DOB/DOD: October 10, 1974 (Waterbury, CT) – December 30, 2009; 35 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Racheal Reilmann LaBonte (1979-)
CHILDREN: One daughter, Raina LaBonte (2007-)
LOCAL ADDRESS: Candlewood Lake Road; Brookfield, Connecticut
FAMILY: Born to David J. [former Navy SEAL] (1950-) and Camille A. DiDominzio LaBonte (1952-). Two brothers, David J. (1975-) and Dylan (1978-).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Killed by a suicide bomber at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman, Khost Province, Afghanistan. The incident is part of the movie Zero Dark Thirty. Also killed in the incident:
Agent Harold E. Brown, Jr.; Bolton, Massachusetts
Agent Elizabeth Hanson; Rockford, Illinois
Agent Jennifer L. Matthews; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Agent Scott M. Roberson; born in Manchester, Ohio, and raised in Tolland, Connecticut
Security Contractor Dane C. Paresi; Portland, Oregon
Security Contractor Jeremy J. Wise; El Dorado, Arkansas
Al Shareef Ali bin Zeid; Jordan
OTHER: Darren LaBonte enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school, serving several years in the elite 75th Ranger Regiment’s Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment. After leaving the military, he became a police officer in the Libertyville Police Department in Illinois, then joined the United States Marshals Service, working in Chicago from 2003 to 2005. He then briefly worked in the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Against Exploited Children unit in New York City before joining the CIA in 2006.
From the Capital Gazette on January 10, 2010
LABONTE, DARREN J., killed in action while serving his country. Darren J. LaBonte, beloved husband of Racheal LaBonte. Devoted father of Raina LaBonte; the beloved son of David J. and Camille A. LaBonte; the loving brother of David LaBonte and Dylan LaBonte; dear grandson of Sanita LaBonte and Margaret DiDominzio. Friends may call at the family-owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road, Towson, MD. 21204 (Beltway exit 26A) Friday 3-9 PM. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Saturday, 10:00 AM, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, 5200 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.
From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on June 6, 2010
By Adam Goldman | Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A last photo shows Darren James LaBonte on an all-terrain vehicle in Khost, Afghanistan, days before his death. He’s smiling. “Athlete, soldier, husband, father — and determined CIA officer. LaBonte’s family had promised him they wouldn’t talk about his work. They kept that pledge as they mourned in private after he died along with six other CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in the suicide bombing at a U.S. base in Afghanistan in late December. Even now, months after his burial, they won’t detail the dangerous work he did for the agency. “We made that promise to him,” said LaBonte’s parents, David and Camille. But his family did decide over Memorial Day to acknowledge that he was among the bombing victims — and they decided to tell the world a bit about the man behind the name. All but two of the CIA employees killed in the blast had previously been identified publicly. The seventh victim, the agency’s chief of base, a 45-year-old mother of three and an al-Qaida expert, remains anonymous. Indeed, anonymity is part of the trade-off for a career in intelligence. CIA families have grieved in silence for decades. “It’s hard to understand,” said Ted Gup, author of “The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives.” “It’s hard for our entire culture to grasp the nature of this sacrifice. We live in a culture of celebrity where what is not recognized doesn’t exist.” Spies, he added, “come out of a culture where what is recognized ceases to exist. The light is lethal.” The CIA won’t discuss LaBonte, but his parents and wife agreed to shed some light about his death. And over this past Memorial Day weekend, a historic B-17 plane dropped flowers over the Statue of Liberty in a tribute to the seven slain Americans. LaBonte was 35 years old when he died, ending a career that included service in the military and a series of law enforcement jobs. “He was a pretty talented guy,” said his father, who described the son as “intelligent, complex, and an incredible athlete.” LaBonte grew up in Connecticut. He played baseball and football at Brookfield High School. He turned down a shot at professional baseball with the Cleveland Indians when he graduated from high school in 1992 and opted for the Army, said his father, a former Navy SEAL, LaBonte earned the celebrated black and yellow Ranger patch and was assigned to First Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, one of the toughest units. In 1999, LaBonte met his wife — Racheal — on a blind date to a Ranger ball in Savannah, Georgia, where he was stationed. The following year, they married, and he left the Army. But after the attacks of September 11, 2001, LaBonte wanted to get back into the fight. “He was hellbent on making this 9/11 thing right,” his father said. “That really affected him badly.” LaBonte decided not to reenlist in the Army, choosing to pursue an education and a career in law enforcement. He graduated from Columbia College of Missouri and received a master’s degree in May 2006 from Boston University, where he studied criminal justice. Along the way, he had worked as a police officer in Libertyville, Illinois, and as a U.S. marshal before joining the FBI. The family said LaBonte won a leadership and shooting award at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, then landed in the FBI’s New York field office. The CIA recruited him, and he resigned from the FBI in late 2006, moving with his wife to the Washington, D.C., area. His father had reservations about the CIA, but his son had always steered his own course. He was a “man determined to be a part of the solution to the unrest in our world,” his mother said. His parents declined to discuss what he did for the agency. But the elder LaBonte said his son had served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Amman, Jordan, his last posting before he died in Afghanistan. Father and son talked about the perils of his job. “I don’t think he feared death,” David LaBonte said. “He faced it.” “He was a Spartan,” his wife said. “He had to do these things. I respected him and honored him.” Darren LaBonte’s parents, who live in Arnold, Maryland, said they had planned a Christmas trip to Italy about the time of the Khost bombing. Their son planned to meet them, along with his wife and daughter Raina, who turns 3 in November. LaBonte’s younger brother was also coming. On December 17, LaBonte left for Afghanistan, leaving his wife and daughter in Amman. “He was anxious but excited about the mission,” Racheal LaBonte said. His trip to Italy was suddenly delayed. The CIA believed it was on the verge of a major breakthrough in the hunt to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s No. 2.
Memorialized with a bench at Brookfield Town Hall, 100 Pocono Road, Brookfield, Connecticut.
Agent LaBonte is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Virginia; Section 40, Grave 96.
