Another Likely Soldier Suicide in Iraq

MINNEAPOLIS The local press usually covers quickly and heavily the death of any local man or woman who dies in Iraq. But in the case of Army Spc. Randy W. Pickering, who died Sunday under mysterious circumtances, this wasn't the case. He was listed by the Pentagon as coming from Bovey, Minn. but no one could quite place him near there except for a two-year period.

Then the story grew even grimmer with reports that he was likely another suicide in Iraq -- just as national news outlets were reporting that the military had confirmed a surge this year in that category.

Pickering, 31, died Sunday in Baghdad of "injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident," the Defense Department said in a news release Monday. It said his death was under investigation.

His brother, Chris Pickering, of Mason, Mich., told the Associated Press later in the week that the family expected to get the autopsy results soon. He said initial reports they got from the military is that his death might have been a suicide.

"It's very unexpected," he said. "It's very shocking to anybody who knew him. That isn't something he would do."

Pickering lived in Missouri until his mid 20s, when he moved to the Bovey area on Minnesota's Iron Range with his father, Bruce Pickering, and other family members, Chris Pickering said.

On MySpace, he described himself as "A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
E&P