Mother of Navy SEAL Candidate Who Died After Hell Week Wants ‘Accountability’

• Kyle Mullen, a Navy SEAL candidate, died in February 2022 after completing the rigorous one-week training, which pushes aspiring Navy SEALs to their physical and mental limits
• Kyle’s mother Regina has told Good Morning America she was informed just before Christmas that the public hearings into her son’s death would no longer be happening
• Regina also claimed the cases against the two men she blames for Kyle’s death were dismissed by the Navy

Regina Mullen — the mother of Kyle Mullen, the Navy SEAL candidate who died in February 2022 after completing training known as Hell Week — is speaking out following her son’s tragic death and asking for accountability.

Nearly three years after her son’s death, Regina joined Good Morning America on Wednesday, Jan. 15, and said Kyle was “just trying to be a hero and protect people, and [his death] happened by his own country, by his own military.”

Kyle — who died of bacterial pneumonia, according to GMA and CNN — was 24 when he completed the 120-hour training known for pushing aspiring sailors to their physical and mental limits. Days after his death, the Navy issued a statement saying, “Mullen was not actively training at the time of his death.” 

Over a year later, in May 2023, the Navy released the investigation into Kyle’s death, citing that the training program Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD/S) “was operating with a previously unrecognized accumulation of risk across multiple systems.” The investigation release stated the Navy “identifies risks that aggregated as the result of inadequate oversight, insufficient risk assessment, poor medical command and control, and undetected performance enhancing drug use.”

According to GMA, the Navy ended its investigation without holding public hearings, and Regina told the outlet the decision came with little explanation. She said right before Christmas 2024 she received a phone call telling her that the hearing would no longer be happening and claimed the cases against the two men she blames for her son’s death were dismissed by the Navy and she wasn’t told why or who canceled the hearings. She claims Captain Brad Geary, who was in charge of her son’s trainee class, and Commander Dr. Erik Ramey are responsible.

“We have a failed leadership under command that killed a man unnecessarily and injured many,” Regina told GMA. “I think it’s pretty reasonable to ask for accountability … I want the board of inquiry to be reinstated, is what I really want so we can go public.”

Regina also recalled her son’s excited message about completing Hell Week during her appearance on GMA, but explained how after speaking with him on the phone she realized he was out of breath and “didn’t sound good.” Hours later, Kyle was dead.

According to GMA, Kyle’s final medical check found abnormalities in his lungs, severe trouble breathing and swollen legs that required him to be sent back to his barracks in a wheelchair.

Per the outlet, the Navy investigation cited “failures across multiple systems that led to a number of candidates being at a higher risk of serious injury, with inconsistent medical monitoring and lack of training among commanding officers and an at all costs mindset among the candidates.”

Authorities also found a bottle labelled as ‘human growth hormone’ in Kyle’s car. However, according to CNN, a press release from the Naval Special Warfare Command Public Affairs said Kyle died in the “line of duty, not due to his own misconduct.”

Regina told GMA the Navy Medical Examiner did not test for steroid use and claimed they said it was “because it was irrelevant to the cause of death.”

Regina remains suspicious about her son’s medical care. “The Navy’s not giving me what I’m asking for, the medical treatment of Kyle’s care. They’re not providing it,” she told GMA before adding, “Why won’t they provide it?”

Her attorney, Kevin Uniglicht, added that they haven’t received the basis for the dismissal of the cases.

Capt. Geary released a statement through his attorney Timothy C. Parlatore to ABC News. “This case was badly mishandled from the beginning when we were noticed for the board of inquiry, it became very clear that a comprehensive investigation had never been done and the deciding officer hadn’t had access to all the evidence,” the statement read. “Through the discovery process, the Navy was forced to gather all the relevant evidence, which made continuing the case unsustainable.”

Attorney Jeremiah J. Sullivan III also issued a statement to ABC News on behalf of his client Dr. Ramey. “We invested a substantial amount of time investigating the case with the assistance of top medical experts,” the statement read. “The overwhelming evidence confirmed that Dr. Ramey met the medical standard of care.”

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Parlatore, Sullivan and the Navy did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Wednesday.