On Suicide Watch, Campos Kills Himself

Petty Officer Jonathan Campos, charged with killing and burning the body of August Provost during an arson attack at Camp Pendleton, was found dead in the base's brig. Campos had apparently asphyxiated himself by ingesting toilet paper.

Campos was on a suicide watch, and the few items in his cell included toilet paper and a “suicide-proof” blanket. He was checked on just before midnight last Friday and determined to be in "satisfactory condition,” but less than half-an-hour later he was found to be unresponsive. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

Provost's friends and family, as well as many in the gay community, believe his murder to be an anti-gay hate crime, feeling that Provost was murdered because of his sexual orientation, but the Navy has said there was no evidence of a hate crime.

Jonathan Campos shot August Provost several times, then set fire to a guard shack with Provost's body inside. Campos was also accused of breaking into the off-base home of a fellow service member and stealing several items, including the .45-caliber pistol he used to kill Provost; in addition, he was charged with with soliciting a civilian to kill another sailor the day after Provost was killed.

News of Campos' apparent suicide came as a shock to Provost's family and made them further question the security of San Diego's military bases.

Needless to say, Campos' suicide has raised more questions about base security.

Rose Roy, August Provost's aunt: “Our family is very unhappy about this. There's a glitch in the system. If my nephew is killed on a base that's supposed to be secure and (Campos) killed himself in a military jail on suicide watch, we just don't understand how any of these situations can happen.”

Neither do I. How can we expect these men and women to protect us, when we can't even protect them?