Suicide followed weeks of turmoil

Suicide followed weeks of turmoil
Police reports detail Hamrick's final days
Written by Lou Whitimre News Journal
Mar. 30, 2012

MANSFIELD -- Military services were conducted Thursday for Russell Hamrick, the same day charges were filed against a man accused of stealing his wallet and credit cards. Police reports also detail repeated complaints by Hamrick in the weeks before his death. Hamrick, 48, died in a 30-foot plunge from a bridge to Richland B and O Trail on March 22.

Richland County Coroner Dr. Stewart Ryckman ruled the death a suicide.

The Mansfield man attempted suicide on at least two other occasions, in 2010 and 2011, police say.

Hamrick reported a variety of complaints to police in the last two weeks of his life, including theft, assault, being threatened at knifepoint and being burned with cigarettes.

Relatives believe Hamrick was tortured and pushed to the edge figuratively, if not literally, according to Randy Hamrick, Russell's brother. Hamrick served 10 years in the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard. Military services were conducted by the Richland County Joint Veterans Burial Squad. Only hours earlier, Mansfield police arrested Kevin Davis, 20, of 140 Wood St., on a felony warrant citing forgery charges stemming from purchases made with Hamrick's credit cards. read more here