Paper: Dead Army Wives Wanted Divorce

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Paper: Dead Army Wives Wanted Divorce
Sunday, August 04, 2002

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. ? Four Army wives who investigators say were killed by their husbands all wanted to get out of their marriages, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The deaths at Fort Bragg in June and July have prompted post officials to promise a review that will include how the military deals with marital problems.

Three of the husbands were special operations soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan, but investigators discounted a direct connection to wartime service.

``It's not like all three went to Afghanistan, came back and killed their wives,'' Lt. Sam Pennica of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office told The Fayetteville Observer. ``They all had ongoing marital problems before the war.''

The newspaper reported that Jennifer Wright, 32, told her parents in January she was ``tired of being a military wife'' and wanted a divorce. Investigators said her husband, Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, killed her at the end of June, then confessed three weeks later and led authorities to her body.

Marilyn Griffin, 32, separated from her husband of eight years in May, for the third time. Two months later, she was stabbed to death and her body set on fire in her home. Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, who worked in the commissary and had never been to Afghanistan, was charged.

Investigators and family believe Teresa Nieves, 28, and Andrea Floyd also told their husbands they wanted to separate in June.

Lawmen said Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves, 32, shot his wife in the head and himself June 11. Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd killed Andrea on July 19, then turned the gun on himself.

There was no indication that threats of separation played any role in a fifth death on July 23, of Maj. David Shannon, 40. His wife and a teenager were arrested last week. Investigators believe Shannon was killed for insurance money.

Andrea Floyd's mother, Penny Flitcraft, told the newspaper she believes her daughter's desire to leave undercut Brandon Floyd's sense of control.

Kendra League, one of Andrea's best friends, said he was a perfectionist and wanted the perfect wife.

``She struggled to please him. She was tall, blond and beautiful. He would tell her she was fat and she needed to do something with herself,'' said League, who lives in Syracuse, N.Y.