View Full Version : Benjamin Sifrit
eastbay
06-16-2002, 03:36 PM
Hello,
The Boston Herald (www.bostonherald.com) reported on page one in Sunday the 16 June edition that a "former" SEAL Benjamin Sifrit and his wife had been indicted in Altoona, Pa. for the grisly murder of a Mass. couple at a location in MD. The couple was butchered and their remains were placed in plastic bags and dumped. wondered whether the article's author was correct in statin that Sifrit was a former SEAL dicharged for bad conduct.
Eastbay
s_curry23
06-17-2002, 05:22 PM
Apparently Mr. Sifrit was an ex-Navy SEAL when he committed the grisly murders in Ocean City, MD. He had been discharged for some kind of behavior problems.
Official recorde state that he was in BUD/s class 212 but had his trident revoked - which means he was kicked out.
Mark
bkibler
07-01-2002, 06:13 AM
I'm a reporter for the Altoona Mirror newspaper in Pennsylvania. I'd like to get in touch with anyone who knew Benjamin Sifrit in the service, so I can ask about his personality, conduct, etc. Sifrit was a SEAL awaiting final discharge for misbehavior and living in our area when he allegedly murdered a couple in Ocean City, Md., Memorial Day weekend. His wife -- who grew up near Altoona -- is his co-defendant.
Bill Kibler
814-949-7038; bkibler@altoonamirror.com
icenine
08-10-2002, 11:34 PM
Hi Eastbay, It has been a while since you posted your message but I have some more information on Benjamin Sifrit if people are still interested. This case keeps getting a lot of attention on the East Coast. He and his wife Erika are also being considered as suspects in some other murders now. An FBI profiler has described the two as thrill killers.
One of the reports I read said that BJ Sifrit earned his SEAL insignia in October 1998 and was assigned to a team based in Virginia Beach. He was stripped of his designation as SEAL and reassigned to a medical service as a hosptal corpsman. He was supposedy court-martialed for drunken driving that involved a high speed chase at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Hope this information is helpful. Pam
eviltwin
08-13-2002, 07:11 PM
Icenine, Did you read the article by the FBI profiler on the website www.fredericksburg.com ? I thought I recognized the quote about Erika and BJ Sifrit being "thrill killers" from there. They have covered this story extensively as you probably know if you've been following it closely. At first all the stories were really playing up the fact that Benjamin was an ex-Seal (especially the court-martial and stuff) and Erika was the sweet honor student and star athlete, etc. Now it's looking like she was just as crazy- going around town that week with a knife on her belt, having the bullets with the victims' flesh still on them in her purse. Sick. There are a lot of bizarre things about this case. I didn't know BJ but some of the people who do are really shocked by this. (Especially the whole dismemberment thing.) Some others aren't but they're not saying much. Oh well. Can't really blame them.
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icenine
08-22-2002, 06:43 PM
Yes, that's where I saw the quote from the FBI profiler. Greg McCrary has been following this case pretty closely and definitely has some interesting things to say about these murders. Did you check out the chat archives on Fredericksburg.com? They have had him as a guest three times now and the first two times most of the questions were about Benjamin and Erika. He thinks Erika was mostly just a follower though, and from her actions after the crime it's seems to me that she played a more active role than that.
jaredtitan
08-23-2002, 07:41 AM
An FBI profiler has described the two as thrill killers.
The exact reason why everyone joining the military needs to love life, protect life, and seek to preserve life. I've said it before on these boards, and I'll repeat it now: if you just want combat, guns, and the chance to kill, then don't join the military but instead seek professional help.
JT OUT
icenine
08-31-2002, 05:38 PM
JT, I think you are so right. I also believe that most people that join the military do so because they want to preserve life, not take it. What I don't understand is how someone like Benjamin Sifrit could have become a SEAL. I read the post about Psych evaluations for becoming a SEAL but it wasn't clear if there were psychological tests given to recruits, other than the interviews with the psychiatrists mentioned. I don't know, it just seems that someone who could spend two days in a condo dismembering people would exhibit some kind of trait that a psychiatrist would detect. A lot of the people who knew the victims are really confused by that.