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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2002

The body of an Army officer was positively identified on Monday by military officials who failed to recover the Sioux tribal member despite an exhaustive search and an ongoing investigation into the circumstances of his death.

After being reported missing more than two months ago, Sergeant Alan Two Crow was located by civilian volunteers who went to the West Point Military Academy in New York at the urging of a Ponca elder. Eric Milland and Charlie Hetman found the decomposed body on Saturday in a rocky and steep area after a two-hour search.

That was where Two Crow, 27, apparently fell to his death, according to the military. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Criminal Investigative Division confirmed his identity on Sunday.

"Preliminary reports indicate that Two Crow's death was accidental due to a broken neck from a fall," West Point said in a statement yesterday.

Two Crow, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, was last seen on July 13. His family reported him missing soon after but the military, in conjunction with the state police, couldn't find him.

"We searched the probable areas given to us by the State Police and we even searched outside of those boundaries," said Lt. Col. James Whaley, West Point's spokesman, in an official military publication.

The failure drew scorn from Carter Camp, a Ponca tribal member and Indian activist who accused the military of racism. "This has been an outrageous case from the beginning," he said in an e-mail sent to an American Indian Movement-related mailing list.

"The Army completely failed to investigate and was perfectly willing to just forget a soldier was missing," he wrote. "I believe their lack of interest was because he was Indian and I think we can prove it."

In other published reports, Two Crow's family believed their son was being ignored. "[T]he Army is just giving us a run-around, not enough information," brother Jaime told the Associated Press.

Two Crow had been recently named "Soldier of the Month" at West Point. He was on a four-day pass when he went missing on the grounds of the academy.

He was found about a half-mile from a housing area. The military believes he fell to his death early July 14 while trying to walk back from the area to his barracks.

An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to call (845) 938-3333.

Milland, is a member of Montana's Crow Tribe who lives in New York City. Hetman is a civilian worker at West Point.

According to Nativenewsonline.org, an online site which helped arrange the search, state police arrived on the scene of Saturday's discovery faster than the military police.

Relevant Links:
Missing: Sgt. Alan Two-Crow - http://www.troopers.state.ny.us/WntdMiss/
Poster/Missing/two-crow.html
U.S. Military Academy at West Point - http://www.usma.edu

Related Stories:
NNN: Army officer, tribal member, missing