Private Dulaney has vanished. is an ABC News Studios true crime drama series that centers on a mother’s search for her son, Marine Private Leroy Dulaney, who vanished in May 1979 while serving at the Marine Corps Base Camp in LeJeune, North Carolina.
Private Delaney was reported missing by the Marine Corps, but his mother took matters into her own hands, rejecting the AWOL rumor and starting her own investigation into her son’s whereabouts.
The three episodes go into great detail about Carole Dulaney’s investigation into the disappearance of her son. Carole Dulaney finds it difficult to get any response to her inquiries, and it soon becomes clear that the Marine Corps is unwilling to cooperate with her inquiry. Nevertheless, with persistence and resolve, the defiant mother would eventually realize that there was more going on at the camp than anyone was willing to acknowledge.
Her persistence would result in an incredible tale with a web of deception and lies as well as allegations of satanic cults, gun trafficking, and drug selling. This extraordinary story, which includes first-person accounts from Carole, her sons, and Private Dulaney’s wife Brenda, provides a conclusion to a riddle that would not go away.
What happened to Private Dulaney?
Major spoilers are ahead for the series Where is Private Dulaney?
In May 1979, Private Dulaney vanished from his Marine Corps duty station, leading the Marine Corps to believe that he was AWOL (absent without leave). Up to that point, the soldier had no excuse for leaving his post; his disappearance was sudden and unexpected. He was last saw leaving their base in a car with two other coworkers. Private Dulaney’s disappearance would, however, have a much more sinister explanation, and finally, the truth would come to light.
Is Private Dulaney dead or alive?
Leroy Dulaney had been murdered by a Marine, and he has now passed away. The person who killed him served at Camp Lejeune and was convicted of second-degree murder in Onslow County Superior Court. Evidence presented throughout the trial established that Dulaney and his murderer had been driving together. His killer pulled a revolver and fatally shot the other Marine in the head. He would take the body to some neighboring woods and reshoot it after the cold-blooded killing. The insane murderer would go back to where he had put the body after a month and a half and transfer it.
Who killed Private Dulaney?
Horribly, a fellow Marine named Mark Duane Fletcher had killed Dulaney. As more information about the case came to light, it became clear that Fletcher had previously made statements about wanting to be a serial killer and had stated his desire to kill 12 people in his lifetime.
The other troops at the camp had already labeled Mark Fletcher as a “loner,” and there were unsubstantiated reports that he might be a drug dealer and a follower of a cult of satan. It was reported that Fletcher and Dulaney had gotten to know one another before the tragic day he was killed.
Billie June Rohweller was friends with Corporal Benjamin Duval and Fletcher. On the night of Dulaney’s murder, Duval was also in the car and later claimed that Fletcher had made him an accessory to the crime. He had been operating the vehicle, and after the incident, he would aid Fletcher in moving and burying the body.
Mark Fletcher would also be found responsible for other offenses. After shooting Marine Ronald Ray Jenkins, who had met with Duval and Fletcher on May 25, Fletcher would shoot Dulaney just two days later.
Jenkins had arranged for the sale of an M16 gun that he had previously stolen to Fletcher. Carole Dulaney would locate Mark Fletcher and question him about her son as part of her investigation. Later, Fletcher would leave her car and run away on foot. Duval would ultimately be given a twenty-year term for his involvement in the heinous crime, and Fletcher would be given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murders of Dulaney and Jenkins. Fletcher is presently housed at the Hyde Correctional Facility in Fairfield, North Carolina.
Where is Private Dulaney? trailer