An Army drill sergeant on holiday leave was found shot to death and slumped inside her car on a Texas highway on New Year’s Day, according to reports.
Authorities patrolling Interstate 10 in San Antonio about 2 a.m. last Friday found Sgt. Jessica Mitchell, 30, without a pulse and wounded multiple times inside a white Dodge Challenger that had been riddled with bullets to the driver’s side door and window, The Army Times reported citing San Antonio police and military officials.
She was pronounced dead about an hour later at University Hospital San Antonio.
Mitchell had been stationed at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston as a dental specialist since August 2019 and previously served at another dental clinic at the base.
She leaves behind a 10-year-old son, family members said.
The shooting remains under investigation, however, authorities reportedly have no witnesses, no suspects nor any potential motive for the crime. No details were given about Mitchell’s personal life nor into her connections.
“We heard there was no witnesses,” said Ashley Mitchell, the victim’s sister, according to KCRG News 9. “But it’s a highway. Someone had to see something.”
Mitchell’s unit issued a statement offering its condolences and support for her family.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of Drill Sergeant Jessica Mitchell,” said Medical Center of Excellence commander Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster, according to The Army Times. “Our sincere condolences go out to her family and friends. We are focused on supporting Drill Sergeant Mitchell’s family as well as her soldiers during this extremely difficult time.”
The brutal manner of the crime left family and friends dismayed and struggling to cope with Mitchell’s death only hours after celebrating the arrival of the new year.
“Why would anybody want to do this?” Ashley Mitchell asked, KCRG reported. “Why do people do such heinous acts of crime for no reason? You know, like, human life is not material. It cannot be replaced.”
Francesca Toby, a childhood friend of the victim, said, “She was a beautiful, beautiful woman. She had a son, and he’s without his mom. I just want to give my prayers to her family, to her son, to her son’s father.”
Mitchell was a fifth-generation member of the military in her family, and she died on her paternal grandfather’s birthday, her father Mayo Mitchell told KCRG.
“I told all my children, ‘I want you to do better than what I have done,’” Mayo Mitchell said. “She and my children have so far, and she wanted to be the best that she can be in her military career. But that was cut short.”
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