Fort Campbell-based soldier returns home, disappears

Posted on Mon, Apr. 04, 2005
Associated Press

STANFORD, Ky. - An Army specialist who served with the 101st Airborne Division has not been seen nor heard from by family since February 2004, just months after he returned from duty in Iraq.

Army Spec. Levi Moddrelle, 21, returned to Stanford in 2003 after serving as a Chinook helicopter mechanic near Mosul at the height of combat in Iraq.

His mother, Susan Tileston of Stanford, says her son may have been distressed by his experiences in combat around Mosul at the height of the war that he ran away from the Army to avoid the possibility of another tour in Iraq.

"At this point, I just want to know that he's OK," Tileston said. "It's terrible not knowing whether he might be hurt or lying in a ditch somewhere."

Army spokeswoman Martha Rudd confirmed last week that Moddrelle has been absent without leave from his unit at Fort Campbell - Bravo Co., 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment - since Jan. 31, 2004, and is now listed as a deserter.

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AP Wire | 04/04/2005 | Fort Campbell-based soldier returns home, disappears