BALL-JOHN

            TERRORIST  MURDER  VICTIM

On December 3, 1979, a Navy bus occupied by 18 unarmed enlisted personnel assigned to the Naval Security Group Activity Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico, was carrying the group to a communications transmitter on the eastern end of Puerto Rico.  During the journey a truck ahead of the bus slowed its path and another vehicle carrying five men pulled up alongside and opened fire with powerful assault weapons.  The bus was caught in a hail of bullets and when the chaos subsided two men were dead and ten others in the bus were wounded.  One of the fatalities was John R. Ball, CTO1, USN, who had volunteered to drive the bus.  In a subsequent issue of the command newspaper Ball was described as a practicing Christian, a runner, dedicated to health and to life, and a man whose relationships were full and rich, and his marriage close and strong.  It has been reported that Ball has been buried in Madison, Wisconsin.

Credit for the attack was claimed by the Los Macheteros (Puerto Rican Popular Army), a militant nationalist movement that campaigns for and supports independence from the United States.  The FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) conducted a joint investigation lasting for a number of years but the case proved difficult to break due to the group’s secrecy, their use of codenames and disguises, and the refusal of anyone to cooperate with investigators.  Eventually the case went cold and no one was charged for the killings.  However, in 2001, following a decision in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to apply cold case homicide methodology to terrorist events, NCIS took over sole jurisdiction of the investigation and renewed efforts to identify and convict the terrorists who were responsible.  With the help of technological advances, NCIS was able to obtain DNA from some of the evidence collected inside the bus and the militants’ vehicles, such as ear buds, gloves and nylon pantyhose which the terrorists used on door handles to eliminate fingerprint traces.  The evidence led investigators to the identity of 13 militants who orchestrated and took part in the attack.  In July 2013 one of the militants finally admitted to NCIS agents his involvement in the ambush and agreed to cooperate.  Although he was not one of the shooters, he participated in the planning, was in the car when the attack occurred and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, murder and robbery conspiracy, for helping to plan and carry out the ambush.  In May 2014 a Federal Judge sentenced the man to serve time in Federal Prison. 

Thirty-four years after the incident Patty Ball, widow of John Ball who was present during sentencing, said she is thankful that investigators were persistent in following leads and she got chills upon learning the case remains active, which she hadn’t known for years.  Mrs. Ball said she has found herself changed in ways she may not yet realize.  She said, “The wound is opened up again.  It takes you back.  It brings me to how it has so affected myself as a person and changed me and everything in my life.  I felt relief and hoped there could be closure.  They never forgot.”  Mrs. Ball attended the sentencing together with her daughter and remarked, “I’m so glad she was with me.  I needed her for support and she needed me and to do this together was something we will share forever.  It’s hard for anyone to comprehend.”

At the time of this writing, NCIS has identified additional suspects and investigation is continuing in order to bring them to justice.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)