Pregnant Soldier Found Dead in a Hotel Room
COOPER: You're looking at a picture of Megan Touma, the pregnant soldier stationed at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, was found dead in a hotel room. Authorities call the case suspicious. It comes just months after Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, also pregnant, was murdered allegedly by another marine based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Now police say, they solved that crime but now they have this new mystery. So let's get the latest developments with tonight's "Crime and Punishment" report. Here's "360's" Randi Kaye.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A dedicated and decorated soldier, preparing for another volunteer assignment with the army, dead inside a North Carolina hotel room. How Megan Touma died is a mystery. Touma's body was found over the weekend after someone reported a strong odor coming from Room 143. The 23-year-old dental specialist was seven months pregnant when she died. She had just arrived here a couple of weeks ago to be based at Ft. Bragg. The army says Touma had been serving in Germany for three years. She was last seen at Ft. Bragg June 12th. She had the option of staying on base while her paperwork was processed or pay for a hotel. She chose the hotel.</s>MAJOR ANGELA FUNARO, FORT BRAGG: We don't have any knowledge of any guests that she had with her; if she had any guests at all.</s>KAYE: The hotel wouldn't say if Touma had visitors. Police are calling her death suspicious. They're waiting on the autopsy to know how she died. Touma's ex-husband said she told him she was going to name her son after him even though he wasn't the father. El Sayed Touma says they were married three years. This would have been her first child.</s>EL SAYED TOUMA, MEGAN TOUMA'S HUSBAND: We had a great relationship. We remained good friends. We e-mailed each other. I mean, I still love her. I mean, I am married now and I have -- you know, I have a wife, and I have a baby on the way. But, I mean, I still love Megan. I still do. I will never stop.</s>KAYE: Touma's aunt told CNN she currently had a boyfriend. She met him, a fellow soldier, while serving in Germany and had moved to North Carolina to join him at Ft. Bragg. The aunt did not know if he had fathered her unborn child. A soldier who served with Touma in Germany told CNN via e-mail, "She was very happy to be expecting her baby. She also showed me her ring and told me she was getting married."</s>MAJ. FUNARO: Here's a beautiful young woman. She's seven months pregnant. It's just sad and deeply troubling.</s>KAYE: Ft. Bragg is providing witnesses and helping police establish a time line. Grief doesn't wait for answers. On her brother's MySpace page, a picture of them. His mood, crushed. He writes, "RIP, rest in peace big sis, we love you and you are in our hearts forever." In her hometown of Cold Spring, Kentucky, shock.</s>CONNIE NELSON, FAMILY FRIEND: Megan, honey, was a sweet girl, come skipping down the road in her little long hair; just sweet as she can be. Was a cheerleader, did well in school.</s>KAYE: Her success carried over to her military career. Among Touma's awards, the Global War on Terrorism medal. She'd also completed a combat lifesaver course, an advanced course to help her save a fellow soldier's life in the field. Not enough, it appears, to save her own.</s>COOPER: Randi, is there any indication tonight that anyone thought the soldier was missing? You reported her body had been in the room long enough to develop an odor.</s>KAYE: Yes, Anderson. In fact, her family apparently thought she was missing because according to the ex-husband tonight, he says that her mother hadn't heard from her. So she called Ft. Bragg and was apparently told, according to him, that her daughter had gone AWOL. We asked the army at Ft. Bragg about that tonight. And they said they're investigating her unit to see whether proper procedures were followed. They also said one of her friends, another woman in the military base at Ft. Bragg, had told the family that she had gone AWOL. Where that report came from is what they're trying to get to the bottom of. What's also interesting here tonight is what about the hotel? How did this woman seven months pregnant, new to town just two weeks, how did she go unnoticed? How did it go unnoticed she was missing? They had daily maid service at the hotel. Her body wasn't discovered until it was so badly decomposed, according to the ex-husband, Anderson, she had to be identified by her dental records. There had been some time that passed between her death and when she was found. What happened during that time, what was done to find her, if anything, is still under investigation.</s>COOPER: We'll keep following it. Randi thanks. We're following several other stories as well tonight. Erica Hill joins us with the "360 Bulletin" -- Erica.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a Massachusetts jury has convicted Neil Entwistle of shooting to death his wife and their 9- month-old daughter, rejecting his claim that she killed the baby and herself. Entwistle, you may recall, fled to his native Britain after those murders three years ago. In Florida, a jury convicted a man of killing writer Alan Shalleck. He's the one who worked with the co-creator of "Curious George" to bring the cartoon monkey to TV. Vincent Puglisi will be sentenced in July. In 2006, he and another man went to Shalleck's home to rob him, and it turned deadly. The co-defendant took a plea deal. And the search for a group of hikers missing since Sunday is over in the Sierra Nevada and with a happy ending. The nine teens and two adults showed up at a camp store today miles away from the search zone. That group was part of an outward bound adventure course, Anderson.</s>COOPER: Well, that's sure some good news they showed up. Here's tonight's "Beat 360" photo, Erica. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Clinton leaving a news conference on Capitol Hill today. Here's the caption from our staff winner Cate: "Sold. The House Speaker seat goes to you in the back for, oh, let's just say $10.3 million."</s>HILL: My goodness. Just a little bit left at that point.</s>COOPER: That's the campaign debt. Think you can do better? Go to our website, ac360.com, click on the link, send us your entry. We'll announce the winner at the end of the program. Remember the winner gets a new fancy t-shirt. Up next, the former boyfriend of "Devil Wears Prada" star Anne Hathaway busted by the Feds for allegedly pulling off a devilish scam involving millions of dollars and the Vatican. Plus easy access to dangerous drugs online. The government knows it's a problem so why aren't they doing anything to stop it? We're "Keeping Them Honest," coming up.