War damaged vet kills girlfriend; Is PTSD to blame?

"As of right now I'm trying just to live minute by minute, and try to take it day by day and be as positive a person that I can," said John Needham.

By early 2010, as his trial date neared, John's pain became unbearable. Back surgery in California failed to provide relief.

"He was in constant pain. I mean, when he sobered up, he could barely walk," according to his brother, Mike Needham Jr.

In desperation, John Needham went to a hospital in Tucson, Ariz. for yet another operation. He recuperated at his mother's home. She and John's father divorced long ago.

"He loved Arizona," Mike Needham Jr. said. "John felt like he was back in Iraq. He was in the desert. He had his boots on... And he was happy, ironically."

Shortly after the surgery, Mike Needham, Jr. drove from California to lift his brother's spirits.

"I remember I came in and he was sleeping. I grabbed his big toe and wiggled it. And he woke up and he put a smile on his face. He didn't know I was coming," he recalled. "And he's like, 'Oh, man, you're here.' And I was like, 'Yeah.' I was like, 'Go back to sleep... we'll see each other in the morning.' And he's like, 'OK, cool. Cool.'"

After a few hours of sleep, Mike Needham Jr. woke up to find John's door locked. It was early in the morning on Feb. 19, 2010.

"And I knock on it. I say, 'John.' I didn't hear a response. And I hit the door. It broke ... I found him on his knees layin' across the bed ... I said, 'John. John.' ...So I'm pumpin' on his chest and breathin' into his mouth. ...And -- he takes -- he takes one large breath in ... and then he breathes out," Mike Jr. said. "And I said, 'John. John. I'm slappin' him on the face. 'John.' I think he's back. He's not. And -- that was his last breath. He died right there in my arms."

John Needham was 26 years old.

"We were numb. You can never get over as a parent losing one of your children," Mike Needham Sr. said. "Just sitting here and looking at the beach reminds me of my son John ... I will love him for the rest of my life."

It was an overdose of painkillers that killed John Needham. The question is whether it was an accident or suicide.

"To produce a level that was as high as his ... there must've been an ingestion of a significant amount of opiates," Dr. Richard Friedman said. "Which makes an accident unlikely."

With John Needham gone, no one will ever really know. His autopsy reads "undetermined."

"Here you have this tough military guy, you know, a decorated veteran that's been through hell and back and then you find him dead on his bed, it's like you make it through grenades, you make it through gunshots, you make it through this, you make it through that, you go through the worst of the worst combat you could possibly experience, and then you die like that," said Mike Needham Jr.

Prosecutor McGreevy says John may have been a good soldier, but he needed to be held accountable for what he did to Jacque Villagomez. He never imagined the case would end like this.

"There is a level of frustration that we couldn't bring -- Mr. Needham to justice, and get justice for Jacque," he said.

Despite losing one of her closest friends, Sarah Savino has come to see Villagomez's death -- and Needham's -- in a different light.

"He suffered a host of mental problems because of his time at war," Roberts noted. "Do you have any sympathy for him because of all of his suffering?"

"I do, and I think that's part of why I've been able to forgive him and move forward," Sarah Savino replied. "I've always said, like how we lost Jacque, his family also lost a son. And they lost him in a very different way. I do think that the war, and the government, and all of that plays a huge part in what happened. ...he didn't get the proper care and -- and help that he needed. And I wish that he had. Because, if he had, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

There was no military funeral for Pvt. Needham. A small, family service marked his passing.

A few of his comrades will remember him for the lives he saved in Iraq.

Others will remember him for the life he took at home.

"There's a lot more that everyone could of done -- the Army and family.

There's a lot more everyone could have done for John," his brother said. "I think John was a casualty of this war... And so was Jacque... both of them."

On the anniversary of Jacque's death, the Savino sisters tossed flowers in the ocean in her memory.

"48 Hours Mystery" reached out repeatedly to the Army for an official response to John's story.

The Army declined to comment.

Resources: Learn more about PTSD, TBI and suicide prevention

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[sweetcakesmaria]

PTSD sounds like a get out of jail free card to me. This guy can't hide behind a mental condition that he was being medically treated for because if that's the case, the many thousands of military vets (men/women) suffering from PTSD will have a green light to kill whomever they have a disagreement with and simply blame it on their condition. It's bull crap that these killers of their significant others can make that claim that they can't differentiate between a loved one and an enemy on a battlefield. Why is it that only male service personnel suffering PTSD have these violent tendencies towards their mates and not female military service members? There are thousands of murderers in our society with no history of military service that have anger management problems that allows them to kill others but they can't offer up PTSD as a built in excuse.

[makemyday2day]

Sweetcakes and others: It's appalling the mass majority of people who actually know very little about PTSD and other mental illnesses. Too many people walk around with the attitude, "just snap out of it". OMG, if only it were that easy! Until you take the time to do your research on the delicate balance within one's own mind, or just because YOU haven't experienced any type of mental imbalance, don't expect the rest of society to "suck it up with a straw" as they say in the military! Your insensitivity is disgusting! BTW, I know first hand the horrors of PTSD in OIF veterans through my own son. He's been fighting the 'demons' for seven years now. He'd love to be able to "snap out of it".

[Combat_Medic2012]

Sweecakesmaria, I have not seen any less intelligent person than you are. First of all apparently you know nothing about PTSD. Second of all apparently you know nothing about laws. PTSD IS NOT A GREENLIGHT FOR MURDER!
Idiots like you believe if someone claims that they suffer from PTSD they get off the hook. WRONG! They will simply be put for the rest of their lives in mental asylum in fact until a) They are proclaimed mentally competent to take trial and then charged with manslaughter or b) Thy stay for the rest of their lives in mental institution. Typically for 12 to 20 years until everyone forgets about about them.
This soldier just like me suffered from nightmares and flashbacks. He had nightmares, suffered from depression, always on alert. Does a fool like you even KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE 24/7 IN WARZONE WHERE DEATH COMES EVERYDAY IN EVERY POSSIBLE FORM? I carried dead child in my hands in Iraq to an ambulance. I saw some of my friends being carried away, thouhgts racing through my head that those peopl was just alive seconds ago that I spent drinking and partying at the bars while being stationed in Baumholder Germany. Those guys who I looked up to and had the best and worst moments of my live. Do you know what is it like to live and everyday being scared after war to tell someone that you suffer from PTSD so you would not be labeled as psychopath or crazy? You also apparently forgetting the fact that WOMEN ALSO GET PTSD. The problem is most female soldiers do not get it as much as men BECAUSE TYPICALLY THEY DO NOT GET DEPLOYED INTO DIRECT COMBAT LIKE MEN ALMOST ALL THE TIME unless it involves searching another female on a checkpoint or interrogating other females and children. Most women except Military Police do not see extensive combat or more likely combat at all. Those who did are just as messed up in their heads as others. I dont know why your idiotic mind thought women do not get PTSD, but since you are neither a doctor nor psychiatrist I forgive your foolishness. I've seen several women who had been in combat attending VA before. All of them got demoted for some infractions. One of them ran over her ex boyfriend with her car because she thought he had a gun pointed at her.
Female soldiers do get PTSD just as well, except you do not hear it on media or on news as often as about male PTSD. People rather hear about an ex soldier who murdered his wife or girlfriend than about some random ex female war veteran running over her boyfriend over. I can tell you people like you should never reproduct since you are ignorant. The best way for people like you to find out is to place you in Iraq or Afghanistan with every hadji looking at you as if they want to kill you as soon as you tur your back on them. Now imagine living like that for a year and then coming back home walking in a mall. Imagine being shot at, hearing dieing screams of your frieds on daily or weekly basis you hang out or go out with. Imagine the smell of burnt flesh, burnt hair, the nasty smell of rotting burnt meat and fat on the 110 degree sun. Imagine deadly combat which is nothing to describe like and it is NOT for kicking someone's ass like back home but for survival when some stranger grabs a knife or a weapon in your hands and wrestles for in this situation surely either you or him will die.

Imagine that and go back to sleep. Sleep as an innocent child, seeing nightmares for the rest of your life knowing what you live through and what you lived for from nightmare have turned into reality, yet... You cannot tell anyone and afraid to because shallow people like you wait, sneer and judge you at every step as someone who is unfit for society.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

I feel sorry for him and really sorry for her family, but is he hiding behind PTSD? Now before you starting getting a lynch mob out after me, I just want to say why wasn't there PTSD after WWII? Was it called something else, or was that generation able to handle what they went thru better then generations after them? They never got to rotate home after a year; they had to stay until the war was over. I am just trying to figure it out. I am sure that many people suffer from PTSD, but do some just use it as an excuse for something they have done or the way they act?

[a325paratrooper]

Yes PTSD was real thing in WWII and Audie Murphy the most decorated solider in WWII, spent the rest of his life trying to get help for what was then called battle fatigue or shell shock. Audie Murphy suffered from PTSD and developed a horrible addiction to sleeping pills and alcohol. Audie Murphy fought for recogntion of war related mental disorders and he was the first to point out the need to help returning Korean and Vietnam war vets. I have PTSD and all it does for me is give me nightmares and makes me agitated in social situations. I have acted violently toward my wife but thank God I had never touched her, I have broken down in tears at night after waking up from a rough dream. PTSD is not an excuse for anything. If a woman kills a man can she blame PMS? No so how can I guy killing his girlfriend can not blame PTSD. I can almost guarantee that alcohol was involved as well. I stopped drinking after my first time I felt like I wanted to hurt my wife.

[audemus]

If a connection can be made, I believe the military should be held at least partially responsible for what happened here.

[TimeToEvolve]

We have a very sad situation in America. You have big rich corporate executives sending our young men and women into occupations for their profits. They have no cares about it because they have plenty of poor cannon fodder (in fact that was the plan all along).

And then because the uncaring, unfeeling corporations did this, when they get their profits, who gives a damn about a few sick humans (for corporate America there is plenty more where they came from). I am sick that we do not see this and we do not seems to care about our kids.

[hypnotoad72]

I have PTSD, but I don't go around killing my girlfriend...

Then again, did she trigger a memory of a horrific act?

[TimeToEvolve]

This is a very prevalent problem with returning vets. Some like you can handle it but there is going to me a LARGE number of people who cannot. You take the young most impressionable Americans and teach them that killing is necessary to protect corporate profits around the world and you will have big issues for a long, long time.

[Ankhorite]

Hypnotoad, you don't say if your PTSD is combat-related.

And sure, not everyone who has PTSD becomes violent. A very small proportion of people with mental illness are ever violent. But just because the proportion is small doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And the article cited that FORTY PERCENT of the returning vets at one fort have attempted or committed homicide or other personal violence.

Don't disrespect their illness. Don't disrespect these vets, just because their experience of PTSD doesn't duplicate yours.

[oshojoe]

when andrea yates killed her children several years' ago, feminists did rush to her defence by arguing that she was a "victim" of post-partum psychosis and thus needed to be held to a lower standard (it's fair to say that such apologists forgot who the real victims were). Either it's good for the gander as well as for the goose, or we need to stop pretending that people like john needham and andrea yates are victims; the real victims, in my view, are the people they killed.

[Ankhorite]

I defended Yates, and I defend Needham. Why do you assume that feminists would defend one and not the other?

And of course the people they killed are victims; you're making a false point by pretending that anyone disagrees with that.

[venusvegasvada]

"Unfortunately with the way I was trained, you know to react to threats is to neutralize threats. ...Even with someone I love."

Sorry, with all due respect, I have to call BS on this one. Something is really fishy here.

[andie52]

I agree they were a mismatched pair from the get go and if he is so dangerous he should be locked up there are plenty of abusive men who kill their SO who never had PTSD

[hypnotoad72]

And there are people with PTSD who are not abusive.

Especially over something so myopic in scope...

[ScoutTrooper1]

If he'd have gotten help before his PTSD and TBI spiralled out of control ,then maybe he wouldn't have gotten into the situation with his girlfriends death nor him having overdosing on Painkillers. The fact that the military took so long for them to finally diagnose him definitely contributed partly in the alleged outcome . I would day that the PTSD definitely had an impact on what he did that night.

[nohater]

he volunteered, he enlisted. his choice. taxpayer monies field a military which depends on volunteers and even the VA. have no empathy for any of them since they volunteered. would have tons of empathy if they were draftees forced to serve. have no empathy for someone, like the girl, who chose to do drugs and whatever. her choice too. as far as is known, there is no cure for ptsd excepting for treatments which apparently is just drugs, and more drugs. you volunteer, it's on you. and yes, have served but if i could do it all over again i wouldn't, period.

[hypnotoad72]

Thank you for not serving this country, but then you might have other reasons why you would volunteer such a choice...

[Ankhorite]

Hypnotoad, NoHater says he DID serve, go read it again.

NoHater, you sound pretty hateful and bitter. Are you seriously saying that people who volunteer for the military don't deserve medical care? And the young woman's drug use apparently had nothing to do with her death, so why denigrate her about it?

Thanks for your service. I am sorry you are unhappy about it -- sincerely, I am -- and hope that you can get some way (medical or not) to come out of this.

[quihata]

In WW1 it was called 'shell-shocked'. In WW2 it was still called 'shell-shocked' Now we call it 'post traumatic stress disorder', same syndrome, different name. Now we treat it with drugs, therapy, or whatever works and we have an excuse for coming home to commit 'killings'. I have great empathy, but we have to talk to men and women who come home and don't 'kill' on such flimsey grounds. People who kill have a different problem and it is not PTSD! Needham had problems long before he went to war. Who was noticing it then?