OAK LAWN, Ill. (CBS) ― A young Army veteran was in jail Sunday accused of killing his wife just as the young couple were planning to move into a new home.
CBS 2′S Mike Puccinelli reports what police think happened.
Joseph Jesk, 23, was discharged from the armed forces just last month. But adjusting to post-war life appears to have been this young man’s biggest battle.
His family members tell police he’d been exhibiting signs of post traumatic stress disorder. Late Saturday, officials say excessive amounts of alcohol and a loaded weapon all added up to murder in the south suburb of Oak Lawn.
Police say Jesk shot his 23-year-old wife, Heather, in the face. Officers were called to the house just before 11 p.m. Saturday.
Jesk was arrested a short while later at a train station after he called 911. They arrested the Afghan War veteran without incident.
“While they were handcuffing him and putting him in the car he made a statement that he had just killed the only person he loves,” Oak Lawn Police Department Division Chief Michael Kaufmann said.
The children were not home at the time. But Joseph’s sister was. She ran to neighbor Ray Cooney’s house screaming for help. Cooney said he hadn’t slept in 30 hours because he was unable to stop thinking about the young mother who died and of the two children she was forced to leave behind.
“I don’t think anybody could ever recover from a day like last night,” Cooney said. “That’s something that will linger in your mind for probably until the end.”
His mother, Eileen, saw paramedics wheel Heather out on a gurney. Sunday, she learned that the young mom who she’d come to love didn’t make it.
“Her kids were her whole life,” she said. “For being a young girl, she was a great mother.”
Cooney said she’d hugged Joseph Jesk just hours before he allegedly shot the love of his life.
“I have to say I don’t hate him for this,” Eileen said. “I’m sorry.”
She’s especially sorry for the two young girls who now will have to grow up without a mother and very likely without a father.
It’s not exactly clear why Jesk left the armed forces. Sources say he was kicked out of the army in part due to his drinking. Police would not confirm that.
Jesk was scheduled to appear in bond court Monday morning.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services