Colorado & Denver News

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) ― A Marine lance corporal staged his own disappearance because he feared harm at the hands of other Marines in his unit, some of whom face murder charges in the death of an Iraqi civilian, a friend who helped plan the disappearance said.

Steve Powers, whose report that Hering disappeared after a rock-climbing accident in Eldora Canyon near Boulder sparked a massive manhunt last month, told the Daily Camera for a story published Thursday that Lance Hering had been searching for a way to avoid returning to his unit in California.

"He thought if he would have gone back to Camp Pendleton they would have killed him," Powers told the newspaper in his first public comments on the case. "He was terrified.

Hering, 21, is assigned to the Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Camp Pendleton officials said. Two members of that unit pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the April 2005 death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania, Iraq. Five others and a Navy corpsman assigned to the unit also face charges.

The Marines and the Navy corpsman are accused of shooting Awad repeatedly and staging the scene to make it appear as if he were planting a roadside bomb.

Powers said Hering has not talked to anybody about what he saw, fearing he would put them in danger.

Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said Thursday his agency has scaled back its investigation from when authorities worried for Hering's welfare. He said authorities were suspicious of Powers' statements.

"That's entirely his representation. It doesn't reflect anything that anyone else who was close to Lance has told us," West said. "There's nothing else that's been substantiated that would support his claim."

Hering has been missing since Aug. 30, when Powers reported his friend had apparently wandered away after falling while rock-climbing. Hering was due back at Camp Pendleton on Sept. 18.

West has said investigators have obtained video of Hering buying a bus ticket in Denver a day after his reported disappearance.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Hering on a felony charge of failure to comply with terms of a deferred sentence from a 2004 burglary charge and a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit false reporting to authorities.

Powers also was charged with misdemeanor false reporting.

Powers said he and Hering had been close friends since high school, and that they kept in touch by phone while Hering was deployed in Iraq. In one call, Powers said his friend wanted to talk with him when he returned, and "sounded terrified."

When he returned to Boulder in August, Hering asked Powers to help stage his disappearance and came up with the idea of staging a climbing accident, Powers said.

"He was definitely, absolutely convinced this was the only way he was going to survive," Powers said.

The two went to Eldorado Canyon State Park on Aug. 29 and found a place where Hering left some of his own blood to support the story Powers later told authorities -- that Hering hit his head and was unconscious for hours while Powers hiked out to find help, Powers said.

He said he then drove his friend to downtown Denver and returned to the state park, where he reported the alleged disappearance the following day.

Powers helped in the search for six days before telling authorities he had lied. Authorities described the search as the largest in Boulder County history, costing nearly $32,000. West has said authorities will seek restitution from Powers and Hering.

Powers said he hoped to apologize to searchers, and said he has spoken with Hering's family.

"I violated everyone's trust," he said. "It's a choice I'll live with because compared to saying no and having Lance hurt or killed -- I couldn't live with that."

There is no telephone listing for Powers.

He told the Daily Camera he does not know where Hering is, and that his friend has not contacted him.

Camp Pendleton spokesman 1st Lt. Esteban Vickers if Hering saw something that would incriminate any fellow Marines, the military has policies to protect such witnesses.

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