Boulder – A Marine who authorities believe staged his own disappearance to avoid returning to his unit belonged to a company of Marines that has several members charged with crimes, including murder.
Lance Cpl. Lance Hering was on leave from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, when he was reported missing Aug. 30.
Seven Marines from Kilo Company have been charged with murdering an Iraqi man, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52. Prosecutors have alleged that the Marines, along with one Navy sailor, dragged Awad from his home and shot him while patrolling near the village of Hamdania.
Steve Powers, a friend charged with helping Hering stage his disappearance, said that Hering, 21, wanted to disappear because he was afraid of his fellow Marines, according to an article published in Thursday’s editions of the Daily Camera of Boulder.
“He thought if he would have gone back to Camp Pendleton, they would have killed him,” Powers, 20, told the newspaper. “He was terrified.”
“To me,” Powers said at another point, “I was saving his life. Absolutely, I’d do it again.”
First Lt. Esteban Vickers, a spokesman for Camp Pendleton, Calif., where Her ing was based, said Thursday that he does not believe Hering was ever considered a suspect or a witness in the murder case, nor in two other assault cases involving Marines from the 3rd Battalion. Companies contain about 150 Marines.
Boulder sheriff’s Cmdr. Phil West said investigators have not interviewed anyone else who says Hering was afraid of his fellow Marines.
“Mr. Powers lied to us repeatedly and frequently before,” West said. “I think he’s trying to make himself out to be a hero. And I personally don’t believe that’s the case. He has a personal agenda that he was pushing in our interviews, and I believe that’s reflected in his comments in the article.”
Powers reported Hering missing, claiming Hering had fallen the night before while the two were climbing in Eldorado Canyon State Park. The report spawned the largest search and rescue effort in Boulder County history. In total, the five-day official search cost Boulder authorities nearly $32,000, West said.
Investigators soon began to doubt Powers’ account, and, when he failed a lie-detector test Sept. 5, Powers admitted that he and Hering had staged the disappearance, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Powers’ attorney did not return calls Thursday.
Last month, investigators said they had obtained video apparently showing Hering buying a bus ticket in Denver the morning he was reported missing. West said Thursday that detectives have uncovered more evidence to suggest Hering is alive, but he wouldn’t elaborate.
Vickers, the Marine spokesman, said Hering had no reason to be fearful of other Marines.
“Absolutely not,” Vickers said. “There’s so many avenues he could take if he felt threatened, using the chain of command, using the chaplain.”
Hering’s girlfriend, according to the affidavit, said that Hering wanted to stay in the Marines. And Hering’s father, Lloyd, has said Hering asked to return to his unit in Iraq even after he was evacuated to a military hospital for treatment for severe heatstroke in the middle of his tour.
Hering’s family could not be reached Thursday.
Vickers said Hering has been classified as unauthorized absent from his unit, the Marines’ version of AWOL. However, he said, it won’t be decided whether Hering should be punished until he is found.
“This Marine is still out there missing,” Vickers said. “So we just need to make sure that he’s safe and unharmed.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
