Ohio High School Shooting Death Toll raises to 3

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — The death toll rose to three Tuesday in the shooting rampage in an Ohio high school cafeteria as schoolmates and townspeople grappled with the tragedy and wondered what could have set the teenage gunman off.
The teenager under arrest in Monday's attack, T.J. Lane, faced an afternoon hearing in juvenile court.

Shaken residents offered condolences and prayers to the families of those killed and wounded at 1,100-student Chardon High School in suburban Cleveland. All three of the dead were students, as are the two people wounded.

"This gets more tragic, the whole area is suffering, our prayers go up to God to give all strength, healing and closure," said one of hundreds of Facebook postings on a memorial page.

The community offered grief counseling to students, staff and others at area schools.

"We're not just any old place, Chardon," Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II said. "This is every place. As you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday."

A Cleveland hospital said Demetrius Hewlin, who had been in critical condition, died Tuesday morning. The news came shortly after Police Chief Tim McKenna said 17-year-old Russell King Jr. had died.

Another student, Daniel Parmertor, died hours after the shooting, which sent students screaming through the halls and led teachers to lock down their classrooms as they had practiced doing so many times during drills.

Both King and Parmertor were students at the Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting in the Chardon High cafeteria for a bus for their daily 15-minute ride when they were shot.

The police chief would shed no light on a motive.

"I feel sorry not only for that family but all the families that are affected by this," McKenna said. Characterizing himself as a "hometown boy," he added: "Chardon will take care of Chardon."

A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that one of the dead was shot while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.

Lane's family is mourning "this terrible loss for their community," attorney Robert Farnacci said in a statement.

Lane did not go to Chardon High, instead attending nearby Lake Academy, which is for students with academic or behavioral problems.

Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But others disputed that.

"Even though he was quiet, he still had friends," said Tyler Lillash, 16

Joanna Ramos, 10-year-old Long Beach Girl Who Died of Blunt Force Trauma

Joanna Ramos, 10-year-old Long Beach girl who died of blunt force trauma after fight over a boy, told mom she was punched in the head  

She was hit in a fight in an alley next to the school

By Meena Hart Duerson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 4:27 PM

Nick Ut/AP

Friends and schoolmates left an impromptu memorial outside Willard Elementary School for Joanna Ramos, 10.

Before she slipped into a state of unconsciousness from which she would never wake up, Long Beach fifth grader Joanna Ramos told her mother she'd been punched in the head by another girl at school.
"I said, what happened, and she said, 'a girl punched my head,' and I said why, and she said, 'I don't know Mom. We are enemies,'" Cecilia Villanueva told The Associated Press on Tuesday, four days after her daughter's sudden death following a fistfight at school. "I asked her, you don't have any enemies. Why, Joanna? She told me, 'I don't want to talk, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep.'"
It's the latest detail to emerge in the case of Ramos' unexpected death, which was ruled a homicide Monday.
The ten-year-old girl was apparently hit while engaging in a scheduled brawl with a classmate over a boy, friends told local media outlets.
GIRL'S DEATH IN SCHOOL ALLEY FIGHT RULED HOMICIDE
Police have said no weapons were used in the altercation, which was held in an alley next to the school, and that the fight lasted less than a minute.
Afterwards, according to police, Ramos appeared to show no signs of visible injury - but a friend said she had blood on her hands after wiping a bloody nose from the fight.
Following the incident, Ramos was picked up from her after-school program early when she complained she wasn't feeling well, and her mother says her condition only got worse when she got home.
"I could see her lips turning purple and I got so scared. I tried to do CPR," Villanueva told the AP. "I tried my best, but when we got to the hospital they said her heart was stopped. They tried, they tried so hard."
Police have said Ramos died of blunt force trauma to the head. No arrests have been made.
Though some doctors said it is possible one punch could have been enough to prove fatal, Villanueva suspects her daughter may not have told her all the details of what happened.
"I told the doctor what happened and he said, 'One punch is not enough, the way that she is right now,'" Villanueva told the AP. "My daughter told me one punch, only, just one. And the doctor said, 'Hmmm, I don't think so. One wouldn't cause too much damage.'"
A doctor who tried to save Ramos' life when she arrived at the hospital recounted the harrowing experience in a column Tuesday for the Press Telegram.
"Joanna arrived on our doorstop," Dr. Mauricio Heilbron Jr. wrote. "Her heart was not working at all...Her eyes were 'fixated and dilated,' the worst sign possible. To a layperson, they look like the lifeless eyes of a little child's doll."
Heilebron said he and his fellow doctors tried "everything" but ultimately had to "give up" when the little girl proved impossible to resuscitate.
Forced to deliver the tragic news to Ramos' mother, the doctor said Villanueva was "pleading for Joanna to talk to her, begging her not to go."
"Violence between young children is unimaginable," Heilebron wrote. “After Joanna is buried, and the investigation complete, what do we do then?”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/joanna-ramos-10-year-old-long-beach-girl-died-blunt-force-trauma-fight-a-boy-told-mom-punched-head-article-1.1030048#ixzz1nHeAW3yw

Mom, boyfriend held in baby's death in Pa. motel

Updated: 3:13 pm

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A 22-year-old mother and her boyfriend are jailed on criminal homicide and other charges stemming from the death of the woman's 5-month-old baby who was found in cardiac arrest at an Erie motel where the couple was living.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 22-year-old Leslie Anne Holmes and 21-year-old Matthew J. Clark. The couple was living at the Riviera Motel in Millcreek Township when paramedics found the baby unresponsive Feb. 9. Little Jasper Holmes died Feb. 20 in a Pittsburgh hospital, and the medical examiner there determined the baby suffered brain hemorrhages and other trauma consistent with being shaken.
The Erie Times-News reports the suspects have not explained how the baby was injured, but both are charged because authorities contend they were alone with the baby when he was hurt.
___
Information from: Erie Times-News, http://www.goerie.com

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

5-month-Old Boy Suffered Fractured Arm Before Death from brain trauma

Police: 5-Month-Old Boy Suffered Fractured Arm Before Death

By TIM HAHN, Erie Times-News
tim.hahn@timesnews.com

Jasper Holmes suffered significant injuries on at least two occasions in his young life.

The 5-month-old boy was found to have suffered a leg fracture and serious head injuries when a physician at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC examined him shortly after Jasper was found in respiratory distress at a Millcreek Township motel on Feb. 9.

The examination also revealed that Jasper had an arm injury that was never properly treated, investigators allege in criminal complaints filed against the boy's mother and her boyfriend.

Leslie A. Holmes, 22, and Matthew J. Clark, 21, remained in the Erie County Prison without bond Wednesday on charges that include criminal homicide in the death of Jasper, who was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital on the late afternoon of Feb. 20.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office listed Jasper's death as homicide due to blunt force trauma. Millcreek police said the death was the result of complications due to a traumatic head injury.

A doctor who examined Jasper at Children's Hospital diagnosed him as having bilateral subdural hemorrhages with massive brain swelling and retinal hemorrhages, consistent with a shaking injury to the brain, Millcreek Township police Detective Sgt. Michael Little wrote in the affidavits of probable cause that were filed with the criminal charges.

The examination also revealed that Jasper had suffered a fracture to his leg and a fractured arm, police said Wednesday.

Investigators have not released any information indicating when the fractures might have occurred. But the arm injury is believed to have been an older injury because police allege in the criminal complaints against Holmes and Clark that they had failed to seek medical attention after Jasper suffered the arm fracture.

The doctor who examined Jasper at Children's Hospital determined the boy's head injuries occurred "within a short period of time of the child's presentation for life-preserving resuscitation," Little wrote in the affidavit.

Police and paramedics were called to the Riviera Motel, 3107 West Lake Road, at about 9 a.m. on Feb. 9 on a report of a 5-month-old in respiratory distress. Holmes and Clark were attempting CPR on Jasper when the emergency responders arrived, Little said.

Holmes later told police that she had awakened at about 3 a.m. on Feb. 9 and discovered that Jasper wasn't breathing. She said she did chest compressions on the boy until he was able to breathe on his own, according to the affidavit.

Holmes told police Jasper seemed normal the rest of the morning, but he began crying at about 6:30 p.m. and continued when Clark came home from work at 7:45 a.m. She said she and Clark then decided to place Jasper facedown in his car seat, and they went outside to smoke. When they returned to the room five to 10 minutes later, Jasper was no longer crying and had stopped breathing, according to the affidavit.

Holmes said she slapped Jasper to "shock him into breathing." Clark then took Jasper to the shower and ran cold water over the boy's body before they placed Jasper on a bed, attempted CPR and called 911, according to the affidavit.

An official at the Riviera Motel said Wednesday that Clark was registered there for three weeks, but Holmes was not. Holmes was seen at the motel on a few occasions, but no one recalled seeing Jasper before Feb. 9, the official said.

Holmes and Clark had been living at different places in the area, bouncing between friends and relatives, police said Wednesday.

The criminal complaints filed Tuesday list Holmes' address as the 3800 block of Canterbury Drive, and Clark's address as the 400 block of Kelso Drive.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by e-mail. Follow him at twitter.com/ETNhahn.

Copyright 2012 The Erie Times-News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Time for a Federal Veterans Court

Posted: 02/28/2012 10:45 am

On February 12, the Roanoke Times reported the arrest of Sean Duvall for carrying a firearm -- a crude gun he had made himself from steel pipe, a shotgun shell and a nail. The reason the Blacksburg, Virginia police became aware that Mr. Duvall was carrying a gun was because he had called the toll-free crisis hotline for veterans contemplating suicide. A veteran of the Navy, Duvall was homeless and increasingly despairing. He had dialed the hotline for help.

He did receive help. The counselor who answered his call called in the local police who took Duvall to a psychiatric hospital. After several days he was transferred to the care of New River Valley Community Services. Counseling and medication improved his mental state, and afterwards, he even found a new job.
But then he was arrested and charged in federal court with possession of a destructive device and three related felonies. He is facing a possible prison term of 40 years. His lawyer argues that the response of the criminal justice system in rural Virginia is "dishonorable," not to mention "unfair." "It shocks the conscience." The federal prosecutor's response: "Confidentiality is not absolute."
Duvall served two tours as a member of the Navy -- one tour during and one after the Gulf War. He was honorably discharged. Last spring of last year, he maxed out on the number of hours his part-time job allowed, and soon, he became homeless. Like so many of our close to 70,000 homeless veterans, his pride prevented him from applying for benefits or going to a shelter. In June, he made a gun out of a steel pipe and nail to kill himself.
The Roanoke Times lays out the details of the now public conversation Duvall had with the crisis hotline counselor, a conversation he expected to be confidential. He told the counselor -- a person in upper New York state -- that he had lost everything, that he had been walking the streets for days, that he intended to commit suicide, that he was ready to give up. He described the crude gun.
"The counselor promised to send help and asked Duvall for his location. Looking around, Duvall spotted a blue light from a Virginia Tech police phone in the parking lot of the school's international student center on Clay Street. He waited there for a police officer to arrive." The federal prosecutor has argued that because Duvall agreed to wait for the police, he gave up any expectation of privacy for what he told the counselor.
Mr. Duvall's lawyer asserts that the federal government has broken a fundamental promise to a veteran. "It is wrong to tell a man that what he says will be kept in confidence and then use statements and evidence given in reliance of that promise to charge the man." While counselors for the hotline are trained to rely on options other than the police, federal law stipulates that in cases of "serious and imminent threats to the safety of the veteran or others," the hotline can disclose information. The prosecutor argued that the implications of Duvall's argument are that police could not file charges if they responded to a veteran's plea for help and found he had killed his wife and children.
This case raises critical issues for our veterans and our responsibility to them. The most glaring is the impact this case might have on other veterans in despair. The crisis hotline has, according to Veterans for Common Sense received over 240,000 calls since it was created in 2007. It has saved the lives of 19,823 veterans. The suicide rate among our veterans has been skyrocketing in the last few years, now reaching 18 a day. It takes tremendous trust on the part of a veteran to call the crisis hotline. The veteran must believe that the person answering the call has the veteran's best interest at heart and has training and expertise to handle their crisis in a way that will protect the veteran from harm.
It will be difficult for many veterans to look past the impression of this situation to the specifics. We all need to be concerned that this case will have a terrible effect of dissuading veterans in need to call the hotline. We face the possibility that more veterans might end up taking their lives.
When we look at the case's specifics, many questions present themselves. Was the counselor calling the police rather than an ambulance or the fire department the best way to get Duvall to a psychiatric hospital? Once Duvall readily agreed to wait for the police, did that indicate anything significant to the counselor about how dangerous Duvall might be?
What did the counselor know about the gun Duvall described? Such a gun cannot be used to easily kill someone. What did the person answering Duvall's call know about Blacksburg, Virginia and the police there? Did they remember that Blacksburg is the location of Virginia Tech where a gunman killed 32 people in 2007? Did the counselor anticipate that the police there might have a severe reaction to a man on the street with a gun, no matter what type of gun it was?
Duvall's horrible predicament underscores the necessity of training our police force, our counselors, our first aid workers to the unique characteristics and needs of our veterans. Rather than seeing them as intending to perpetrate violent acts, we must understand that what might look like criminal behavior are manifestations of trauma and cries for help.

What good, what justice will be served by locking Mr. Duvall in prison? What he needs is treatment. Over the last five years many states have recognized the injustice of prosecuting veterans for behavior that results from trauma they suffered serving their country. These states have created veterans courts, a specialty court that, rather than taking the traditional adversarial approach of convicting and incarcerating veterans when their criminal actions resulted from PTSD, creates a rigorous program of rehabilitation and training, enabling them to lead a productive life.
As of 2004, the last time the U.S. Department of Justice reported, an estimated 140,000 veterans were held in state and federal prisons. State prisons held 127,500 of these veterans; federal prisons held 12,500. According to the Texas Criminal Justice Department, as of October, 2011, Texas -- the state most notorious for incarceration-- had 11,567 incarcerated veterans. According to Brian McGivern of the Texas Civil Rights Project, many of these prisoners are veterans of Vietnam, who have been imprisoned for over 20 years. There are indications some have never received mental health care. Such care is not easily available in the prison system..
The good news is that the number of incarcerated veterans seems to be dropping. In 1986 the percentage of federal prisoners reporting military service was 24.9 percent. In 1997 it was 14.5 percent. In 2004 it was 10 percent. But considering only one percent of the country serves in our military, it is disgraceful that even 10 percent are veterans.
While the emergence of veterans courts is an invaluable reform, no state mandates them. It is up

Death of US Girl After School Fight Ruled Homicide

Death of US girl after school fight ruled homicide

Posted: Feb 27, 2012 2:09 PM AST Updated: Feb 28, 2012 8:09 AM AST

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

Associated Press

LONG BEACH, California (AP) - What started as an after-school fight between two young girls over a boy turned into a homicide investigation Monday, when authorities said a 10-year-old died of a head injury after the confrontation.
Blunt force trauma killed Joanna Ramos, who collapsed at home after Friday's fight, coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said.
The girl's older sister said Joanna died after surgery for a blood clot on the brain hours after the fight in an alley with an 11-year-old girl. Joanna had started vomiting and complained of a headache and was unconscious by the time she arrived at the emergency room, said Vanessa Urbina, 17, crying as she sat on the steps of Willard Elementary School near a memorial of flowers and balloons.
Police said they have made no arrests and were conducting an investigation that will be presented to prosecutors.
Punches to the head can often lead to delayed bleeding if a vein is torn, and that can lead to a clot when blood collects on the surface of the brain, said Dr. Keith Black, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"This is rare, in that I've never seen it in a female, certainly not in a female adolescent," said Black, who was not involved in Joanna's medical care.
Symptoms - such as headache, nausea, lethargy - may not set in for hours and people can mistakenly think that they're fine.
"Just because you're OK immediately after a head injury, you still need to be very concerned" about pressure buildup in the brain that can be life-threatening, Black said.
He said a blow to the head from one young girl to another could "absolutely" be sufficient to cause enough trauma to lead to death.
Friday's fight lasted less than a minute, police said. It didn't involve weapons, and no one was knocked to the ground.
"They took off their backpacks, and they put their hair in a bun, and then that's when they said 'Go' and that's when they started hitting each other," Joanna's friend and classmate Maggie Martinez, who watched the fight, told KNBC.
Martinez and other friends said they tried to stop the fight but were held back by boys who were watching and wanted it to continue.
School officials believe the fight occurred in a 15-minute window between the time school ended and the start of Joanna's after-school program, said Chris Eftychiou, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.
Mothers said their children told them the fight was over a boy.
Fights involving young children are increasing in the U.S., in part because social media and text messaging mean students can continue their dispute 24 hours a day, said Travis Brown, a national expert on bullying and school violence.
______
Associated Press writers Robert Jablon and Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Indiana soldier injured in Afghanistan getting stronger, but physical, emotional wounds linger

ABBEY DOYLE  The Herald Bulletin First Posted: February 27, 2012 - 1:13 pm Last Updated: February 27, 2012 - 1:13 p

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ANDERSON, Ind. — Tim Senkowski said he's doing "a lot better" now than he has the past couple months and is getting stronger.
But the Anderson soldier — who lost both of his legs and suffered severe injuries to his right arm and buttock in an improvised explosive device detonation in Afghanistan in October — said getting stronger comes with its pitfalls.
He's getting bigger and has a hard time losing weight while confined to his wheelchair. Senkowski was more than 6 feet tall and weighed more than 300 pounds before the incident.
He is also working to overcome the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"My TBI is affecting me more," he said. "Especially when I get anxious or excited, I tend to forget things fast and have a hard time talking to people, getting the words to come."
Just getting out of the bed in the morning is a challenge, physically and emotionally.
"Every day I have to see the positives so I can get out of bed and get up," Senkowski said. "I hurt every day. All the negatives that happened to, not just me, but my buddy. It's hard. Every day I have to wake up to the realization that he's no longer there. It sucks. It all hurts so much, and I don't want to have to go through it anymore. But I do. And I know there are some positives.
"I have to put the hurtful feelings on the back burner so I can figure out a way to actually deal with them. Some days, though, they boil over, and you have to deal with them right then."
On Oct. 13, another soldier — good friend Jeremiah Sancho, 23, of Palm Bay, Fla. — was a few feet ahead of Senkowski and stepped on the IED. Sancho was killed.
Senkowski had been deployed as an Army infantryman since April in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, serving with the 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.
Throughout this experience, Senkowski said, he's had opportunities to meet amazing people: other wounded warriors, soldiers, politicians, celebrities and athletes — and even President Barack Obama.
Senkowski and his mother, Tamra Rigdon, went to the White House a few weeks ago with a group of wounded warriors.
"It was a really neat experience," Rigdon said. "They lined us all up to take a group picture, and the next thing you know the president walked in. He came up to each of us. Tim introduced himself and then said, 'Oh, this is my mom.' Everyone just laughed, and the president said, 'You don't have a name?' I said, 'I'm just mom.'"
Rigdon has been by her son's side since he first arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center. As a licensed counselor and having come from a military family, Rigdon had already done a lot of therapy for soldiers and their families. But the experience with her son has given her even more perspective and insight. She said she's also learned a lot about her family's dedication and strength.
Rigdon said visits from family have helped lift her and Senkowski's spirits at critical times. A recent visit from Senkowski's wife, Erica, and Rigdon's husband, JR Rigdon, was great, she said.
Rigdon said the best part was that Senkowski and his wife were able to go on a date alone. A nonprofit organization that helps transport the soldiers and their loved ones took the two out.
"It was a blast," Senkowski said. "I loved getting to see her and getting to spend some time alone."
Rigdon's sister, Kim O'Keefe, and her family also came for a visit.
"Spending that time with my sister and nephew was both amazing and eye opening," O'Keefe said. "Before I went there, I would hear her tell quick stories about their days, but it was so much more than she could even express to me."
O'Keefe said Rigdon is the "strongest, most amazing woman I have ever met," and added that the work Ridgon does to help take care of Senkowski is non-stop. She said watching Senkowski walk was an amazing experience, as well.
"I thought you just slipped them (the prosthetic legs) on, and off you went," O'Keefe said. "Not even close. I watched Tim gingerly explain all that he was feeling and experiencing to my son and even got him laughing quite a few times.
"I was initially nervous about what it would be like for me to see Tim or the other soldiers at Walter Reed, but it was surprisingly normal. Just like any other gym with a few more interesting pieces of equipment."
O'Keefe said it was life-changing to see Senkowski work so hard to recover from his injuries.
Senkowski misses his fellow soldiers and is anxious for their return in the coming weeks.
"When I see my buddies come home, my tension will be eased because I will know my brothers in arms are no longer in harm's way," he said. "They keep telling me they wish I was back there with them. So do I."
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Information from: The Herald Bulletin, http://www.theheraldbulletin.com

Young is a Disabled War Veteran and Uses a Cane to Help him Walk

Video shows disabled veteran's Occupy arrest

Updated: Monday, 27 Feb 2012, 5:26 PM EST
Published : Monday, 27 Feb 2012, 5:26 PM EST

SARASOTA - The ACLU is getting involved in the arrest of an Occupy Sarasota protester.
Video of Christopher Young's arrest shows him face-down on the sidewalk and the officer with his knee on his back, handcuffing him.
The arrest happened on Saturday in Five Points Park. Police say they got a complaint Young had harassed someone in the park and that he was defacing the sidewalk with chalk.

The officer says he ordered young to stop writing on the sidewalk and to leave the park.
There is an ordinance in Sarasota banning the defacing of the sidewalks in the park.
Young was arrested for not following the officer's orders.
"Obviously we believe in free speech, but we don't believe in people marking up city property without permission, and we believe that sidewalks are available to everybody and that they have to remain free," stated SPD Capt. Paul Sutton.
The ACLU believes Young was simply exercising his right to free speech, and that the arrest is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
"You do not have to follow the command of a law enforcement officer that is illegal," insisted the ACLU's Michael Barfield. "It is not illegal to chalk in a public park; it's not illegal to protest in a public park."
Young is a disabled war veteran and uses a cane to help him walk. Other protesters complained that police left his cane in the park when they arrested him.
The Occupy Sarasota movement has held several other demonstrations. This is the first time anyone was arrested.

2 more arrested in So. Calif. double murder of veteran and friend

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Daniel Wozniak is accused of killing and dismembering Samuel Herr and Juri Kibuishi in 2010

(Credit: AP Photo/Handout)

(CBS) COSTA MESA, Calif. - Police have arrested two people they suspect of having been accessories after the fact in the 2010 double murder and dismemberments of an Afghanistan veteran and his friend. According to the Daily Pilot newspaper, prosecutors announced on Friday that two unnamed suspects were charged in connection with the murders of Samuel Herr, 26, and Juri Kibuishi, 23.
"Someone had the opportunity to contact the police or knew there was evidence of a crime and failed to do so," said Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Dondero of the arrested suspects.
Dondero said neither arrestee is suspected to have planned or participated in the murders, reports the Daily Pilot.
27-year-old Daniel Patrick Wozniak, a neighbor of Herr's, has been charged with both murders. Prosecutors allege that Wozniak lured Herr to Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base and murdered him in a theater there. Parts of Herr's body, including his head, were later found in a nearby park.
Wozniak then allegedly used Herr's phone to text Kibuishi, telling her to come to Herr's apartment. Wozniak is accused of murdering Kibuishi in the apartment and removing her clothes to try and make the attack look sexual.
According to the newspaper, Wozniak's preliminary hearing was to take place Friday, but his public defender asked for more time to prepare after reportedly obtaining new video evidence.
More on Crimesider
June 1, 2010 - Daniel Wozniak accused of double murder; beheaded one victim and scattered remains, say cops

Severity of PTSD Directly Proportionate to Marriage Problems

Partners of Veterans with PTSD: Research Findings

Search PTSD Site

Search PILOTS, the largest citation database on PTSD.

Jennifer L. Price, PhD & Susan P. Stevens, PsyD

Introduction

A number of studies have found that veterans' PTSD symptoms can negatively impact family relationships and that family relationships may exacerbate or ameliorate a veteran's PTSD and comorbid conditions. This fact sheet provides information about the common problems experienced in relationships in which one (or both) of the partners has PTSD. This sheet also provides recommendations for how one can cope with these difficulties. The majority of this research involved female partners (typically wives) of male veterans; however, there is much clinical and anecdotal evidence to suggest that these problems also exist for couples where the identified PTSD patient is female.

What are common problems in relationships with PTSD-diagnosed veterans?

Research that has examined the effect of PTSD on intimate relationships reveals severe and pervasive negative effects on marital adjustment, general family functioning, and the mental health of partners. These negative effects result in such problems as compromised parenting, family violence, divorce, sexual problems, aggression, and caregiver burden. (1,2,3,4,5)

Marital adjustment and divorce rates

Male veterans with PTSD are more likely to report marital or relationship problems, higher levels of parenting problems, and generally poorer family adjustment than veterans without PTSD. (2,6,7) Research has shown that veterans with PTSD are less self-disclosing and expressive with their partners than veterans without PTSD. (8) PTSD veterans and their wives have also reported a greater sense of anxiety around intimacy. (7) Sexual dysfunction also tends to be higher in combat veterans with PTSD than in veterans without PTSD. (9) It has been posited that diminished sexual interest contributes to decreased couple satisfaction and adjustment. (10)
Related to impaired relationship functioning, a high rate of separation and divorce exists in the veteran population (those with PTSD and those without PTSD). Approximately 38% of Vietnam veteran marriages failed within six months of the veteran's return from Southeast Asia. (11) The overall divorce rate among Vietnam veterans is significantly higher than for the general population, and rates of divorce are even higher for veterans with PTSD. The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) found that both male and female veterans without PTSD tended to have longer-lasting relationships with their partners than their counterparts with PTSD. (3) Rates of divorce for veterans with PTSD were two times greater than for veterans without PTSD. Moreover, veterans with PTSD were three times more likely than veterans without PTSD to divorce two or more times.

Interpersonal violence

Studies have found that, in addition to more general relationship problems, families of veterans with PTSD have more family violence, more physical and verbal aggression, and more instances of violence against a partner. (12,2,3) In these studies, female partners of veterans with PTSD also self-reported higher rates of perpetrating family violence than did the partners of veterans without PTSD. In fact, these female partners of veterans with PTSD reported perpetrating more acts of family violence during the previous year than did their partner veteran with PTSD. (2)
Similarly, Byrne and Riggs (12) found that 42% of the 50 Vietnam veterans in their study had engaged in at least one act of violence against their partner during the preceding year, and 92% had committed at least one act of verbal aggression in the preceding year. The severity of the veteran's PTSD symptoms was directly related to the severity of relationship problems and physical and verbal aggression against the partner.

Mental health of partners

PTSD can also affect the mental health and life satisfaction of a veteran's partner. Numerous studies have found that partners of veterans with PTSD or other combat stress reactions have a greater likelihood of developing their own mental health problems compared to partners of veterans without these stress reactions. (10) For example, wives of Israeli veterans with PTSD have been found to report more mental health symptoms and more impaired and unsatisfying social relations compared to wives of veterans without PTSD. (5) In at least two studies, including the NVVRS study noted above, partners of Vietnam veterans with PTSD reported lower levels of happiness, markedly reduced satisfaction in their lives, and more demoralization compared to partners of Vietnam veterans not diagnosed with PTSD. (2) About half of the partners of veterans with PTSD indicated that they had felt "on the verge of a nervous breakdown". In addition, male partners of female Vietnam veterans with PTSD reported poorer subjective well being and more social isolation than partners of female veterans without PTSD.
Nelson and Wright (13) indicate that partners of PTSD-diagnosed veterans often describe difficulty coping with their partner's PTSD symptoms, describe stress because their needs are unmet, and describe experiences of physical and emotional violence. These difficulties may be explained as secondary traumatization, which is the indirect impact of trauma on those in close contact with victims. Alternatively, the partner's mental health symptoms may be a result of his or her own experiences of trauma, related to living with a veteran with PTSD (e.g., increased risk of domestic violence) or related to a prior trauma.

Caregiver burden

Limited empirical research exists that details the specific relationship challenges that couples must face when one of the partners has PTSD. However, clinical reports indicate that significant others are presented with a wide variety of challenges related to their veteran partner's PTSD. Wives of PTSD-diagnosed veterans tend to assume greater responsibility for household tasks (e.g., finances, time management, house up-keep) and the maintenance of relationships (e.g., children, extended family). (13, 14) Partners feel compelled to care for the veteran and to attend closely to the veteran's problems. Partners are keenly aware of cues that precipitate symptoms of PTSD, and partners take an active role in managing and minimizing the effects of these precipitants. Caregiver burden is one construct used to categorize the types of difficulties associated with caring for someone with a chronic illness, such as PTSD. Caregiver burden includes the objective difficulties of this work (e.g., financial strain) as well as the subjective problems associated with caregiver demands (e.g., emotional strain).
Beckham, Lytle, and Feldman (15) examined the relationship between PTSD severity and the experience of caregiver burden in female partners of Vietnam veterans with PTSD. As expected, high levels of caregiver burden included psychological distress, dysphoria, and anxiety. More recently, Calhoun, Beckham, and Bosworth (1) expanded this understanding of caregiver burden among partners of veterans with PTSD by including a comparison group of partners of help-seeking veterans who do not have PTSD. They reported that partners of veterans with PTSD experienced greater burden and had poorer psychological adjustment than partners of veterans without PTSD. Across both studies, caregiver burden increased with PTSD symptom severity. That is, the worse the veteran's PTSD symptoms, the more severe the caregiver burden.

Why are these problems so common?

Because of the dearth of research that examines the connection between PTSD symptoms and intimate-relationship problems, it is difficult to discern the exact correspondence between them. (7,16) Some symptoms, like anger, irritability, and emotional numbing, may be direct pathways to relationship dissatisfaction. For example, a veteran who cannot feel love or happiness (emotional numbing) may have difficulty feeling lovingly toward a spouse. Alternatively, the relationship discord itself may facilitate the development or exacerbate the course of PTSD. Perhaps the lack of communication, or combative communication, in discordant relationships impedes self-disclosure and the emotional processing of traumatic material, which leads to the onset or maintenance of PTSD.
Riggs, Byrne, Weathers, and Litz (7) did examine the connection between PTSD symptom clusters and the relationship condition. The study examined the connection between the cluster of avoidance symptoms and the decreased ability of the person diagnosed with PTSD to express emotion in the relationship. The results of the study suggest that avoidance symptoms, specifically emotional numbing, interfere with intimacy (for which the expression of emotions is required) and contribute to problems in building and maintaining positive intimate relationships.

What are the treatment options for partners of veterans with PTSD?

The first step for partners of veterans with PTSD is to gain a better understanding of PTSD and the impact on families by gathering information. Resources on the National Center for PTSD website may be useful.
With regard to specific treatment strategies, Nelson and Wright (13) suggest, 'effective treatment should involve family psychoeducation, support groups for both partners and veterans, concurrent individual treatment, and couple or family therapy' (p. 462). Psychoeducational groups teach coping strategies and educate veterans and their partners about the effects of trauma on individuals and families. Often these groups function as self-help support groups for partners of veterans. Preliminary research offers encouragement for the use of group treatment for female partners of Vietnam veterans. 17, 18) Individual therapy for both the veteran and his or her partner is an important treatment component, especially when PTSD symptoms are prominent in both individuals. Couples or family therapy may also be highly effective treatment for individuals' symptoms and problems within the family system. Several researchers have begun exploring the benefits of family or couples therapy for both the veteran and other family members. (14, 19, 20) In light of the recent research on the negative impact of PTSD on families, Veterans Affairs PTSD programs and Vet Centers across the country are beginning to offer group, couples, and individual programs for families of veterans.
Overall, it seems that the most important message for partners is that relationship difficulties and social and emotional struggles are common when living with a traumatized veteran. The treatment options listed above are but a few of the available approaches that partners may find useful in their search for improved family relationships and mental health.

Alcohol, drug abuse the dirty secret of returning Afghan veterans

By Alex Roslin, Postmedia News February 27, 2012

Sheila and Shaun Fynes, parents of Cpl. Stuart Langridge.

Photograph by: Handout , Handout

Stuart Langridge was a poster boy for the Canadian military. The triathlete served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, where he won two commander's coins.
He was rated as a "superb" soldier in performance reviews and was fast-tracked for promotion, according to his father, Shaun Fynes.
But after returning to Canada, the corporal fell into a spiral of post-traumatic stress, heavy drinking and cocaine use. He hanged himself at CFB Edmonton in 2008.
Today, Langridge is a poster boy for the Canadian military's seeming indifference to the many men and women in uniform who struggle with the trauma of war, said Fynes, who lives in Victoria.
"They just pushed him right over the edge. After Stuart died, everyone ran for cover," Fynes said.
Despite six suicide attempts, the military didn't offer Langridge adequate treatment, he said.
And when he checked himself into rehab for substance abuse, the military ordered him to leave before the treatment was finished. Ten days later, Langridge was dead.
"We gave them a whole person, and they gave us back a dead son," said Sheila Fynes, Stuart's mother.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, both expressed partial apologies to the Fynes family in 2010 — though Natynczyk defended the care Langridge received.
The Military Police Complaints Commission will start a hearing into the case in February.
Langridge's story is an example of a growing problem among Afghan War veterans: substance abuse caused by post-traumatic stress.
Many soldiers with PTSD are turning to substance abuse because of the lack of treatment options.
The Canadian military has long underestimated the extent of the problem, according to critics, and has been slow to offer adequate treatment for traumatized soldiers with substance abuse issues.
Just one in three Afghan War veterans with major substance-misuse symptoms was getting treatment, according to a 2010 Canadian Forces survey.
"The resources in place have been overwhelmed," Shaun Fynes said.
His wife Sheila agreed. "There are so many families with problems similar to ours."
***
Tim Laidler served as a soldier in Afghanistan in 2008. Like Langridge, he struggled with post-traumatic stress on his return and started drinking heavily. "It numbs the pain. We call it self-medication," he said.
It wasn't until Laidler attended a session of the Veterans Transition Program, a University of British Columbia-based program that offers group therapy to soldiers coping with trauma, that he realized he had operational stress injury. (OSI is a broad category that includes PTSD, milder anxiety disorder and depression.)
"The overwhelming majority (of the program's clients) have said they used alcohol to self-medicate," he said.
The UBC program is one of the few to offer group therapy to soldiers anywhere in Canada and to address substance abuse issues.
Due to the heavy demand, Laidler is now working to turn the program into a nationwide non-profit, with similar group therapy offered to soldiers in Halifax, Edmonton and central Canada. The number of spots in Vancouver will also be doubled.
The program gets no money from the Defence Department. It has applied for funds from the military but has yet to hear back.
But even if the expansion goes ahead as planned, the program will only be able to accommodate about 100 soldiers per year.
That appears to be a drop in the bucket compared to the need. The actual rate of drug use in the military is unknown because soldiers are reluctant to admit using due to possible legal and career repercussions.
Only 2.4 per cent of Canadian troops who served in Kandahar had been diagnosed with substance abuse disorder, according to a Canadian Forces study released last November.
Laidler said that number severely under-represents the problem. It takes into account only active soldiers who access Canadian Forces mental health services and were diagnosed with a disorder. Not counted are ex-soldiers and those whose substance problems don't qualify as a "disorder."
Also, many soldiers wouldn't risk coming forward in the first place. "There is a huge incentive to hide any issues as being flagged with an addiction is a career-stopper," Laidler said.
Another Canadian Forces survey in 2009 found that one in six soldiers admitted to using drugs in the previous 12 months.
Also, one in four Canadian army soldiers said they had worked with troops known to be taking illegal drugs in the past year, the survey found. And of soldiers age 18 to 29, one in three said the same thing.
Heavy drinking was an especially big issue. One in two male Canadian Forces members and 30 per cent of women reported drinking more than the recommended maximum of two drinks a day, the survey found. (That's higher than the rates in the Canadian population — 20 per cent for men and 8 per cent for women.)
The military occasionally does random drug tests in an effort to fight substance use. But Shaun Fynes said soldiers know about them beforehand and have time to stop using drugs to let them leave their system.
"It was all a big joke. When the drug tests come in, it was supposed to be a big secret, but the nature of the military is that everyone knows," he said.
Shaun Fynes believes his son would be alive if the military had given him better care. "He was self-medicating because he wasn't getting proper treatment," he said.
"The soldiers are just not getting the help they deserve."
Special to Montreal Gazette

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

January 11, 2010 7:36 PM

Suicide Rate of Young Veterans Soars

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(CBS/AP)  The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who've left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday.

CBS News first revealed that young veterans in their early 20's were killing themselves at an unusually high rate back in late 2007. Using never-before-seen 2004 and 2005 data, CBS News discovered that the rate of suicide among young veterans was an estimated two to four times higher than any other age group.

The new preliminary data released by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows the suicide rate went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007. It's assumed that most of the veterans in this age group served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

If there is a bright spot in the data, it's that in 2007 veterans in the group who used VA health care were less likely to commit suicide than those who did not. That's a change from 2005.

The military in recent years has struggled as well with an increase in suicides, with the Army seeing a record number last year. While the military frequently releases such data, it has been more difficult to track suicide information on veterans once they've left active duty.

The VA calculated the numbers using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers from 16 states. In 2005, the rate per 100,000 veterans among men ages 18-29 was 44.99, compared with 56.77 in 2007, the VA said. It did not release data for other population groups.

The VA and the military have sought to more aggressively tackle the problem in recent years with measures ranging from a suicide hot line to educational campaigns.

At a conference on Monday in Washington dedicated to addressing the issue, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency needs to do a better job understanding what led to each suicide. He said he'd also like to see more stringent protocol put into place at VA facilities about how to handle a potentially suicide veteran, similar to what's done with someone who's having a heart attack.

He noted that of the 30,000 suicides each year in America, about 20 percent are committed by veterans.

War Vet Arrested in Ala., Tenn. Officer Shootings

 

November 30, 2011

Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. -- An Iraq war veteran shot an Alabama deputy sheriff in the face during a police stop minutes after a convenience store robbery late Monday, and then led police on a chase into Tennessee, where an officer was wounded during a shootout with the suspect, authorities said Tuesday.
Joseph Scott Shriver, 23, who gave a Lincoln County, Tenn., address but also had a Texas driver's license, was charged in Tennessee with two counts of attempted murder, evading arrest and possession of a firearm. He has a total bond of $1.6 million.
Madison County, Ala., District Attorney Rob Broussard said Shriver is likely to face attempted murder and assault charges there, according to The Huntsville Times.
Shriver served in the Army from 2008 until last April and was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, according to the U.S. Army. The former infantryman deployed to Iraq from November 2009 to August 2010. An Army human resources spokesman declined to disclose details of his separation from the service.

In Alabama, Madison County Deputy Brent Beavers remained Tuesday at Huntsville Hospital following surgery and was expected to recover. In Tennessee, Fayetteville police officer Justin Raby was treated and released at a local hospital for injuries from shrapnel and glass during the second shooting.

Madison County, Ala., Sheriff Blake Dorning said in a news conference that the spree began around 11:30 p.m. CST Monday when a convenience store was robbed northeast of Huntsville, Ala.
A short time later, Beavers spotted a vehicle matching the robbery description and pulled over the driver. Dorning said the driver got out and fired multiple rounds at the deputy's car, striking him in the face.
In a news briefing, Dorning also said a vehicle of the same description was spotted by a Lincoln County deputy, but he lost sight of it.
Lt. Joel Massey, who is in charge of investigations at the Fayetteville Police Department in Tennessee, said Raby and Sgt. Johnny Simmons spotted the suspect in the western part of the county early Tuesday and tried to pull him over. The suspect shot at the two officers, striking their police car several times, authorities said.
Massey said Raby dived into the car to avoid being shot and was injured by glass and shrapnel. Both officers were wearing bulletproof vests. Massey said Simmons returned fire at the suspect, who was armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.
Massey said the suspect drove away, but went off the road into a field and got stuck in the mud. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.
"Everybody is very lucky," Massey said of the shootings.

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Iraq War Veterans Arrested While Attempting to Deliver Questions to Obama and McCain

Iraq War Veterans Arrested While Attempting to Deliver Questions to Obama and McCain

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions to the candidates. IVAW had requested permission from debate moderator Bob Schieffer to ask their questions during the debate, but received no response.

The contingent of veterans in dress and combat uniforms attempted to enter the building where the debate was to be held in order to ask questions about poor veterans’ healthcare and supporting war resisters of the candidates, but were turned back by police. IVAW members at the front of the formation were immediately arrested, and others were pushed back into the crowd by police on horseback. Several members were injured, including former Army Sergeant Nick Morgan who suffered a broken cheekbone when he was trampled by police horses before being arrested.

"Neither of the candidates has shown real support for service members and veterans. We came here to try and have serious questions answered, questions that we as veterans of the Iraq war have a right to ask, but instead we were arrested. We will continue to ask these questions no matter who is elected. We believe that the time has come to end this war and bring our troops home, and we will be pushing for that no matter what happens in this election." said Jason Lemieux, a former Sergeant in the US Marine Corps who served three tours in Iraq, and member of IVAW.

A total of ten veterans were arrested during the action, including Matthis Chiroux (Army Sergeant), Kristofer Goldsmith (Army Sergeant), Adam Kokesh (Marine Sergeant), Mike Spinnato (Marine Sergeant), Geoff Millard (Army Sergeant), Marlisa Grogan (Marine Captain), Nathan Peld (Navy, 1998-2004), Nick Morgan (Army Sergeant), James Gilligan (Marine Corps, 6 years) and Jose Vasquez (Army & Army Reserves, 1992-2007).

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