do with who you were. talk about. Other times he just walked away.” On the evening of June 28, 2002, Jennifer returned home after meeting some women from her church.The next morning, around 7:30 AM, Bill went into the house to pick up some tools.
The couple got into an argument over the divorce papers Jennifer had sent him a week ago. In a fit of blind rage, Bill hit Jennifer on the head with a baseball bat and then strangled her to death. After telling his sons that their mother had a headache, he wrapped her body in his parachute recovery bag and buried it in the woods adjacent to Fort Bragg. On July 1, 2002, he reported her missing to the police, but added that it was not the first time she had left abruptly.
Over the next three weeks, the police searched extensively for Jennifer while Bill went about his usual routine. His nonchalance at his wife’s sudden absence worried many people, including Archie. Although, the couple’s neighbor, Betty Clark, said in an interview that Bill’s appearance changed. “He was losing weight and was very nervous, very excited,” she said. In addition, the soldier also paid a visit to the choir director, whom Jennifer was speculated to be dating.
The police search came to a shocking halt when Bill collapsed on July 19, 2002, confessing to his wife’s murder. He also took the police to the spot where he had buried Jennifer. Bill was immediately arrested.
How did William Wright die?
William Wright, 36, was charged with first degree murder and held without bail in July 2002. However, on March 23, 2003, he was found dead in his cell at Fort Bragg Jail. The soldier had hanged himself and could not be revived, even after prison officers performed CPR. He and Jennifer are survived by their three sons, who were 6, 9, and 13 years old at the time. The children expressed concern about their father’s behavior, stating that the antimalarial drug Larium could have played a role in his erratic behavior.
Bill was one of three soldiers who took the drug prescribed by the military after returning home. Larium is known to have side effects on a person’s mental health, such as anxiety, paranoia and aggression. While the drug’s role in Bill’s actions was not well established, Jennifer’s death sparked an investigation into the mental health problems and trauma soldiers face, and the pressure it puts on their families.
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