Fort Hood, Texas – A soldier who went missing for four days after a solo navigation exercise died of hyperthermia and dehydration, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.
The body of Sgt. Lawrence Sprader, 25, was found Tuesday night in a brushy area on the central Texas Army post’s training ground, said Eddy Howton, Fort Hood’s director of emergency services.
About 3,000 people, including soldiers, covered more than 30 square miles searching for him in 90-degree heat.
A brief report on the autopsy, conducted at the Southwestern Institute of Forensics Sciences at Dallas, was released by a Bell County justice of the peace. The report did not provide further details.
Officials have said Sprader had two canteens of water, a water backpack and two Meals Ready To Eat when he left. His body was found near plenty of drinking water from creeks and other sources, said Robert Volk, Fort Hood’s chief game warden.
Officials do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Col. Carter Oates, commander of the 11th MP Battalion, Criminal Investigations Division, where Sprader was assigned.
Sprader disappeared Friday during an exercise that tests basic map-reading and navigation skills in a rugged area at the sprawling central Texas post. He was one of nearly 320 noncommissioned officers taking part in a two-week leadership course.
Officials declined to answer questions about whether there were signs of distress that might indicate how Sprader died, saying all that is under investigation.
Commanders said that when they reached Sprader on his cellphone late Friday – the last time anyone spoke to him – he was determined to finish the exercise and did not indicate that he was ill or distressed.
“He was a model soldier,” Oates said. “He had a goal to succeed.”
The soldier from Prince George, Va., had returned from an Iraq deployment in September and worked in the criminal-investigation division of Fort Hood. He had no orders for redeployment to the war zone.
