‘IN COLD BLOOD’

Ex-U.S. Army Sergeant Admits He Stabbed Fellow Soldier to Death

Byron Booker faces life in prison for killing Austin J. Hawk as retaliation for Hawk tattling on his marijuana use.

A former U.S. Army sergeant has pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a fellow soldier who had alerted superiors to his use of marijuana. Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old Byron Booker struck a plea deal on a charge of premeditated murder and now faces life behind bars for the June 2020 murder of 21-year-old Specialist Austin J. Hawk at Fort Stewart. Booker is said to have admitted to investigators that he and his co-defendant, Jordan Brown, talked about “silencing” Hawk after he tattled on Booker. Booker then ambushed Hawk in the middle of the night, entering his barracks and slashing him “repeatedly with a sharp-edged weapon,” prosecutors said. Hawk’s body was found the next day with 40 knife wounds. “Byron Booker murdered a former fellow soldier in cold blood in retaliation for that soldier performing his duties as a service member,” U.S. Attorney David H. Estes said in a statement. Brown, accused of conspiring with Booker to carry out the murder, awaits further proceedings in his case.