Military investigators have found no evidence that a Fort Bliss soldier now missing for more than nine months is in Mexico, officials said recently.
The disappearance of Pvt. Richard Halliday remains unsolved since he was last seen on July 23 in his barracks room at Fort Bliss.
Military investigators, soldiers, law enforcement officers, family members and volunteers have conducted searches at Fort Bliss, the El Paso-Juárez area and even other parts of Texas.
There was initial speculation and rumors that Halliday had gone to Mexico, but Army investigators haven’t found any signs indicating that is true.
“To date, we have found no credible evidence or information that supports that Pvt. Halliday is in Mexico,” Marlon Soto, special agent in charge of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command at Fort Bliss, said in a statement.
Halliday is assigned to D Battery, 1-43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command.
The soldier’s mother, Patricia Halliday, suspects her son was the victim of foul play and that someone in his unit knows more than they are telling.
She has described the disappearance as a “horrible nightmare” on daily Facebook video updates voicing frustration over not knowing what happened to her son.
“Where’s Richard? Was he in uniform? Was he naked? Was he bludgeoned? Was he chopped up? Was he fed to hogs?” she asked in a recent video. “Or did he just run away because all of those were possibilities and he did not want to face those possibilities.”
She noted that her son had obtained a pistol right before he went missing. She added that her soldier son didn’t go missing in Afghanistan, Syria or some other country but inside a U.S. Army post in Texas.
The Army is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Halliday’s whereabouts.
Anyone with information may call the Fort Bliss Criminal Investigation Division Office at 915-568-1700, Fort Bliss military police at 915-744-1237 or leave a tip online at cid.army.mil
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