HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The family of Adam Messier wants answers now that his body has been located and three people have been charged with murder.
“We knew very early on that something had happened to Adam. This has been a very long and difficult and frustrating process for my family. We were told that there were signs of foul play in his apartment. We never could have imagined that what had happened was as horrendous as it was,” said Nicole Doak, Messier’s sister.
Doak felt more should have been done to find out what happened to her brother. “If this really was a community effort, I think we wouldn’t have had to wait four years. There are still people involved. If everyone was so forthcoming and if it was such a group effort, then it wouldn’t have taken four years.”
Messier, a Massachusetts native, was a parachute rigger first class in the U.S. Navy. His military career brought him to Guam where he eventually met his wife and had his family.
The Navy veteran was reported missing in September 2017.
On Tuesday, his body was found buried at a ranch area in Yigo, according to Guam Police Department Chief Stephen Ignacio.
An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of his death.
“It’s absolutely horrendous what happened to him. Especially for it to be a veteran, a family man who loved his children and his family, and who is responsible. It’s especially heinous,” Doak said. “This is a United States veteran who moved to Guam so he and his family could be closer to his wife’s family. So, it’s very hard for his family not to be very bitter. No one deserves what happened to him, but especially not him. The only thing we can do now is bury him in our family plot at our veterans’ cemetery. That’s the only thing that could hopefully begin some of the grieving process.”
Charged
On Wednesday, a third suspect was charged in the Superior Court of Guam in connection with Messier’s death.
Brandon James Flaherty, 29, was charged with aggravated murder as a first-degree felony. According to court documents, Flaherty admitted that he disposed of a large trash bag that he felt may have contained Messier.
A woman recently arrested in a separate case, who witnessed the alleged incident, helped investigators to identify the four men who allegedly beat Messier to death before they disposed of his body.
The witness told authorities that her now-deceased boyfriend, Jason Alianza, along with his brother, Donavan Elliott Alianza Carriaga, and Alianza’s son, Curtis James Blas, brutally beat Messier, while Flaherty was holding Messier down, court documents state.
Alianza was living with Messier at the Tumon Horizon Condominiums at the time of the alleged attack.
Flaherty’s family managed the condos, documents state.
Flaherty alleged a black rope or wire was used to strangle Messier until he was motionless.
Blas, 23, and Carriaga, 23, each were charged with aggravated murder as a first-degree felony.
The witness alleged that Alianza became upset with Messier the day before the attack after Messier threatened to report him to the landlord for using illicit drugs.
“Adam ultimately was murdered for standing up for what is right, for trying to do the right thing. He served our country, he loved his family – especially his children – and he was loved in return. No one deserves any of what he experienced during his time on Guam,” Doak said. “We’re in pain, but he isn’t.”
During the attack, one of the suspects, Alianza was quoted as saying: “Come on boys. Let’s teach him a lesson. Let’s teach him respect!,” the prosecution in court documents filed Wednesday stated.
‘Brought to justice’
“We are hoping everyone who was involved will be brought to justice,” she said, as the family wants charges to be brought against the woman who witnessed her brother’s murder. “Not only was she a witness to it. My sister-in-law, Joanne, went to Adam’s apartment because she hadn’t heard from him. That was very unusual.”
She said Joanne, Messier’s wife, spotted the woman outside of Messier’s unit.
“She gave a story that is just not what happened. She said he just up and moved,” Doak said. “The family has a lot of questions. “We have nothing to say to the accused. There is good in this world and there is bad. They tried to extinguish something good, but Adam’s goodness will live on in his children, family and friends.”
Adam Messier, left, is photographed during his time in the U.S. Navy.
