Marine died at his hand
November 16,2006
ROSELEE PAPANDREA
DAILY NEWS STAFF

After an almost three-week investigation, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that a Camp Lejeune Marine found shot to death in a subdivision off Jones Road died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

An employee of the Army Corps of Engineers found Sgt. Joshua Langsdon, 22, of Clarksville, Ind., at about 3 p.m. on Oct. 25. Langsdon was lying on a dirt road near the intersection of Jones and Queens Creek roads in the Swansboro area.

“There was blood and a handgun near the young male’s head,” said Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown.

An autopsy was conducted by Dr. William Kelley, an Onslow County medical examiner, on Oct. 26, and it was determined that Langsdon died of a single gunshot wound to the head. At the time, Kelley said, “the death is being investigated to rule out a homicide, but it could very well be a suicide.”

Authorities examined evidence collected at the scene and interviewed people connected to Langsdon, who at the time of his death was considered absent from the Marine Corps without authorization, Brown said.

“At this time ... all evidence relating to the young man’s death indicates the gunshot wound was self-inflicted,” Brown said.

Langsdon was an anti-tank assault guided missile man in 2nd Marine Regiment, Headquarters Company. He served in Iraq from February 2005 to September 2005 and then again from December 2005 to March 2006, said Capt. Michael Armistead, spokesman for 2nd Marine Regiment.

Langsdon was expecting to be honorably discharged from the Marine Corps this Sunday, Sharon Chambers, Langsdon’s aunt, told the Daily News last month. After learning of her nephew’s death, Chambers, who lives in Jeffersonville, Ind., refused to believe he shot himself.

“That’s not Josh,” she said.

Contact staff writer Roselee Papandrea at rpapandrea@freedomenc.com or at 353-1171, Ext. 238.

Ellie