Army investigator charged in wife’s death allegedly sought puffer fish toxin

An agent with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command who is accused of killing his wife reportedly tried to obtain a poisonous substance produced by puffer fish prior to his wife’s death, according to Army Times.

Staff Sgt. Lesly J. Lindor, who was assigned to Fort Hood Texas, allegedly sought Tetrodotoxin, a potentially fatal neurotoxin, in the months leading up to his wife’s death on Sept. 3, 2018, Army Times reporter Kyle Rempfer first revealed.

Army CID spokesman Christopher Grey confirmed that Lindor has been charged in connection with his wife’s death, but Grey did not provide any information about whether Lindor had tried to get Tetrodotoxin or if investigators believe the substance was used as a murder weapon.

Lindor is currently in pretrial confinement and he faces charges of murder, stalking, attempting to violate the Federal Biological Weapons statute, and other offenses, Grey said.

“It is important to point out the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Grey said.

Because Lindor and his wife lived off-base in Harker Heights, Texas, local police initially led the investigation, during which CID agents became suspicious of how his wife died, Grey said. That prompted the CID to launch its own investigation into the matter.

Lindor has not participated in any CID investigations since he was placed on administrative duty in October 2018, Grey said. He was removed from an investigative unit and placed in a support unit.

No further information about the case was immediately available.

The CID detachment at Fort Hood has come under public scrutiny since Army Spc.Vanessa Guillén’s death last April.

An independent panel later found that the CID agents who were assigned to investigate Guillén’s initial disappearance were inexperienced and made a series of amateur mistakes.

“CID did not advise her unit to change SPC. Guillén’s duty status entry from absent without leave (AWOL), despite the fact that her car keys, barracks room key, government issued Common Access Card (CAC), and wallet were left in the Squadron HQ rooms and she never returned from what was supposed to be a very brief visit to the other arms room to meet SPC Aaron Robinson, the subject who ultimately murdered here,” the panel found. “Also notable, SPC. Guillén’s car was still parked in the parking lot across the street from her barracks and all financial activity on her credit card and bank accounts had ceased.”

Featured image: A CID Special Agent documents a crime scene. (Photo by Jeffrey Castro.)