Soldier Missing After Apartment Fire

Fayetteville police are investigating the disappearance of a female soldier from an apartment where the remains of a fire were found Thursday morning.

They are calling it an arson and a missing person's investigation, according to Capt. David Houp of the Fayetteville Police Department.

Sources identified the soldier as 24-year-old Holley Lynn Wimunc, a lieutenant who works at Womack Army Medical Center. She lives in Morganton Place Apartments on Wayah Creek Drive. The complex is off Morganton Road.

One of Wimunc's co-workers went looking for her about 9 a.m. Thursday and found a smoldering fire that had burned two bedrooms, police said. The co-worker called police and reported a strong odor of gasoline, according to reports.

Wimunc was gone, but her car was still in the parking lot, police said. They towed the car -- a white Dodge -- to a site where it could be examined.

Houp said taking the car was a precautionary measure.

"We don't want to leave any stone unturned,'' he said.

Investigators with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies waited at a police command post outside the building most of the day for warrants to search the apartment. They entered the apartment about 7:15 p.m.

Forensic technicians carried cylinders and other items inside. Lawmen could be seen through the windows examining something on the floor.

There did not appear to be anything on the walls in the apartment. No furniture was visible through the windows.

Technicians carried out several bags around 9 p.m.

Stalking case, divorce

The Wimuncs are going through a divorce, according to police.

Court papers show that on May 19, Wimunc filed a domestic violence complaint against her husband, 23-year-old John Patrick Wimunc, a Marine based at Camp Lejeune. Thursday was John Wimunc's birthday.

Late last year, she also got a court order against an Illinois woman whom she accused of stalking her online and by telephone.

In the domestic violence complaint, Holley Wimunc said that on May 17 John got intoxicated and held a loaded handgun to her head and his own head. She said they struggled and he choked her and threw her around their living room. He also wrote his initials on a bullet, she said, and had told his mother he planned to hurt himself.

Chief District Court Judge Beth Keever issued a temporary restraining order on John Wimunc, barring him from further contact with Holley Wimunc. The order expired May28. The case was dismissed when John Wimunc appeared in court to face the complaint, but Holley never showed up.

In the stalking case, Holley Wimunc on Oct. 29 accused Lindsay Hunter of Avon, Ill., of harassing her. On Nov. 19, Keever ordered Hunter to leave Wimunc alone.

Reached by telephone Thursday, Hunter expressed shock when she was told that Holley Wimunc was missing. She said she had never met Wimunc in person, but they had argued over Wimunc's husband at one time. Hunter said she no longer has contact with either of them.

20 units evacuated

Firefighters on Thursday evacuated 20 units of the complex because of fumes from Wimunc's apartment. A complex employee escorted residents into their apartments to retrieve belongings Thursday afternoon. There was no word on when people would be allowed to return.

The apartment complex is heavily occupied by soldiers. A steady stream of cars filed by all day with drivers trying to catch a glimpse beyond police tape.

Many residents were reluctant to talk, saying they would have to clear it through their military commanders. Nearly everyone who stopped, however, brought up a case involving another Fort Bragg soldier who was found dead in her motel room near Cross Creek Mall, about a mile and a half from the apartment complex.

Spc. Megan Touma's body was found June 21 after motel patrons reported a foul odor from the room -- several days after she had missed a military formation.

Police said they do not believe there are any links between Thursday's incident and Touma's death.

In addition to Fayetteville police, law enforcement officials from the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Bureau of Investigation were on the scene.

Staff writers Drew Brooks, April Johnston, Nancy McCleary and Paul Woolverton contributed to this report.