Nothing 'suspicious' in death of Iraq veteran charged with killing girlfriend, authorities say

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 pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital near his mother’s home in Sahuarita, Ariz., authorities said Friday.

Police responded to the home just after 10 a.m. on Feb. 19 and found Needham unresponsive, said Sgt. Alex Droban of the Sahuarita Police Department. "There was nothing unusual or suspicious surrounding the death,” he said. Needham was taken in an ambulance to a local hospital.

According to Salon.com, Needham died about 10 days after back surgery at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Tucson, Ariz.

Needham, 26, was free on $1-million bail posted by his family while awaiting trial. He was charged in the September 2008 slaying of 19-year-old Jacqwelyn Joann Villagomez. She was found severely beaten at Needham’s San Clemente condo. 

Needham served in the Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry regiment. They nicknamed themselves "the Lethal Warriors" and during two tours in Iraq, confronted some of the war's cruelest fighting. Since August 2007, at least six of the veterans have been implicated in four shooting incidents and five slayings.

-- Paloma Esquivel in Orange County