Pennsylvania grandmother befriends wife of PTSD vet charged in slayings

Novebmber 25, 2009
The Charleston Gazette
By the Associated Press

"They are linked by tragedy, but also by a shared conviction that the military does an excellent job of keeping troops alive during combat, but not so well at keeping them healthy afterward."

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. -- When the envelope arrived, Windy Horner was talking with her husband, Nick -- Windy on a cell phone, Nick in the Blair County jail.

Windy did not recognize the return address. She feared hate mail; her husband is charged with killing two men and robbing a sandwich shop, and she blames his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq, but others do not agree.

"Just because horner went to iraq,'' read one reader comment on a newspaper Web site, "doesnt mean he shouldnt get what he deserves!!!!!!!''

Now, she wondered: Should she open the envelope? Go ahead, Nick said.

The note was from a complete stranger, a woman named Laurie Claar. It was written on a card decorated with a rainbow and flowers, bearing the message, "Caring Thoughts Are With You.''

"I'm not sure what to say to you all except I understand and you all are in my prayers,'' Claar wrote. "And I don't think bad of Nick as he needs help to deal with PTSD.'

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