‘I feel like they stole her from us;’ Family suing Defense Department after death of daughter
A Springfield family is suing the Department of Defense hoping to get justice for SPC Kaylie Harris, 545th Military Police Detachment.
>>PHOTOS: ‘I feel like they stole her from us;’ Family suing Defense Department after death of daughter
She grew up in Springfield and both her father and stepmom now live in Spring Valley.
Her loved ones say she died by suicide while in the army and months after they say another member of the military sexually assaulted her.
News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis spoke with Kaylie’s dad and stepmom Friday and her family believes the military did not care that she was sexually assaulted.
They tell him that’s why they are taking this legal action.
Kaylie’s dad and stepmom told Lewis they have been trying to set up meetings with the military to get answers but have been ignored.
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“She was just happy. Driving down the road, I’d have to yell at her to stop bouncing, she’s back there singing and bouncing up and down and stuff,” said Shawn Harris.
That’s how he describes his daughter, Kaylie, growing up. She dreamed of working in law enforcement and thought joining the military would help her get there.
She got in the Army in 2019 and the following year, 2020, the military sent her to a base in Anchorage, Alaska.
Her family told Lewis an Air Force member on the base sexually assaulted her in January 2021, days after Kaylie came out as gay on social media.
“The individual had been telling her the reason she was gay was because she hadn’t been with a real man,” said Harris.
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The family said she shut down after the attack.
“She quit returning calls, texts, basically completely silence,” he told Lewis.
Later that spring, Kaylie had a run-in with her attacker and died by suicide, days later.
“The Army did an investigation into her cause of death and everything that surrounded that,” said Shawn Harris. “The OSI, which is the Air Force, was doing the investigation into the assault and the majority of that investigation didn’t start until after she was dead. So it’s like they had no intention of doing anything.”
The Harris’ said the military never held the attacker accountable and now, they want to see more accountability.
“You start locking people up for doing this stuff, maybe somebody’s going to think twice about it,” he told Lewis. “But as they feel now, they pretty much just get away it, there is no repercussions.”
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They’ve been in contact with Dayton Congressman Mike Turner and Senator Sherrod Brown.
The father and stepmom would like to see members of the military face hate crime charges when the situation warrants and have started a Facebook page, I Stand with Kaylie Harris.
“We feel she was singled out and attacked because she came out as being gay,” said Harris. “These soldiers are protecting us, but there’s nobody protecting them.”
He tells Lewis that Kaylie had specific goals for what she wanted to do in life.
“I feel like they stole her from us,” said Harris. “I don’t want this to happen to other people. I mean, I don’t want other parents to have to go through this. It’s not okay.”
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The Harris’ said they’ve been trying to get Kaylie’s medical records from the Army but no luck.
A U.S. Army Spokeswoman told Lewis Friday night the Army does not comment ongoing litigation.
