{"id":365008,"date":"2010-02-25T22:43:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T03:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef01310f3c83a0970c"},"modified":"2010-02-26T10:34:32","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T15:34:32","slug":"iraq-veteran-charged-with-killing-girlfriend-found-dead-in-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/365008","title":{"rendered":"Iraq veteran charged with killing girlfriend found dead in Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?source=ig&amp;hl=en&amp;rlz=&amp;=&amp;q=%22John+Wylie+Needham%22+site%3Alatimes.com&amp;aq=f&amp;aqi=&amp;oq=\">John Wylie Needham,<\/a> an Orange County man who was a decorated Iraq combat veteran and was later charged with the murder of his girlfriend, was found dead last week in Arizona, authorities said Thursday.<a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8d5cb18970b-pi\" style=\"float: right;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Wylie Needham\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8d5cb18970b \" src=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8d5cb18970b-250wi\" style=\"margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; width: 250px;\"><\/img><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Needham, 26, was free on $1-million bail posted by his family while awaiting trial. His body was found in Pima, Ariz., about 150 miles southeast of Phoenix, the Orange County district attorney\u2019s office said. Authorities there are investigating the cause of his death. <\/p>\n<p>He was charged in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-beating3-2008sep03,0,6026971.story\">September 2008 slaying<\/a> of 19-year-old Jacqwelyn Joann Villagomez. She was found severely beaten at Needham\u2019s San Clemente condo. <\/p>\n<p>Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department deputies had responded to a complaint about an argument at the condo and found the veteran naked, authorities said. Needham had to be subdued with a Taser, according to authorities. <\/p>\n<p>After joining the Army in 2006, Needham was deployed to Iraq. He was awarded a Purple Heart for a combat injury that left with him shrapnel in his legs and back. <\/p>\n<p>The wounds caused him to be hospitalized and medicated. He suffered from nightmares and consulted with therapists. <\/p>\n<p>Those who knew Needham described him as easygoing surfer who liked to paint and play the guitar before he went to Iraq. Family members said they knew he was struggling since returning home, but didn\u2019t foresee him turning violent. <\/p>\n<p>After returning from Iraq, Needham left a post on his MySpace page talking about his troubles. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m falling apart by the seams it seems the days here bleed into each other I have to find the will to live,\u201d Needham wrote. \u201cThese walls are caving in my despair wraps me in its web, I feel I\u2019m sinking in, throw me a lifesaver throw me a life worth living.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Robert J. Lopez<\/p>\n<p>Photo: <em>John Wylie Needham&#8217;s booking photo. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Wylie Needham, an Orange County man who was a decorated Iraq combat veteran and was later charged with the murder of his girlfriend, was found dead last week in Arizona, authorities said Thursday. Needham, 26, was free on $1-million bail posted by his family while awaiting trial. His body was found in Pima, Ariz., [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4566,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}