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Iraq war veteran left no suicide note, police say

Jesse C. Huff ‘wasn’t the same when he came back’ from Iraq, a cousin says.

Photos courtesy of Thereasa Osborne of Elm City, N.C. Infantryman Jesse Huff during a period of training in Alaska.

Photos courtesy of Thereasa Osborne of Elm City, N.C. Infantryman Jesse Huff hands out candy to a child during a patrol in Iraq in 2006.

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By Lucas Sullivan and Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writers Updated 10:44 AM Sunday, April 18, 2010

DAYTON — Authorities might never completely determine why Jesse C. Huff dressed in Army fatigues, walked to the steps of the Dayton Veterans Affairs Department’s Medical Center and shot himself to death Friday morning.

Police said they found no suicide note and knew of no ominous statements he made to employees while inside the medical center hours before his death.

Huff’s cousin, Jason Osborne, 32, of Wilson, N.C., said Friday evening that he saw Huff two months ago while visiting his grandmother in Dayton.

“He was a really good guy. He just went through a lot after he got out of the Iraq war,” Osborne said in a phone interview. “It really affected him mentally. He wasn’t the same when he came back.”

Huff entered the Army on April 15, 2003, as an infantryman and was promoted to the rank of specialist in 2005 before being discharged on June 15, 2007, an Army spokesman said. His awards and decorations included the Iraq Campaign Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and Valorous Unit Award.

Osborne recalled that Huff went to Iraq “somewhere around 2006” and was wounded when he was struck in the back by shrapnel from a roadside bomb.

When he returned home, Osborne saw a different man. Huff had become very quiet.

“He was very to himself. You can tell he saw a lot over there,” he said. “He would never open up and tell what was wrong.”

Huff did confide in Osborne’s mother, Teri, especially after his own mother died in 2008, Osborne said.

“He spoke to my mother a whole lot more, all the time,” he said.

Still coming to grips with the loss, Teri Osborne declined to speak Friday evening from her North Carolina home.

Police believe Huff walked into the medical center about 1 a.m. Friday seeking treatment, left and returned about 5:45 a.m. to the front steps of the VA center at 4100 W. Third St. He had a military-style rifle, which he used to shoot himself.

A medical center spokeswoman said Huff was a regular patient at the hospital and said his suicide was “an unfortunate incident.”

Huff’s suicide caused many veterans seeking treatment there Friday to pause and ask questions. The veterans shook their heads or talked in small groups in the parking lot near where Huff’s body was found.

“It’s a shame, but he must have needed help,” said Art Campbell of Kettering.

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