NEWS & OBSERVER (Raleigh, N Carolina) 18 September 08 Autopsy: Soldier killed by snake bites

Fort Bragg: A Fort Bragg soldier who died during a training exercise this summer was killed by several bites from a water moccasin, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

Pfc. Norman M. Murburg, a candidate for the Green Berets, was conducting a land navigation exercise June 9 near Camp Mackall, a military reservation that borders the Richmond/Scotland county line. When Murburg didn't appear at a designated assembly area after the exercise, other soldiers started a search. His body was found June 10. Murburg was from Florida and was 20 at the time of this death.

The autopsy, which was performed by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., ruled out heat or dehydration as the cause of death and determined that the snake bites were to blame, according to a news release from U.S. Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

The water moccasin, also called the cottonmouth, is among the largest of North Carolina's six species of venomous snakes, but it's rare for anyone to die from its bite.
Soldier killed by snake bites

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