‘Bizarre’: North Carolina native, Marine missing from Camp Pendleton

GASTONIA, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — The desperate search intensifies for a missing marine from Gastonia. Corporal Charles Alex Benfield was reported missing after a night out in downtown San Diego.

The Marine stationed at Southern California’s Camp Pendleton had just reenlisted for four more years this past fall. His family is questioning the circumstances surrounding his sudden disappearance.

“It’s just unbelievable and bizarre to us that this happened,” said Sarah Lazo, Benfield’s sister.

Gastonia native Sarah Lazo and her family are desperate for answers after her brother, Corporal Charles Alex Benfield, disappeared from California’s Camp Pendleton.

The family found out through Benfield’s first sergeant that he was detained in downtown San Diego for public intoxication just over a week ago while his ship docked there. He was later transferred and released from the McAlister Institute Recovery and Bridge Center on Sunday, April 14th.

“The morning that he was self-released around 11:30 am, he was very paranoid, scared, explaining how he had lost his phone the night prior, that he wanted to go look for it,” Lazo said.

“He didn’t want to return to ship without his phone for the fear of losing his rank and punishment.”

A communications director with the Marines stated Benfield did not report for duty in the morning on April 14. The Marine Expeditionary Unit has stated that it will continue to try to locate Corporal Benfield to ensure his well-being. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has also joined the search.

“For us to think he just abandoned his duty, his service to his country, it’s ridiculous to us,” Lazo said. “He loves his job.”

Benfield graduated from Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia. Last fall, he reenlisted in the Marines for four more years. His family can’t fathom a reason he’d willingly disappear.

“My mom is Alex’s favorite person, so for him to just drop off the face of the earth, and have no contact with her, it’s making us question if something else is going on,” Lazo said.

Financial activity has also raised questions. Withdrawals from that weekend have resulted in a negative balance.

“Strange three withdrawals,” Lazo said. “Two of them were in the amount of $400, and another was in the amount of $180.”

For now, his family is here in the Carolinas is feeling helpless, and lacking the answers they so desperately seek.

“It’s like body-shaking frustration,” Lazo described.

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