The brother of a Marine who perished during the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan a year ago committed himself at a memorial to his sibling.
Dakota Halverson, 28 years old, of Norco, California, committed suicide on August 9.
Kareem Nikoui, his 20-year-old brother, was one of thirteen American soldiers killed on August 26, 2012, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside the Kabul airport as panicked civilians fled.
Their mother, Shana Chappell, said that Dakota had expressed some of the things that had been upsetting him, one of which being the loss of his brother Kareem and how he simply wanted to be with him again.
It was still difficult for him to accept that he was gone.
‘At night, he would sneak into the cemetery and sleep on Kareem’s grave.
He took his own life at a permanent monument for his brother Kareem in this city.
On September 17, Nikoui was interred at the Crestlawn Mortuary in Riverside.
On January 4, in commemoration of what would have been Nikoui’s 21st birthday, his family conducted a memorial service at his tomb.
On Tuesday, Chappell announced Halverson’s death and said that they were all grappling with the coming anniversary of Nikoui’s passing.
She posted on Facebook, “August has been a really difficult month so far, especially with the approaching anniversary.”
I see my children as strong and capable of handling anything. That was my error.
“Recently, my son Dakota has been expressing his want to be with Kareem, how much he misses him, etc….
That is how we all feel, therefore I missed the indications.
My son Dakota left to be with His brother Kareem this morning.
Chappell, who blames Joe Biden for her son’s death, which she claims was the result of a failure to effectively prepare the pullout, said that she did not want to “make this a political topic.”
She stated that the loss of her second son was the “ripple effect.”
Chappell said on a GoFundMe page for burial costs that his brother found Nikoui’s death “very painful to accept.”
She said that Halverson want to be buried with his brother.
