Police interview man who saw missing Bragg soldier at bar

Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux, 23, was reported missing Monday after she failed to report for duty at Fort Bragg. She was last seen leaving Froggy Bottoms, at 6326 Ramsey St., around 1:20 a.m. Saturday.

Chief Tom Bergamine said Wednesday night that her disappearance is an active missing person investigation and that police are talking to anybody who might have seen Bordeaux in the early morning hours Saturday.

One of the people interviewed Wednesday in the case is Nicholas M. Holbert, 25, who has felony convictions from 2003 for indecent liberties with a child and child abuse, according to state Division of Adult Correction records.

Bergamine said Holbert, who either works or has worked at Froggy Bottoms, came forward voluntarily to provide information. He stopped short of calling him a person of interest.

“Mr. Holbert is one of the last persons that had contact with Mrs. Bordeaux,” he said. “Anybody that last saw her on the early morning of Saturday is someone we want to talk to.”

An Army official speaking on the condition of anonymity told CNN that a bar employee gave Bordeaux a ride home and that she texted someone “got home safely.”

Bergamine would not comment on those reports.

Investigators scoured the area around the bar Wednesday looking for clues that might help locate Bordeaux. An investigative lead also prompted them to call in a dive team to search a pond off Dobbin Holmes Road in Eastover.

That search turned up nothing Wednesday, but teams are expected to return to the area Thursday morning.

Investigators are also collecting surveillance footage from businesses near Froggy Bottoms, Bergamine said.

Police have said that, because Bordeaux has not been in contact with family or friends since Saturday, she might be in danger.

Bordeaux, a combat medic with the 44th Medical Brigade, has been married for two years to Mike Bordeaux, who was out of town when his wife disappeared, police said.

He has been cooperative with the investigation and police have “no reason to doubt anything he’s telling us at this time,” Bergamine said.

The couple lived in an apartment about a mile from Froggy Bottoms.

Bordeaux’s cellphone last pinged off a tower near the bar and her home, but police have not released any information on calls or texts she made or received that night.

When she went missing, Bordeaux was wearing a pink tank top with spaghetti straps and black shorts.

She is 5 feet 1 inch tall, weighs about 102 pounds and has blond hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who might have seen her or has information on her whereabouts should call police at 910-587-3254 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).