A U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division investigator has recommended the manner of death for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, be changed from accidental to "negligent homicide," blaming military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors. According to an e-mail from the investigator obtained by CNN, the investigator says the contractor failed to ensure that "qualified electricians and plumbers" worked on the barracks where Maseth died.
The Green Beret from Pittsburgh died of cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2008. He was electrocuted while taking a shower in his barracks in Baghdad.
For more on this story, visit the CNN Web site.
For an in-depth look at this and other electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, check out the January cover story of EC&M.