Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
LEESBURG - One of the four American contractors killed in Iraq and mutilated by a mob was a former Leesburg resident who served with the Navy SEALs for 12 years.
Two of the others were identified by their families as residents of Ohio and Tennessee. All four worked for Blackwater Security Consulting, a subsidiary of Blackwater USA of North Carolina.
A family spokesman said Thursday night that Scott Helvenston, 38, died with three other civilians Wednesday. Their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades in a rebel ambush in Fallujah.
A mob dragged bodies through downtown Fallujah and hung two bodies from a bridge over the Euphrates River.
Helvenston was born in Jacksonville and lived in Gainesville, Winter Haven, Orlando and Leesburg before joining the Navy when he was 17. He served until 1994 and then began a career as a fitness promoter, starting a company called Amphibian Athletics. He also was an actor and stunt man for movies such as Face/Off and G.I. Jane, according to a company Web site.
Also killed was Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32, an Army veteran from Willoughby, Ohio.
Zovko joined the Army in 1991 at age 19 and spoke five languages fluently: English, Croatian, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. He had been a member of the Special Forces in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., said his brother, Tom.
"My brother was an exceptional individual," Tom Zovko said. "He did what he thought was right."
Zovko's mother said she and her husband had suspected their son might be among the dead, but their fears were confirmed Thursday morning when the president of Blackwater USA knocked on their door.
"It was the hardest day of my life," Donna Zovko said during an interview in her suburban Cleveland home.
"Jerry was a man with a principle, an idea," his mother said. "He loved people. He wanted the world to be without borders, for everybody to be free and safe."
Zovko's family wouldn't say whether he was married or had children.
Another victim was Michael Teague, 38, of Clarksville, Tenn., a 12-year Army veteran who earned a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan and also served in Panama and Grenada, his wife, Rhonda, said in a prepared statement. She called her husband a "proud father, soldier and American."
"I, his son Brandon and his friends and family will miss him without measure," her statement said.
Teague had worked in the security business since he left the Army six years ago, but he joined Blackwater Security only two months ago, WTVF-TV of Nashville reported.
The names of the four victims were not officially released because not all family members had been notified, U.S. officials said. The fourth victim was reportedly a former Navy SEAL.