Shraman Mitra
Private Leroy Dulaney’s sudden disappearance from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, shocked his entire family. While his mother, Carol, took it upon herself to investigate and locate the US Marine, his wife, Brenda Dulaney, was severely affected by the ordeal. Hulu’s ‘Where Is Private Dulaney?’ takes the viewer through the sudden disappearance and portrays how difficult it was for Brenda to deal with her loss. Let’s delve into the details surrounding the murder and find out where she is at present, shall we?
Who Is Brenda Dulaney?
On the show, Brenda mentioned that she met and got acquainted with Leroy during her freshman year in school, and it did not take long for the two to start dating. She even reminisced about their beautiful memories and mentioned that everyone knew she was his girl. Since Leroy wanted to join the Marines after high school, Brenda wondered if they would ever get married, but her boyfriend surprised her with a sudden proposal.
Hence, the couple got engaged before Leroy set out for his Marine training, and the two got married once he graduated and was promoted to the position of Private. When he was posted at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, around the time of his disappearance, Brenda resided with her mother-in-law, Carol, in Weirton, West Virginia. Born and brought up in the town, the young woman never wanted to leave the place and waited patiently for her husband to return home during the holidays. Yet, little did she know about the tragedy that awaited them.
On May 23, 1979, Leroy vanished from Camp Lejeune, and the military officials believed he had gone AWOL. However, Carol knew that her son was not a deserter, and she refuted the theory before visiting the base in person to conduct her inquiries. Once she realized that the military was not interested in carrying out a full-blown investigation into Leroy’s disappearance, she took the responsibility on her shoulders and asked around for her son’s whereabouts.
Eventually, the trail leads to a fellow Marine named Mark Fletcher, and although Carol manages to meet and question him in person, he escapes before she can get the truth out of him. Meanwhile, on June 3, 1979, the police were alerted about a body discovered in a shallow grave in Onslow County. The body was soon identified as missing Marine Ronald Ray Jenkins, and an autopsy mentioned that he was shot dead.
Around the same time, BJ Rohweller, a Newport, North Carolina resident, approached authorities and claimed that her boyfriend, Ben Duvall, was involved in a homicide. Subsequently, when police questioned him, he confessed to witnessing Fletcher kill Ronald; he even alleged that the latter had threatened him and his girlfriend with death if they leaked the information. Based on Ben’s statement, Fletcher was convicted of the second-degree murders of Ronald Ray Jenkins and Leroy Dulaney, which netted him two consecutive life sentences in 1980.
Brenda Dulaney is Moving Forward in Life Today
Brenda mentioned that the news about Mark Fletcher’s arrest filled her with happiness, although nothing could replace the emptiness left by her husband’s absence. Still, she soldiered on and maintained a solid and intimate bond with Leroy’s mother and his brothers. Unfortunately, the ordeal negatively affected her as she now lives with chronic depression and PTSD, forcing her to take as many as three daily medicines.
Nevertheless, she now goes by the name of Brenda Curtis on social media and still resides in North Carolina, where she has built a life surrounded by friends and family. Witnessing Brenda’s fight against her dark past is inspiring, to say the least, and we want to wish her the best for the years ahead.
Read More: Where is Leroy’s Mom Carol Dulaney Now?
