Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was found dead Saturday morning, June 21, 2008, in a Fayetteville, N.C., motel room.

Lawrence Kobilinsky
Forensic Scientist, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Megan Lynn Touma may have been murdered by someone who knew her. A soldier who spent time with the pregnant 23-year old Army specialist in Germany, and who returned to the United States with her, has been declared a person of interest and been detained.

It is possible that if he killed her, he feared the police investigation and tried to mislead crime scene investigators and detectives by leaving a symbol drawn on a mirror in the motel room in lipstick. This "signature" was the same as the zodiac serial killer who struck fear into women in the late 1960's.

Through a letter to the media, the killer claimed that he had killed others before and that he would kill again. The police investigation has been aided by the Army Criminal Investigation Divison and led to the identification of the individual who has become a person of interest.

Detectives hypothesized that a serial killer would most likely not seek out and murder a pregnant woman and so police began to look for a possible motive to the killing. Of course, boyfriends, acquaintances, and even relatives, come to the top of the list of suspects.

Physical evidence found from the crime scene will be used to determine if the person of interest is indeed the killer.