abstract
| - Richard Owens is an NCIS Special Agent stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, who assisted Leroy Jethro Gibbs's team on a case regarding Lieutenant Mark Schilz who was believed to have absconded with one million dollars of stolen Navy funds in 1994 and as a result later received an dishonorable discharge thirty days after supposedly disappearing off the ship; he was charged in absentia with theft of government property: 1.2 million dollars from the ship's safe. Owens, the Agent Afloat who originally investigated the case, believed that Schilz had stolen the money and strongly stood by his claim. However Schilz was later found twelve years later, dead and quite mummified in a cargo-pod buried in a park in Maryland which had been uncovered by a hunter searching for deer. During his investigation, Owens believed that the lieutenant had possibly slipped overboard or disappeared off the ship and interviewed the missing man's crew-mates but came up empty. He also believed that Schilz was the only man responsible as two other possible suspects, Petty Officers Erin Toner and Randy Wiles, had been able to provide alibis for where they were on the night that the money was stolen. Wiles later ended up marrying Schilz's widow, Mary, who was unaware that her new husband had served with her first husband before the latter's memorial service. Due to no available leads, the case went cold and became something of a blotch on Owens's otherwise excellent record until DiNozzo discovered the report Owens had filed in regards to the case, resulting in the investigation being reopened once again and Special Agent Owens being summoned to Norfolk at Gibbs's request which Owens deeply resented. While at Norfolk, waiting for Gibbs, Owens told DiNozzo that the case was like a curse and had been haunting him for ten years. It was later revealed that Lt. Schilz had been forced to empty the safe before being murdered by former Petty Officer Toner and her companion, Petty Officer Ted MartÃnez. They both then proceeded to stuff his body into the pod where it would reside for ten years before a Deer Hunter unknowingly uncovered it. Toner later killed Martinez in a motel in Piedra Negras and was eventually arrested for both murders. It is also presumed that Lt. Schilz's name was cleared and his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Alicia, received his death benefits. Owens's fate is currently unknown but it is assumed that he is still stationed at Pearl Harbor.
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