More charges for Wasilla soldier accused of murder

WASILLA — A Wasilla soldier accused of participating in the murders of three Afghan civilians also allegedly beat and threatened the life of another civilian, according to amended charges released by the military.

Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, 22, is a Houston High School graduate and is one of five charged with premeditated murder for allegedly throwing grenades at and shooting Afghan civilians. As the investigation has progressed, additional violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice have been added, said Maj. Kathleen Turner, a spokesperson for Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. In addition, seven others from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team have been charged, but not with murder.

“It’s not really clear yet what their roles were,” she said of the growing number of soldiers implicated in events dating back to January.

Morlock is accused of murdering Gul Mudin, a civilian, between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31. His original charging documents allege that on or about Feb. 22, he also killed Marach Agha “with premeditation … by means of shooting him with a rifle.” The third murder charge says that on or about May 2, he participated in the killing of Mullah Adahdad, also by throwing a grenade and shooting him with a rifle.

Since the amended charges against Morlock were released last month, news outlets have reported the murders as “sport killings,” a label Turner said is media speculation, at the same time declining to say that characterization is inaccurate.

“That is a speculation that has come out with media reports,” she said. “We don’t know that, and none of that will be known until we have the Article 32 (hearings) happen.”

An Article 32 hearing is the military equivalent of a grand jury. As of Friday afternoon, none of the soldiers charged have had Article 32s and none were scheduled.

In addition to murder, Morlock is also now charged with using an illegal drug, hashish, and with beating a civilian “on the body with his hands and feet, threatening to kill him if he spoke about hashish use within the platoon,” the amended charging document says.

In addition to allegedly participating in the beating, Morlock allegedly showed the civilian “fingers removed from a corpse,” the document says. The new charges also include a claim that Morlock photographed and possessed visual images of human casualties.

Morlock and the others charged remain in pretrial confinement, Turner said.

“They’re still allowed contact with their families, visitation and phone calls and such,” she said. “They have contact with their attorneys and family members.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.