Body found at motel ID'd as pregnant soldier

Fayetteville, N.C. — Authorities on Tuesday identified the body of a woman found Saturday in a Fayetteville motel as a Fort Bragg soldier.

Spc. Megan Touma, 23, who was assigned to the 19th Replacement Detachment, was seven months pregnant at the time of her death, police said.

Fort Bragg officials said Touma was assigned to the base earlier this month. A dental specialist from Cold Spring, Ky., who had been in the Army for five years, she previously was assigned to Army dental clinics in Germany and at Fort Drum, N.Y., officials said.

Touma's body was found Saturday morning in a room at the Fairfield Inn at 5000 Morganton Road. Police said she appeared to have been dead for about two days before she was found.

The cause of her death hasn't been determined.

Touma is the second pregnant service member to die in North Carolina this year. Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was found dead near Camp Lejeune in January. A fellow Marine, Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has been charged in her death and is awaiting extradition from Mexico.

A private memorial service for Touma will be held Friday at Hope Chapel.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Fayetteville Police Department at 910-433-1856.