Margie Taylor's son, Fort Hood Spc. Joey Lenz, 32, a tactical power generation specialist assigned to the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was found dead in his barracks room on the morning of Feb. 1. 2022. Lenz, 32, who enlisted in 2017, was expected to leave the Army in mid-March.
“He already had a job, he was happy, everything was good, and then he died,” she said.
His mother said her son enjoyed his Army life, that he didn't want to leave, but he was being “pushed out.” Since his death, Taylor learned her son was being bullied and targeted by a captain who has since been moved. Taylor said Lenz's staff sergeant and the lieutenant colonel were also moved in recent weeks.
Between Christmas, when her son visited her in Conroe, Texas for the holiday, and his death on Feb. 1st, Taylor was told her son has prescribed four medicines: Trazadone, Cyclobenzaprine, Fluoxetine, and Propranolol leading her to believe a drug reaction known as serotonin syndrome may have contributed to his death.
During a memorial for Lenz at Fort Hood in February, Taylor said she met privately with over 30 soldiers who wanted to share happy memories of her son.
"They said you need to get justice for Joey. They said, ‘We know he didn't just die. There's something going on and they overmedicate here.'
Taylor said she was informed by Fort Hood CID Special Agent in Charge Maria Thomas that CID had completed its investigation and that her son had died of “mixed drug interaction.”
“I believe there is more to the story,” Taylor said.