Body found on Fort Bragg identified

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By ABC11

Friday, October 1, 2010

FORT BRAGG The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the lead investigative agency in the death, says Pesante was not in the military and had no official affiliation with the military.

Chris Grey, spokesman for Army CID, says they are working to determine how he ended up on post.

Pesante's body was discovered in the woods north of the westbound lane of Plank Road around 3:30 p.m. Monday by soldiers who were conducting a site survey for an upcoming training event.

The area where the body was discovered is Fort Bragg property, but it is not gated and can be accessed by the general public.

Pesante's family filed a missing person's report on Sept. 17 with the Fayetteville Police Department.

An autopsy is being conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

"We are treating this as a homicide investigation," said Grey. "We are working very closely with the Fayetteville Police Department on the case. Due to the nature of the case and what we have thus far, we are not releasing any additional specifics on the case such as cause and manner of death at this time."