The Nation - News from June 2, 1989

Navy investigators have reportedly ruled out Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Kendall Truitt as a murder suspect in the turret explosion that killed 47 sailors aboard the battleship Iowa on April 19. But Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams denied the ABC News report. “The investigation is still very much in the active phase,” he said. There had been reports the Navy was probing the possibility Truitt, 21, might have set off the blast to kill a shipmate and collect $100,000 in insurance on the shipmate’s life. The Navy was also reported to be investigating whether the other sailor, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Clayton Hartwig, 25, set off the blast to commit suicide.