Newspaper Victim of Hoax on Local Soldier Killed in Iraq?

By: E&P Staff When a local soldier dies in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's always big news in the hometown paper. Even when it may not be true.

The Stamford Advocate, which printed such news, is now reporting that the U.S. Army is trying to determine whether a report of a local man dying in Iraq is a "hoax."

Here is an except from The Advocate's story. Other media in the state have now picked up on it, without solving the mystery.
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Glenbrook Fire Department officials on Thursday said Gabrielle Costello, 26, an Army Ranger and member of the town's volunteer department, was killed in action in Iraq. The story was reported in The Advocate and by other area news organizations.

There is no report of an Army Ranger killed in Iraq last weekend or any record of Gabrielle Costello -- or anyone with a similar name -- serving in the Army, said Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer for the Army's Human Resources Command.

"I don't have anything in the database that says he's in the Army," she said. "The good thing is, he appears to be alive."

Glenbrook Fire Lt. Troy Jones said he got the news from Costello's mother, who called the firehouse at about 6 a.m. Thursday.

The Army is looking into whether the story was fabricated, Lawrence said. "Unfortunately, it's happened in the past," she said.

Lawrence said she is trying to contact the mother to find out why she thinks her son was killed in Iraq, but fire department officials have not been able to provide her with a name or phone number.

Fire officials said Thursday that they were devastated by news of Costello's passing and announced the department's annual Christmas tree lighting today would be dedicated to his memory. Costello volunteered for the fire department from March to October 2004 before joining the Army, Jones said.

The fire department notified Mayor Dannel Malloy and city Public Safety Director William Callion of Costello's death Thursday.

Jones said Costello's mother was driving to North Carolina Nov. 29 to retrieve his remains. He said he took notes during the conversation, but he could not remember her name.

Glenbrook Fire Chief Frank Passero said Jones was the only one who spoke to the mother.

"He said the woman called up crying and said that Gabe was killed in Iraq," Passero said

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn, initially issued a statement mourning the Soldier's passing. "Gabrielle Costello made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. He is a true American hero," Shays wrote in a news release sent out yesterday morning. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Shays later telephoned The Advocate from Jordan to say he had not been notified of any military personnel from Stamford dying in Iraq. As a congressman, Shays said, he would have been notified before the family and sworn to secrecy, or told soon after they are notified.

"We were envisioning that a distraught mother was driving down to Fort Bragg," Shays said. "It's not an embarrassment; it's not a hoax; it's tragic when a story like this develops." Shays said it's rare for people to fabricate stories about war casualties.

Shays' office later issued a second statement saying they contacted the State Department and the Defense Department and neither had any record of Costello serving in any branch of the military or working as a military contractor.

There is no record of Costello working for the Department of Defense in any capacity, Lawrence said.

"If he were a DOD contractor, I would have his name," she said.

On. Nov. 29, Jones said Costello lived on Rose Street in the Glenbrook section of the city, but no city records could be found yesterday to verify that information. There's no Gabrielle Costello registered to vote in Stamford, no car registered in that name on city tax rolls, and no record of anyone by that name owning real estate in Stamford.

Passero said there's no question Costello worked with the fire department. "He exists. I know he exists," Passero said. "I have to meet everyone who joins the department. I remember him. . . . I know he lived on Rose Street."

Costello started taking training classes with Stamford Fire & Rescue to get his Firefighter I certification before he went into the Army, Passero said.

But Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath said he has no record of anyone by that name going through training.

"We have no records of him ever taking any classes here in the city of Stamford with the regional fire school or Stamford Fire & Rescue," McGrath said.

The Glenbrook Fire Department should have a membership application on file, as well as records of his state firefighter certification, McGrath said.

"That should be at the Glenbrook Fire Department if he, in fact, was a member there," McGrath said.

There are no state-certified firefighters with the name Gabrielle Costello, said Denise Fortin, certification registrar for the Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks.