Bringing Back Honor

When Ensign Andrew Lee Muns suddenly vanished nearly 34 years ago, the U.S. Navy branded him a deserter and a thief. It was 1968; the U.S. was waging an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam and sailors went missing all the time. Muns was the new paymaster aboard the USS Cacapon, a refueling ship based at Subic Bay in the Philippines. When he dissapeared, the Navy discovered that $8,600 was missing from the ship's safe; since Muns had access to safe, officials decided¹ that he had taken the money and run. Case closed.

But Muns' sister, Mary Lou Taylor, couldn't accept the official version of her brother's disappearance². She vowed³ to uncover the truth and restore her family's honor. "It broke my father's heart … He literally⁴ had a heart attack three years later," said Taylor." I'm not blaming the Navy for his heart attack, but it was harder than just losing a son."

    当Ensign Andrew Lece Muns在34年前突然失踪时，美国海军谴责他是逃兵和小偷。那还是在1968年，美国正进行一场日渐不得人心的战争，不断有船员失踪。Muns是一位新上任的军需官，正在基地设在菲律宾Subic湾的美国Cacapon号加油舰上服役。当他失踪时，海军发现该船保险柜中的8600美元也不翼而飞了，因为Muns可以打开此柜，所以，军方认定他偷了钱后开溜了。如此就结了案。

    但是，Muns的姐姐Mary Lou Taylor不能接受官方对她弟弟的谴责。她发誓要弄清真相，恢复全家人的荣誉。Taylor说，"这结论伤透了我父亲的心，事实上，三年后，父亲真的因此事而心脏病发作。我并不是指责海军造成我父亲的心脏病，但这结论对他来说，比仅仅失去儿子更难过。"

In the mid-1970s, after years of holding out hope that Muns might return, his family decided to have him declared legally dead. But when they asked the Navy to supply an American flag to present to his family at the memorial service, the Navy refused .

Eventually, Taylor decided to change that. She turned to the Internet, posting a message on a Vietnam veterans' message board looking for sailors who served with her brother on the Cacapon.

In a stroke of luck, a former member of that crew, Tim Rosaire, had just logged on to the bulletin board for the first time.

"I instantly knew what it was," he said. "I wrote her back saying, 'Yes, and I may have been one of the last people to see him." "I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't have stolen the money," said Rosaire, who supplied Taylor with names and some photographs of other crew members.

    在70年代中期，在多年等待Muns回来无望之后，Muns家人决定宣布他法律上的死亡。但是，当他们要求海军提供一面国旗，作为家人纪念Muns的礼物时，竟遭到海军拒绝。

   最后，Taylor决定改变这些。她求助因特网，在越战老兵信息版上发出消息，寻找当年与她弟弟一起在cacapon舰上服役的船员。

   她走运得令人吃惊，曾在舰上工作过的Tim Rosaire正好第一次浏览此留言版。

   他说，"我立刻知道怎么回事了，我发了回贴说，'我可能是最后看到他的人之一。'"Rosaire说："我敢肯定他没有偷钱。"他向Taylor提供了其它船员的姓名和一些照片。

Taylor tracked down the ship's captain, only to learn that he had recently died. But his widow told Taylor her husband had been haunted by Muns' disappearance, suspecting that Muns may have been the victim of foul⁵ play.

Taylor combed through the Navy's original reports of the investigation⁶, and found things that didn't add up. "There were people on the ship who were deliberately⁷ lying to create a motive⁸ for why Andy would have left," she concluded. And while $8,600 was missing, there was $51,000 left the safe. If her brother had stolen the money, why not all of it?

The Muns family wanted the case reopened, but the Navy said substantial new evidence was needed to do so.

So in the mid-1990s, Taylor set out to find that evidence. She found the agent who had originally investigated the case for the Naval⁹ Investigative Service, Ray McGady. McGady helped Taylor get the attention of Pete Hughes, head of the newly created "cold-case" squad¹⁰ at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

   但当Taylor找到该舰舰长家时，舰长却在不久前去世了。但他的遗孀告诉Taylor，她丈夫一直被Muns的失踪所困扰，怀疑他可能成为罪恶勾当的牺牲品。

   Taylor仔细检查了当初海军调查的原始报告，发现这些疑问都没有写在上面。她由此得出结论，这舰上有人故意说谎，编造出她弟弟不辞而别的动机。况且，当8600美元不翼而飞时，保险柜里却留下了51000美元。如果她弟弟偷了钱，为什么不全部偷走呢？

    Muns的家人要求重新审理此案，但海军说这样做需要有新的充分证据。

  到了90年代中期，Taylor找到了曾在海军调查处工作和最初调查这件案子的Ray McGady。McGady使Taylor得到海军犯罪调查处新成立的"冷案"组组长PeteHughes的关注。

Hughes soon agreed that there were a number of questions that remained unanswered. Thirty years later, for the first time, the focus now shifted from a theft to a homicide. Hughes assembled a team of homicide investigators¹¹, including a criminal profiler. They studied the statements from 1968 and began reinterviewing crew members.

Suspicion began to focus on several former crew members, including Michael LeBrun, He had access to the safe and was one of the first to suggest that Muns might have deserted¹².

Eventually, LeBrun's defenses crumbled¹³, and he described in detail how he had strangled Muns. He said that he had stolen the money and that Muns had caught him. LeBrun said he panicked and killed the ensign. Lebrun explained how he dumped the body in one of the ship's huge oil tanks. Muns' body was never found.

The interview was recorded on videotape. Lebrun was charged with murder. But he pleaded not guilty and is out on bail¹⁴.

   Hughes不久就认为此案的确存在许多疑点。在30年后，此案的焦点第一次从偷窃转到了凶杀。Hughes召集了一帮调查凶杀案的专家，包括罪犯肖像画家。他们研究了1968年的材料，着手重新询问当时的船员。

   疑点集中在几位前船员身上，其中一人叫Michael LeBorun，他曾接触过保险柜，他也是最先推测Muns可能做逃兵的人之一。

   最后，LeBorun防线崩溃了，他坦白了是他扼死Muns的细节。他说，他正在偷钱时，正好被Muns发现。LeBorun说他恐慌之中杀了Muns。LeBorun解释说，他把尸体扔进舰上巨大的油箱中，所以一直没有人发现Muns的尸体。

   LeBorun的这次坦白被拍了录相，他被指控谋杀。 但是他辩护自己无罪，并获准保释在外候审。

A federal judge has agreed, in part, ruling that prosecutors¹⁵ cannot use the videotaped confession¹⁶ because LeBrun's constitutional rights were violated. Without a legal and reliable confession, the government does not have much of a case.

But Taylor said she finally got what she was looking for. 33 years after Muns disappeared aboard the Cacapon, a ceremonial casket covered with an American flag made its way to a gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery¹⁷. Friends, family and naval criminal investigators came from around the country to watch as Muns was given full honors in recognition of his service to the Navy and his country.ABCNEWS

    一位联邦法官作出裁定：原告不能以坦白时录相为证，因为这侵犯了LeBorun的合法权力。没有合法和可靠的证据，政府不能对这个案子做处理。

   但是Taylor说她终于达到了她苦苦追寻的目的。在Muns从cacapon号舰上失踪33年后，人们在阿灵顿国家公墓，为Muns安葬了覆盖着国旗的纪念棺。来自全国的亲朋好友和海军犯罪调查人员目睹了Muns因服务于国家和海军而被恢复荣誉的这一时刻。