According to a report in the PressProject, during the summer of 2012, 21-year-old Brian Laloup was stationed in the US Embassy in Athens. The young marine had previously served in the active war-zone of Afghanistan before being selected for embassy detail in 2011. On August 12th, reportedly after an evening of drinking, the soldier shot himself in the head on the Embassy’s premises.
While his precise motives are unclear, according to a lawsuit filed by the family, it may have been triggered by distress over a recent romantic break-up. Brian was taken to an Athens hospital where he was pronounced dead a few hours later. His body was flown back to the United States where he was buried with full military honors. Brian’s parents, Beverly and Craig Laloup were obviously inconsolable over the loss of their son.
But weeks after the funeral they were to make a discovery that would add to their distress: they had buried Brian’s body without a heart.
According to Yahoo News it was when the family was filling out routine paperwork that. “a military official with the file let it slip” over the missing heart. Beverly Laloup is reported as having told the site, "I was absolutely devastated. I was hysterical. I was running around the house, hyperventilating."
"This is his heart. This is his soul. This is what made Brian who he is," she said.The Laloups desperately tried to find out what had happened to to their dead son’s heart. After raising the issue with the US Department of Defense, they were eventually told the heart had been located by Greek authorities and months later a heart arrived. While the Greek government claimed that it was their son’s heart, a subsequent DNA test found otherwise.
Greek consular authorities have since claimed that Brian’s heart had been removed for toxicological tests during an autopsy performed at the Greek hospital several days after his death. However it remains unclear as to what ultimately happened to it and why the family was subsequently given a heart belonging to someone else.
The family filed a lawsuit in early December against the Department of Defense, the Greek government and the hospital that conducted the autopsy seeking damages for emotional distress.
Their case has also recently been taken up by the congressman Patrick Meehan who sent a letter to the head of the Marine Corps demanding answers about the case. Having received no response, recently he raised the issue on the floor of the US House of Representatives, demanding answers both from the Department of Defense and the Greek government.
“The LaLoup family deserves answers,” the Pennsylvania Representative said. “They deserve a peace of mind. It’s time for the Greek authorities and the Pentagon to tell Sgt. LaLoup parents what happened to their son’s heart, because we know what happened to his family’s.”(The Congressman is absolutely right... this case stinks from head to toe. Something is very suspicious here. Organ trafficking? Sure looks like it. Strong statement but it is the first thing that pops to mind. HellasFrappe was not aware of this case, but now that it has been brought to our attention we pledge to follow it closely. And this is because we are probably the only blog in Greece that continually talks about trafficking. Just visit our categories and choose trafficking and you will be amazed with some of the stories we have published until now. This is a horrible story, and we cannot begin to imagine what the family felt when they made this discovery. These select few... who engage in trafficking... only paint a terrible picture of this country and its people... Our deepest condolences and warmest affection goes out to the LaLoup family.)
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