State News

Autopsy: Army nurse was shot, buried

An autopsy shows a gunshot wound caused the death of Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc.

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Holley Wimunc
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — An autopsy report released Thursday shows a gunshot wound caused the death of Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, a 24-year-old was a maternity-ward nurse at Fort Bragg's Womack Army Medical Center.

The report also showed Wimunc had been burned, then wrapped in an air mattress. Her dismembered remains were found in a shallow grave in July, a few days after her apartment in Fayetteville was found ablaze.

Her husband, Marine Cpl. John Wimunc, has been charged with first-degree murder, arson and conspiracy. The couple was getting divorced before she died. A fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Kyle Alden, is charged as an accessory in her death.

Both men are scheduled to appear in a Cumberland County courtroom Jan. 27. John Wimunc's parents have said they stand by their son.

State Division of Forest Resources personnel found Holley Wimunc's remains July 13 when they responded to a fire in a wooded area near Camp Lejeune. Her body was badly burned and decomposed, and doctors had to use dental records to identify her.

She had been missing since July 10, the day her apartment was found burned. The fire was reported after a co-worker went to check on her when she didn't show up for work. Her car was in the parking lot, but she was gone.

Fort Bragg is about 115 miles northwest of coastal Camp Lejeune.

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