Tragic Air Force Incident: Community Struggles with Grief and Questions After Killings and Suicide

Share and Follow

Editor’s Note: This article includes discussions about suicide, which some readers may find distressing. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available through the National Crisis Line website or by calling 988.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — In a tragic incident over the weekend, authorities from multiple cities and counties, along with state investigators, are diligently working to piece together the details surrounding a murder-suicide that occurred in Ohio.

The incident has sent shockwaves through the affected communities, leaving residents grappling with unanswered questions.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials have confirmed that all three individuals involved in the incident were employed at the base.

1st Lt. Jaime Gustitus, 25, worked in the 711th Human Performance Wing, part of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Mrs. Jaymee Prichard, 33, worked within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.
Mr. Jacob Prichard, 34, was also a part of the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Officials from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are actively conducting an investigation into the double murder-suicide.

Law enforcement believes Jacob Prichard killed his wife, either earlier that morning or later in the night before, and placed her body in the trunk of their car, which he drove to the municipal building.

Once parked in the lot, Jacob Prichard opened his car’s trunk so responding officers would more easily find the body of his wife. He then took his own life near the rear of the car.

WDTN file photo.

The events in the parking lot were recorded by security cameras outside the West Milton Police Division.

While the couple lived in Huber Heights, law enforcement hasn’t yet called it the scene of Jaymee Prichard’s murder.

The investigation has also revealed that before driving to the West Milton Municipal Building in Miami County, Jacob Pritchard first drove to the Greene County apartment of Jaime Gustitus.

He broke into the apartment and killed her before fleeing to West Milton, police say.

Law enforcement is working to establish the exact relationships between the Prichards and Gustitus.

Four separate law enforcement agencies – Miami County Sheriff’s Office and West Milton, Huber Heights and Sugarcreek Township police divisions – have been joined by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation as well as the Wright-Patterson Office of Special Investigations in looking into the murders.

The investigation is currently focused on the three crime scenes: the Prichards’ Huber Heights home, the West Milton parking lot and Gustitus’ apartment in Sugarcreek Township.

A neighbor of the West Milton Municipal Building said that when he left his home for work around 4 a.m. Saturday, he saw the car in the parking lot with its lights off, but couldn’t tell if there was anyone nearby or whether the trunk was open.

affiliate WDTN obtained a 911 call from a neighbor of Gustitus.

The neighbor, in distress, said she was woken up out of a dead sleep by a man pounding on her neighbor’s second-story apartment door.

“I didn’t go out on my deck. I turned my light on and I peeked my head out of the door. There was a guy on her [the neighbor’s] deck and I said hello. He said, ‘Get back in, we have a gun,’ and he jumped off the deck and ran,” said the caller.

She told 911 the glass door was shattered and that the man had jumped down from a second-story balcony. She couldn’t see which way the man went due to the darkness. She was able to view her doorbell camera and gave 911 a description of the man.

“He’s got on blue jeans,” said the caller, “White gym shoes. A black, like a T-shirt or sweat sweatshirt. He was at hers, he came over, he ran right across my front door on the main street when you come in. He was going towards Apple Branch Drive; he’s on foot.”

The caller, in tears, explained the pounding sounded like a bat, which is why it woke her up. She told 911 she didn’t know the neighbor’s name, and that she was out of town often for military work.

A second neighbor of the West Milton Municipal Building said that when he left his home for work around 4 a.m. Saturday, he saw the car in the parking lot with its lights off, but couldn’t tell if there was anyone nearby or whether the trunk was open.

Another neighbor described the moment she heard gunshots outside her home.

“I remember hearing what seemed to be a gunshot, and I didn’t think anything more about it except that someone may have run over the walnuts that are in the street,” she said. “I looked closer, you know, from my yard or from my porch. I could see that there was a vehicle in front of the city building. The trunk was popped and there was a white sheet hanging over the trunk.”