Green Beret's girlfriend shares last text she received, call that intensified the investigation
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- ABC11 is taking a deep dive into the murder investigation, which is still unfolding, of Fayetteville Green Beret, 50-year-old Clinton Bonnell. He was known to family, friends and classmates as 'Clint.'
You can watch our half-hour stream-only special, Green Beret Murder: What Happened to Clinton Bonnell?, wherever you stream ABC11.
This is not okay.Kelli Edwards, Girlfriend
Sitting in the first row watching Shana Cloud made her first court appearance in March on several charges was Clinton 'Clint' Bonnell's girlfriend.
Kelli Edwards was seen crying a couple of times during that proceeding. ABC11 Eyewitness News briefly spoke with Edwards in June. She explained she now has a lawyer and doesn't want to comment on the case until it moves through the court system.
Edwards spoke with ABC News right after Cloud's first court appearance and explained what Clint meant to her.
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"This is a Green Beret who was a patriot to the core, who served for our country, who helped his fellow teammates with all their injuries, who deployed on teams who went all around the world, and he comes home and retires in three weeks and this is what happens? This is not okay," she said.
Edwards says she was dating Bonnell less than four months when he vanished from her life.
She was the second person to reach out to authorities for a welfare check and soon after filed a Missing Person's Report.
Edwards had called 911 and said to s dispatcher, "He pulled into his driveway last night and then I heard my last text from him he was going to bed. Now he's missing so I'm just really freaked out."
Edwards says the two had been in constant communication and on January 28th, when text messages and an email went unanswered, she felt something was wrong.
"I panicked because I knew a lot of information that had happened previously," said Edwards.
Edwards says Bonnell was in the process of ending his marriage and she was privy to some of what was going on.
She said he told her he was already going through the process of getting a divorce. Bonnell said he and his wife had been living separately for a couple of years and he had met with divorce attorneys, she said.
"After trying to make a marriage work for a long time, he decided it was best to cut cords and move on. And so when I met him, he was already at that stage," Edwards told ABC News.
She last saw him hours before the prosecution believes he was killed.
Edwards says he seemed to have a lot on his mind, both emotionally drained and physically exhausted.
"There were some concerns for sure and obviously no one understood the severity of those concerns," said Edwards.
Nearly a month after Bonnell was reported missing, a portion of his remains were found in a pond.
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The North Carolina State Medical Examiner's Office had to obtain and create a DNA profile. That was sent to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System to be compared against the DNA on file for Bonnell.
The Defense Department Authority confirmed Edwards' worst fear.
"It's definitely been a wild nightmare that I never want to experience again and I just can't understand it - how it all happened," said Edwards.
Bonnell was a decorated Green Beret and medic for the Special Forces. He enjoyed singing, playing guitar, and doing yoga.
Bonnell met Edwards at her yoga studio. She describes him as happy-go-lucky, intelligent, and someone excited about the next chapter of life.
His body was found, not even a full month after retiring from the Army.
"What's happened to him, he didn't deserve. No one deserves any of that. He was just a really beautiful being," said Edwards.
A search warrant obtained by ABC11 News that includes information from Bonnell's cell phone shows he went home but never left.
Bonnell was said to be a devoted father to his stepdaughter. ABC11 learned in court he helped raise Cloud's child since she was 3 years old.
The stepdaughter is now attending college in Florida.
WATCH Full Episode: Green Beret Murder: What Happened to Clinton Bonnell?
