Bereaved dad seeks justice
The parent of a slain soldier wants her killer to "understand what he did"
March planned
A silent march will be held in Honolulu on Tuesday for Felicia LaDuke, 22, a Schofield Barracks soldier who was allegedly strangled by her ex-boyfriend.
The march will start at 5:30 p.m. at Honolulu Hale. Joe Bloom of the Catholic Charities Family & Therapeutic Services and others will speak after the march.
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The father of slain Army Spc. Felicia LaDuke says he hopes her killer goes to prison "for a long, long time."
"I just hope someday that Jeffery will understand what he did," Steve LaDuke said in an telephone interview yesterday from Warroad, Minn., referring to LaDuke's former boyfriend, Spc. Jeffery White, who is charged with killing her.
Military police found LaDuke, 22, at Mokuleia Beach on Saturday after she was allegedly strangled by White, 21, of Schofield Barracks.
White, a truck driver with Company A, 325th Brigade Support Battalion, appeared yesterday at District Court before Judge Lono Lee. White's wife and a few other soldiers sat in the courtroom during the proceeding.
White was charged with second-degree murder Monday. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. White's preliminary hearing is scheduled to be held tomorrow.
The city medical examiner said LaDuke died of "asphyxia due to strangulation with blunt force injuries."
This is the third domestic violence-related death to occur this year in Hawaii.
According to an affidavit, White confessed to witnesses that he strangled LaDuke inside her car, pushed her out and then ran over her body with the car near Kaena Point on Friday.
Steve LaDuke described his daughter as a loving, giving mother. "She gave a lot to a lot of people. She would say, 'God always gave me more,' and he did until now," Steve LaDuke said.
"There were a few references to him (White) having a temper, but she never expressed fear of him," stepmother Donna said.
Many friends and relatives of LaDuke visited her father and stepmother to express condolences yesterday.
LaDuke graduated from Warroad High School in Minnesota and enlisted in the Army soon after graduation. Family members said LaDuke met White at Schofield Barracks. He was her first love, her father said.
White, who is originally from Texas, was deployed to Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom and returned in March 2005.
LaDuke's stepmother said they had dated for a while, but the relationship ended when she was in her second trimester of her pregnancy. LaDuke had found out White was cheating on her with another woman, said her father. "He was seeing someone before she left for Iraq," he said.
LaDuke later gave birth to Elijah, now 20 months old. LaDuke's great-aunt, who lives in South Dakota, took care of her son while she was deployed to Tikrit, Mosul and Baghdad for seven months before returning to Hawaii, the same month White returned from Afghanistan.
Donna LaDuke said White underwent a paternity test in June. "Prior to that, Jeffery had not had any relationship with Elijah. The paternity test declared him the father," she said.
Felicia LaDuke was seeking child support from White.
Elijah is currently under the custody of Child Protective Services. LaDuke's father is trying to gain custody of his grandson.
LaDuke is also survived by her mother, Julie; sister Brianne LaDuke; stepbrother, Garrett Glass; stepsister Amanda Glass; and half-brother Conrad LaDuke.
Services for LaDuke to be held in Warroad, Minn., are pending.