A recently unsealed warrant requesting access to personal e-mail addresses filed by NCIS reveals the U.S. Navy is investigating a sailor named Ryan Mays for allegedly starting last year's fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard.
On the morning of July 12, 2020, the Wasp Class amphibious assault ship was undergoing maintenance at Navy Base San Diego when a fire broke out on board. It took firefighters five days to put out the blaze, which caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and injuring 17 firefighters.
The damage to the ship was extensive enough that the decision was made to scrap it entirely. A replacement will cost the taxpayer in the neighborhood of $4 billion.
Last week, the Navy formally charged a sailor in connection with what they believe to be arson, and his name was revealed by the unsealed warrant as Ryan Sawyer Mays.
Related
Mays attempted Navy SEAL selection, undertaking the grueling Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) course but voluntarily withdrew after five days and was assigned to the fleet. The warrant describes Mays as having had a bad breakup with his girlfriend at the time and she told investigators he was volatile and "bipolar."
A Tik Tok account belonging to Mays is filled with adolescent buffoonery but appears rather harmless. Connecting Vets reached out to Mays but did not receive a reply before publication.
The warrant is filled with circumstantial evidence against Mays and investigators and prosecutors will likely need to uncover further proof by searching the email addresses that a Magistrate Judge granted if they hope to secure a conviction.
The evidence described in the warrant references a sighting from a fellow sailor who believes he saw Mays enter the area of the ship where the fire broke out that morning, but in interviews with NCIS, that sailor was not 100% sure it was Mays.
Fire investigators found empty bottles around the area where the fire started, one of them containing some type of fuel likely used as an accelerant to start the fire. DNA was taken from one of the bottles, but it did not match a sample investigators took from Mays.
The crime scene was also contaminated with someone moving evidence around prior to it being collected and processed by investigators, according to the warrant.
Related
Other instances of probable cause mention conversations overhead by third parties, which implicate Mays but a defense attorney will most likely argue this is double hearsay. Another piece of evidence cited is an Instagram post made by Mays days prior the fire which features the famous Apocalypse Now quote, "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
Mays voluntarily submitted to a ten-hour interrogation by NCIS in which he maintained his innocence, provided a DNA sample, and volunteered to take a polygraph. The polygraph results indicated signs of deception, according to the warrant, however, polygraphs are little more than pseudoscience and are inadmissible in court.
After being arrested and booked at the conclusion of his NCIS interview, two Master-at-Arms designated sailors reported overhearing Mays talking to himself, apparently confessing his guilt. When called back into the interrogation room he denied this and reasserted his innocence.
Unless Naval prosecutors are able to find more evidence against Mays by searching his electronic devices, the case brought against him so far appears to rest heavily on hearsay and circumstantial evidence. There is no physical evidence tying Mays to the crime revealed thus far, and eyewitnesses have changed their stories and been uncertain about what they saw the day of the fire. The warrant also states that a search of Mays' cellphone found no incriminating evidence.
The Navy has a recent history of botching high-profile cases, such as the Eddie Gallagher court-martial in which the Navy SEAL was charged with war crimes only to have a star witness change his story on the stand and have other evidence, such as DNA taken from a knife, which could not be tied to the alleged murder of an Iraqi prisoner. Gallagher was convicted for posing for a trophy photo with a corpse but was acquitted of the more serious murder charge.
Want to get more connected to the stories and resources Connecting Vets has to offer? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.