Authorities: Militia Plotter Suspect in Wife’s Death
The U.S. Army private accused of being the ringleader of an anti-government militia in Georgia was a suspect in the death of his wife months before prosecutors say he and three fellow soldiers murdered two people to keep their clandestine group secret, authorities said.
Isaac Aguigui funded the anarchist militia FEAR, or Forever Enduring Always Ready, with up to $500,000 in life insurance benefits he collected after his wife’s death in July 2011, prosecutors said.
Aguigui and three other soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart in southeastern Georgia near Savannah have since been charged with murder and other offenses stemming from the December 5, 2011, shooting deaths of a former soldier and his teenage girlfriend.
Aguigui, 21, and two others were scheduled to appear in court in Long County, Georgia, for a hearing on Thursday. A third co-defendant reached a plea deal with prosecutors on Monday.