Sgt. La David Johnson was killed on Oct. 4 during what the Pentagon believes to have been an assault by a group of ISIS fighters on an 11-member Army Special Forces team in the Niger village of Tongo. While the president's controversial condolence call to the sergeant's widow Myeshia Johnson has garnered a great deal of publicity, disturbing details surrounding the capture of Sgt. La David Johnson continues to surface.

On Tuesday the Pentagon released a written statement confirming that remains discovered by U.S. military and FBI teams on Nov. 12 were those of Army Sgt. La David Johnson.

This disclosure comes after The Washington Post interviewed a 23-year-old farmer and trader named Adamou Boubacar, who found the soldier dead with his hands tied and a gaping wound in his head. The findings raised the possibility that Sgt. Johnson was captured alive before being bound and executed. Boubacar reported his discovery to the village chief, Mounkaila Alassane who told The Washington Post, "The back of his head was a mess as if they had hit him with something hard, like a hammer,” recalled Alassane, who said he also saw the body. “They took his shoes. He was wearing only socks.”

Five Nigerian soldiers along with Army Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright were also killed in the attack. The Pentagon has not addressed any additional questions about the discovery.