Murder-Suicide Antidepressant 25/02/2004 Oregon Man Kills Wife & Himself
 
 Summary:<br><br><!--StartFragment -->Paragraph eleven reads: &quot;<strong>Ortega-Benitez had tried to straighten himself out by taking anti-depressant medication, Sandy Ortega said, but he was overwhelmed about the failure of his marriage&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br /></strong><a href="http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D80U6NI00.html">http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D80U6NI00.html</a><br /><br /><br /><font size="5"><strong>Family blames depression in murder-suicide <br /></strong></font>02/25/2004 <br />Associated Press <br />A Springfield man who shot and killed his ex-wife and then himself was depressed over the breakup of his marriage and didn&#39;t get the help he needed, his relatives said. <br />&quot;He loved her, and there is no excuse for what he did,&quot; said Tomas Ortega-Benitez&#39;s niece, Dawn Compton of Eugene. &quot;But it was a mental depression that caused him to do this.&quot; <br />Compton said Ortega-Benitez had threatened suicide while in jail on stalking charges. She said authorities should have kept him behind bars or put him in a mental hospital. Instead, they released him because of overcrowded conditions. <br />&quot;If he had stayed in jail, perhaps then he wouldn&#39;t have been able to do this,&quot; she said Tuesday. <br />Ortega-Benitez had recently attended a court-ordered session of domestic violence treatment and felt that it &quot;really clicked&quot; for the first time, said his lawyer, Ilisa Rooke-Ley of Eugene. <br />He wanted to continue, but became upset last week at the prospect of returning to jail for violating the stalking order against him and then didn&#39;t show up for a court hearing, Rooke-Ley said. <br />Ortega-Benitez, 43, was jailed three times in the past year for violating restraining orders sought by his former wife. He was convicted of violating a stalking order in June and sentenced to six months in jail. <br />Paula Benitez&#39;s sister, Anmarie Ruiz of Salem, said her sister agreed to a lesser sentence because she thought her ex-husband would receive help. <br />&quot;He was sick and what he got was jail, &quot; she said. <br />His sister-in-law, Sandy Ortega of Eugene, said Ortega-Benitez became depressed more than five years ago after years of troubles related to his farm and forest labor contracting business. <br />His depression gave way to obsession after Paula Benitez, his wife of 28 years, left him in May, Ortega said. <br />&quot;He was a control freak,&quot; she said. &quot;He wasn&#39;t a monster. He just had a control issue sometimes. I do know he loved her, but it was as a twisted thing.&quot; <br />Ortega-Benitez had tried to straighten himself out by taking anti-depressant medication, Sandy Ortega said, but he was overwhelmed about the failure of his marriage. He also was estranged from the three children he had with Paula Benitez, she said. <br />A week ago, Ortega-Benitez ran into his former wife and her boyfriend at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles office, Ortega said. <br />&quot;He snapped,&quot; she said. <br />Ortega spoke to Ortega-Benitez by phone after he shot his ex-wife Monday. <br />She pleaded with him to surrender to police. &quot;No, I don&#39;t want to live,&quot; she recalled him saying. &quot;I&#39;m not going to come out of this alive.&quot; <br /><br /> 
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