Ariell Taylor-Brown learned about her husband's death in Afghanistan from a fellow soldier via Facebook. (credit: CBS)

FORT CARSON, Colo. (CBS4)– The wife of a Fort Carson soldier learned about his death on Facebook. Now the U.S. military is investigating how a Facebook friend passed on the news before the Department of Defense had a chance to.

Ariell Taylor-Brown had just said goodbye to her husband via Skype hours earlier when she learned he had been killed in Afghanistan.

She found out from another soldier on her Facebook page asking her to call immediately.

“A girl in his platoon. She told me to call her immediately and I was in front of my kids and I completely had a breakdown,” said Taylor-Brown.



Staff Sgt. Christopher Brown of Columbus, Ohio was killed April 3 by an insurgent bomb. He was in his fourth tour just one week before he was killed.

Taylor-Brown says hours later, two soldiers arrived at her home but she knew about it already.

Most soldiers are warned not to release information on a fellow soldier’s death until next of kin are notified. Soldiers who break the rules can be ordered to a Court Martial.

Taylor-Brown is a widow with two children. She said she was devastated and angry that she wasn’t informed by the military first.

She is pregnant with her third child, “I’m almost 11 weeks.”

Taylor-Brown will name her newborn Carter Christopher because that is what her husband would have wanted.

“I wish he could meet him. His dad is a hero,” said Taylor-Brown.

Brown served twice in Iraq and was on his second deployment in Afghanistan. He had earned a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal.