Texas man charged with murder in death of Fort Hood soldier

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A 28-year old man has been charged with murder nearly three months after the body of U.S. Army Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans of Fort Hood was found on the side of the road in Harker Heights, Texas.

An arrest warrant for Brandon Michael Olivares in connection with the shooting death of the 27-year-old soldier was issued Wednesday, Harker Heights police said.

Brandon Michael Olivares

Olivares was already in custody at the Bell County Jail on unrelated charges. Jail records indicate Olivares was arrested earlier in June and charged with third-degree felony possession of a firearm and a parole violation.

Olivares’ bail is set at $1 million.

Police found Rosecrans’ body on Fuller Lane on May 18. His abandoned Jeep Renegade was discovered on fire about four miles away.

U.S. Army Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans of Fort Hood

Olivares and Rosecrans were driving in Rosecran's SUV when Olivares shot him and left his body on a secluded road near Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Harker Heights, about 11 miles from Fort Hood, according to a police affidavit, ABC 13 reported.

No details about a possible motive have been released.

“The arrest just gave us even more questions,” Thomas Berg, Rosecrans’ father, said, according to the Statesman. “We do know there are other warrants that will follow.”

Rosecrans' death is one in a string of at least seven suspicious deaths and disappearances of soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in the last five months.

In March, the body of 20-year-old Shelby Tyler Jones was found after he suffered a gunshot wound in south Killeen near Fort Hood.

A month later, Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén went missing, and authorities took three months to find her body in July. Her alleged killer, who confessed to the murder and authorities believe sexually assaulted Gullien, Spc. Aaron Robinson, committed suicide shortly afterward.

Another soldier, 24-year-old Gregory Scott Morales, was found dead in a field in Killeen in June, nearly 10 months after he vanished. Fort Hood authorities said in a statement they suspect foul play.

Most recently, on Tuesday, the body of Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, a 24-year-old soldier based at Fort Hood, was pulled from Stillhouse Hollow Lake after he drowned. An investigation is underway.

The lake is the same place where another body, that of 26-year-old Pvt. Mejhor Morta, was found in July.

Of the eight deaths this year, five have been publicly linked to foul play, according to the Army Times.

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Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy on July 10 ordered a review of the command climate at Fort Hood in light of the incidents.