Hanna McKinney died at the age of 20 at Camp Taji in Iraq. Her family was told that she died of “injuries suffered when she was struck by a vehicle” yet somehow, there is no record of the accident within the 1,460 pages of documents The Washington Post was able to get from the military. The only mention of the accident that was found states that her death was under criminal investigation which is a little different from what her parents were told.
A confession was made by Sgt. Damon D. Shell admitting to taking McKinney to have a drink followed by a “sexual encounter” followed by his decision to drive into her with a 10,000 pound Humvee. He was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and is only spending 13 months in prison; his conviction was drunk driving and voluntary sodomy. He will be able to remain on active duty in the US Army.
According to the transcript received by The Washington Post, Shell could only make this statement. "Nothing I could say or do would make up for the fact that the things that happened that night killed her. What do you say? Sorry? That means nothing. There is nothing I can say. It would take me a long time to figure out what to say."
McKinney’s case is only one of a long list of noncombat deaths in Iraq. More than 700 deaths have occurred from crashes, suicides, illnesses and accidents, sometimes exposing som “messy truths about life in the war zone.”
