Bodies of 2 Missing U.S. Soldiers Found

Bodies of 2 Missing U.S. Soldiers Found

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 11, 2008
Filed at 4:27 a.m. ET


DETROIT (AP) -- The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families said Thursday night. The military would not immediately confirm the report.

The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Mich., had been identified in Iraq.

Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007 in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the ''triangle of death.'' The body of the third seized soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later.

Jimenez's father, Ramon ''Andy'' Jimenez, said uniformed military officials came to his home in Lawrence on Thursday to tell him that his son's body and some of his son's personal effects had been discovered. Fouty's stepfather, Gordon Dibler, said military officials came to his Oxford home to break the news.

The Pentagon generally waits 24 hours after notifying the next of kin before making a release public.

Andy Jimenez told The Associated Press through a translator that the news ''shattered all hope'' the family had to ''see Alex walk home on his own.''

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