Fort Hood tragedy deepens
Victim’s mom had just reunited with long-lost daughter
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The mother of a 37-year-old Illinois soldier killed during an attack at Fort Hood, Texas, says she was reunited less than two weeks earlier with a daughter she gave up for adoption at birth.
Mary Muntean, of Effingham, Ill., told the Associated Press that she was still celebrating that reunion when she got a call telling her that her son, U.S. Army Sgt. Timothy Owens, was killed Wednesday in the attack at Fort Hood. He was one of four soldiers – including the gunman – killed. An additional 16 were wounded.
Muntean told the AP she has heart problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Her 54-year-old daughter sought her out, and the two met on March 23, she said.
“She finds one child and loses another,” said Betty Goodwin, Muntean’s niece and Owens’ cousin.
Sitting on her recliner on Wednesday, Muntean saw news on television of the attack at Fort Hood.
Unable to reach her son, she called his new wife, Billie Owens, who first said he was in the hospital. Before long, Owens’ wife called back, and Muntean had her worst fears confirmed.
“She said, ‘Mom, I want to tell you how sorry I am. Tim’s gone,’ ” Muntean said. “I broke down. I’m 77 years old and I can’t hardly take this.”
Goodwin said Muntean was told by Owens’ wife that he was shot in the chest.
Owens’ cousin, Glen Welton, also of Effingham, said Owens grew up with military dreams.
Welton said he ran into Owens last year at a funeral and the two figured out they had served in Iraq at the same time. Welton was there from 2005-06.
A photo from that day shows Welton with his arm around Owens, who wore his Army dress uniform, including a beret, and a pair of dark sunglasses.
Family said Owens had been previously married and had children from that marriage.
A trauma center outside the base said the conditions had improved for three people who sustained critical injuries in the attack. Dr. Matthew Davis, trauma director at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, expressed optimism nobody else would die from their injuries. Several patients were released from the hospital Thursday.
One of the wounded was identified as Maj. Patrick Miller, a 32-year-old Iraq War veteran from western New York, the state’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. Miller, who lives with his wife outside Austin, Texas, is a native of Allegany in Cattaraugus County. Information on his condition hasn’t been released.
Efforts to contact Miller’s family members by phone and email on Thursday weren’t initially successful. His parents, Carole and Dr. John Miller, were en route to Texas on Thursday, according to local media reports.