Georgia airman escaped murder scene, fought PTSD

Georgia airman escaped murder scene, fought PTSD
Air Force Times
KRISTIN DAVIS
October 16, 2013

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AP) — Jason King faced the months leading up to the capital murder trial of a fellow airman with a single-minded purpose.

The man who stabbed to death Senior Airman Andy Schliepsiek and his wife, Jamie, at their home on Robins Air Force Base, Ga., early July 5, 2004, had nearly taken King's life, too. King had to make sure the killer never hurt anyone else.

King went over his testimony so much he nearly grew numb to the harrowing details: Andy scuffling with his attacker. Jamie screaming. The searing pain of the combat knife slicing into his back again and again.

When the Air Force prosecutors set up camp in a house on base, King regularly brought them dinner. He had never seen anyone work so hard. They were dogged and meticulous as they built a death penalty case against one of their own.

But when the monthlong court-martial was over in October 2005 — when a panel of 10 officers unanimously sentenced Senior Airman Andrew Witt to die for his crimes — it was not the closure he had hoped for. His nightmare had only just begun.

Nine years later, he continues to battle post-traumatic stress disorder and the anxiety and depression that comes with it. He has fought alcoholism and drug addiction. Along the way, his marriage and his Air Force career ended.
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