Desperate Housewife
A lonely woman looking for love, a handsome Army sniper, and a husband murdered in cold blood
John always wanted to be an Army man. His family has a proud Army history. His grandfather, George Diamond, was a belly gunner on a bomber shot down over Germany in World War II. He was a prisoner of war, escaped once, was recaptured, and was held in a camp for more than six months. His father, Bobby, was an Army "tunnel rat" during the Vietnam War. Those were the guys who slid into hell, going down claustrophobic passages alone into hiding places the Viet Cong had constructed underground. Bobby Diamond talks only reluctantly about those days. "Before I'd go into a tunnel, I'd throw a grenade in, get rid of some of the booby traps," he explains. "I am no hero. Million guys served in Vietnam."
John enlisted in June 1991, right out of high school. He trained in commando tactics and martial arts and became an expert sniper, although there is no evidence, in public records, that he was ever activated in such a role. While based in Panama, Diamond assisted Army criminal agents in drug investigations and was commended for "great courage" for helping quell a riot by Cuban refugees. His Army raters said he showed strong leadership qualities. Diamond planned a long run in the Army--until he banged up his knees in a parachute jump.
A charmer, Diamond was liked by almost everyone. He liked the ladies, and they sure liked him. At 6 foot 1 and a well-muscled 200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes and that big grin, he was a magnet to women. He married twice and had two kids. "He always cheated on me," his second former wife, Lourdes, whom he met in Panama, testified at his court-martial. "Women are bad luck for John," his mother, Christen, lamented.
Michelle Theer surely was. Diamond, stationed at Fort Bragg in 1998, met her in an Internet chat room in early 2000, a few months after she had moved to Fayetteville. Both their marriages were in deep trouble, and both were looking for playmates. Michelle says that Marty was away, again, this time for several months at a training school in Little Rock, Ark., and that she was "stuck in Fayetteville alone." Not for long. Of Diamond's Internet courting, she says: "He would send me these little funny messages, and they made me laugh." They agreed to meet, at a coffee shop.
Michelle had no fear of meeting a stranger in a public place. As it turned out, she had done that kind of thing before. At her murder trial, Charles McLendon, a North Carolina man, testified that he and Michelle first chatted on the Internet--she used the screen name "lookn4unow"--and then met at a coffee shop in Fayetteville. They became lovers, but McLendon said he broke it off after discovering that she was "having relationships with other men." The password to her Yahoo! E-mail account was telling enough: "cheater."
Michelle and Diamond hit it off immediately. He was full of life. "When I met him," she says, "we clicked." Diamond was "very interesting," she adds, "very funny, very charming." They partied heavily and joined a North Carolina "swing" club. And just what is a swing club? Pfc. Rickie Bizon later told Army investigators that Diamond explained it all to him one day: "He told me he and Michelle were going swinging. I asked him what swinging was, and he explained to me that he and Michelle would go to a swing club and meet other couples and swapped partners."
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