18 February,2009 11:11 AM IST | | Agencies
A 16-year-old girl found unconscious at a Fort Lewis barracks is getting better, and investigators are looking to her to explain the circumstances of another teen's deathu00a0in the army barracksu00a0over the weekend, an Army spokesman said yesterday.
The two 16-year-old girls were found at the army barracks u2014 one passed out, one dead at the scene u2014 at 3:30 am onu00a0Sunday, with no outward signs of trauma. The girl who was unconscious was in "stable and improving" condition, Piek said. An autopsy on the dead girl has been completed, but results are not expected for at least a week.
"Once she is in a state that she can be interviewed by the Criminal Investigation Division, I'm sure the investigators will do so to gather the facts about what the girls were doing on post," spokesman Joe Piek said.
Investigators have questioned a soldier acquainted with the girls.
The identities of both girls were withheld, but neither of them are military dependents.
Piek said one part of the investigation will focus on the base's policies for allowing civilian visitors on post and for guests at barracks. No overnight visitors are allowed in the barracks, and authorised visitors must leave by 2 am on weekends.
Any minors who aren't a member of their host's immediate family must be accompanied in the barracks by a parent or guardian.
Anyone with a valid Department of Defense identification is allowed to escort a civilian u2014 even an unrelated minor u2014 onto the base. Piek said that policy is under review. The Army wants to know what the girls were doing in the barracks and whether drugs or alcohol were involved.
The manager of a dry-cleaning store near Fort Lewis said she often saw teenage girls approach young soldiers at a parking lot across the street from her shop and ask for rides onto the base. "It's easy for them to get on the post. It happens all the time," Plaza Cleaners manager Maria Dibbens said.
