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Police: Soldier's slaying 'solvable'

Spc. Megan Touma's body was found at the Fairfield Inn at Cross Creek Mall on June 21. Authorities haven't released the cause of her death.

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A month after the body of a Fort Bragg soldier was found in a Fayetteville motel room, police called the case "completely solvable."

Spc. Megan Touma's body was found at the Fairfield Inn at Cross Creek Mall on June 21 after a motel employee responded to complaints from other guests about an odor coming from Touma's room.

Her body was found in the bathtub, and police said she had been there for a few days. A "Do Not Disturb" sign had been hung outside the door since Touma checked in on June 17, so no motel employee had entered the room in that time, police said.

Touma, 23, who was seven months pregnant, had been assigned to Fort Bragg less than two weeks before she was found dead.

The Army and the State Medical Examiner's Office have completed autopsies, but the cause of death hasn't been released. A spokeswoman for the Fayetteville Police Department said toxicology results are pending, and they could be key in making an arrest.

A Fayetteville homicide detective said an arrest could be made "soon."

Police have questioned an unidentified soldier at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, part of Army Special Operations, but he hasn't been called a suspect in the case.

Court records show police found what appeared to be blood on the wall of the motel room, and police took samples of possible DNA from the room.

A week after Touma's body was found, someone sent a letter to The Fayetteville Observer newspaper, claiming to be her killer. The letter included a symbol at the bottom that was similar to one used by "the Zodiac," a California serial killer in the 1960s who was never caught.

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