Suicide of Florida soldier recently returned from Afghanistan
leads to questions of whether she was sexually assaulted overseas
A young soldier's suicide has left stunned relatives questioning whether she was sexually assaulted while deployed in Afghanistan.
Air Force Reserve Capt. Jamie Brunette shot herself in the head near her Tampa, Fla., home almost two years after she returned from overseas, authorities said.
Upon returning home, the 30-year-old began to withdraw and seemed reluctant to talk about her deployment, her sister and a friend told the Tampa Tribune.
On Feb. 9, she was found dead inside her Chrysler 200. A Smith & Wesson .387 handgun that she?d bought six months before was near her body.
"I suspect she was assaulted and she didn't feel comfortable reporting it for some reason and internalized the incident so she could finish her deployment, which she did with flying colors," sister Jackie Leverich, 40, told the Tampa Tribune. "It's not anything she told me, just from talking with all her friends this past week and piecing those things together. I am female active duty, 18 years in the Coast Guard. I am well aware of those issues, and that's my gut feeling."
Outwardly, Brunette was nothing but a success. She appeared to be a happy soldier, even videotaping a televised 2012 holiday greeting to a Florida friend during her deployment.
She had been named Contracting Officer of the Year by the Air Mobility Command for her work overseeing nearly $80 million in security contracts in Afghanistan.
Brunette left active duty in June after 10 years and was working to open Orangetheory Fitness with a husband-and-wife team while taking on a new role in the Reserves.
Photos from January show Brunette, dressed in a hard hat, smiling during construction of the gym.
But friends and relatives had started to notice signs of trouble. When a sister was married, Brunette seemed suddenly reluctant to talk about herself.
A roommate claimed she began partying hard while dating a new boyfriend and had admitted to suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
One of her partners in the fitness club, a fellow soldier, suspected she left active duty because of a bad experience overseas.
"I do not know the detail, but unequivocally I can say, yes, something happened, something that should never happen to a human," Air Force Lt. Col. Kurt Spranger told the Tampa Tribune. "Something happened and it was why she wanted to get out. So she wouldn't have to deploy again."
Still, she seemed to be handling her problems and moving forward. Her family was shocked when they learned of her death.
"She kept it hidden," Leverich told the Tampa Tribune, adding: "Whatever happened to her, she buried it, and I think it killed her in the end."