Soldier from NC who reported sexual assault on Texas base died from overdose, Army says
Officials disclosed Wednesday how a 19-year-old soldier from North Carolina died on a U.S. Army base in Texas after she reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier.
Pfc. Asia Graham was found dead in her barracks at Fort Bliss in El Paso on Dec. 31. She died from an accidental overdose, the Armed Forces medical examiner at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware said. Graham was a human resource specialist from Cherryville, about an hour west of Charlotte.
In a news release Wednesday, Fort Bliss said the medical examiner determined the cause of death was “Accidental Mixed Drug Intoxication” from a combination of Fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids.
Commonly referred to as “synthetic marijuana,” “K2” or “spice,” synthetic cannabinoids are a form of synthetic THC, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. TCH is the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana.
Graham’s family told media outlets she had been sexually assaulted by another soldier shortly after arriving at Fort Bliss in December 2019 and reported it to authorities.
“She was ready to fight, that was taken away,” Graham’s brother Andrew Koenigsfeld told KTSM in January. “The victory of bringing justice, for her to see justice brought to that individual that did that to her and to several other women, she didn’t get to see that.”
After her death, Pfc. Christian Alvarado was charged with sexually assaulting Graham and multiple other women between December 2018 and August 2020.
According to charge sheets made public by the military, Alvarado held a woman down, threatened her and sexually assaulted her in Mesa, Arizona, in December 2018. He’s accused of a similar assault on Jan. 2, 2019.
On Dec. 30, 2019, charge sheets indicate Graham was unconscious when Alvarado allegedly assaulted her in El Paso. He’s also accused of sexual assaults on May 8, 2020, and Aug. 26, 2020. In one case, officials said the victim was incapable of consent because she was impaired by alcohol and unconscious.
In addition to the sexual assault charges, officials said Alvarado tried to strangle someone and lied to investigators.
Alvarado was arraigned Jan. 14 by a military judge on three counts of sexual assault, two counts of making a false statement and one count of aggravated assault. He was arraigned on additional charges of sexual assault and abusive sexual contact in April.
