My brother Mason, a Specialist in the United States Army stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, went missing on March 18. 2013.
In December of 2012, Mason Muldoon VanKuiken, 22 returned from his second tour in Afghanistan where he served in the infantry and as a translator. He spent a month at home with our parents and his wife, Lacey, who moved into our Bradenton home to attend nursing school at Manatee Technical Institute while Mason was deployed.
During Mason’s leave, we all noticed changes in his demeanor that were reminiscent of the way he was when he returned home from his first deployment, yet more exaggerated. He had difficulty sleeping, he seemed quiet, distant, emotionally unavailable. There were episodes where even being in a dark room was difficult for him. He felt it necessary to be armed any time he left the house. We figured he needed time to readjust to being back in civilization. He promised his wife that he would “talk to someone” when he returned to Fort Carson.
On March 17, 2013, after not having heard from Mason in several days, we began making calls. Lacey (Mason’s wife) worked her way up the chain of command and, on March 19th, we finally received a late night call from Mason’s captain who was apologetic that we hadn’t already been contacted. He explained that Mason had been “on watch for PTSD” and had been placed on “special duty, painting barracks.” To the captain’s knowledge Mason was not receiving any treatment/counseling other than his “being watched“ and “painting duty.”
Mason's captain made it clear to us that 15 days after mason's original date of unapproved leave, he would be considered AWOL. In addition (as we were told all soldiers know), 30 days after the original date Mason would be considered a "Deserter of the US Military."
When we first spoke to his captain he suggested several times that the best course of action was to simply wait for Mason to show up; Just wait it out and he'll show up and that's all we should do. The captain told us that this happens all the time and that we shouldn't be worried because he could help Mason not to get into too much trouble with just an AWOL charge, and that most soldiers just need time to think and they come back on day 29 before they are considered "Deserters." This was described as a somewhat routine, minor offense so far.
We went against every impulse to hunt Mason down and took the captain's advice for 29 tense days, waiting it out; in the meantime checking his emails, facebook, phone records, but nothing; no activity whatsoever. When day 30 came we received a call from Mason's captain where he told us that from that point Mason was now considered a deserter of the US military. So we asked "okay, so now what's the next step in trying to find him? Where do we go from here?" The captain basically answered that now the army will prosecute him when he shows up, and that the captain was instructed by the army's prosecuting attorney not to discuss this with us further.
According to Mason’s captain, “The Army does not have resources to look for soldiers who go missing.” and, in his words, “The Army takes care of the Army.”
We immediately realized what had happened. The army did nothing to help find this missing soldier until the hunt turned to one of prosecution; they wait until they can consider these soldiers traders so they are no longer responsible for their well-being because it's cheaper to throw them out of the army as criminals than treat them as war-wounded victims.
At this point, it was clear it was up to Mason's family and friends to find him and get him home safe, wherever he may be.
With some basic information, we began to put together a timeline:
On March 14, 2013, Mason had three days off from work. He left Fort Carson (without permission) and drove to Texas to see his best friend since childhood - a soldier based at Fort Hood. After a brief visit, he left his friend’s home in Texas and headed back to Colorado Springs.
On March 16th Mason was stopped for a traffic violation (we have been told a seatbelt infraction) by a deputy of the Mills County Sheriff’s Department in Goldthwait, TX. Mason's vehicle was searched and he was charged with possession of a “modified” weapon and not having proper permits for other “non-modified” weapons. His car was seized by Mills County.
We were originally told by Mason's captain that there was an ATF officer waiting for Mason at the jail. This officer (according to protocol) was to escort Mason back to Ft. Carson. We were told this ATF officer didn't in fact stay with Mason, but rather put him on a public bus and instructed him to stay on the bus and that another officer would be waiting for him at the destination in Colorado. Originally, this is where Mason was assumed to have gotten off the bus somewhere between Texas and Colorado.
We contacted the county where Mason was arrested and spoke to the arresting officer, as well as the officer that released him when he bonded out. Both claimed to know nothing about ATF involvement or presence in picking up or escorting Mason anywhere.
After speaking with his bail bondsman, we were told he bonded out in the late evening hours of March 17th and was taken (by the bail bondsman) to a motel in Early, TX where his debit card was used to stay the night. An employee of the bondsman picked Mason up on the morning of March 18th and took him to a Wells Fargo bank where Mason withdrew $7,400.00 (only half of his $15,000 required to post bail). She then drove Mason over 100 miles to the bus station in San Angelo, TX where he was last seen purchasing a ticket to Abilene, TX in route to Colorado Springs. The bail bondsman had no recollection of ATF being involved whatsoever when asked about Mason. To recap, a bail bondsman bonded Mason out without money in hand, to let him stay in a hotel nearby (in Early, Tx) and pay him half the cash of his bond value the next morning and an assistant had to drive Mason 0ver 100 miles to the "closest bus station (in San Angelo)" so he could get to Abilene. If you look at a map, you’ll see the GLARING flaw in that story. We have since been told that there is a bus stop located blocks from the jail. The bail bondsman also mentioned that Mason signed his car over to the bondsman, however that's impossible as the vehicle was seized in forfeiture to the police dept at the time of the arrest.
We have since been put in contact with a US Marshal who is based in Texas and stated that he was actually familiar with Mason's bail bondsman's name. That's all I'll say about that.
Mason has not been seen nor heard from since . There has been no activity on his bank card, his cell phone, his email account nor his Facebook account. He has not contacted his wife, his parents, his brother nor any of his friends.
