The last time Janette Layne saw her husband Eric was January 25th.

"He would normally stay up watching TV at night because it was hard for him to sleep and I went ahead and went to bed. The next morning when I got up, I found him on the couch, he was in the same position he was in when he went to sleep and he was already gone," Layne said.

A soldier from Kanawha City, Eric Layne left behind an 18-month old son and a baby girl on the way.

Meanwhile, Logan County resident Cheryl Endicott's son Nicholas died January 29th while being treated at a military hospital in Bethesda.

He too reportedly went to bed and never woke up.

"They told me that at 10:55, they entered his room, he was non-responsive, had no pulse so they deceased him right then and there," said Endicott.

Finally, on February 12th Stan and Shirley White lost their son Andrew, another Kanawha County service member who stopped breathing in his sleep. For the Whites, it was the second son they said goodbye too. Robert White died while serving in Afghanistan.

"You're always expecting and fearing when your children are at war that they're not going to make it back. They don't come back and lie in their bed, go to sleep and die. That doesn't happen. That's not supposed to happen," Stan White said.

Each family heard about the others' tragedies and eventually compared stories.

All three men were in their 20s, served in Iraq and died in their sleep within a three-week period, but that's only the beginning of the similarities.

Each military man was being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had started exhibiting the same strange behavior and symptoms.

"Excessive weight gain, anger management disturbed sleep patterns, tremors," White said.

The young men were each taking a number of prescription drugs before they died, but the combination they all had in common includes Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel.

Their families are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests, but say the questions don't end there.

"Are these three medications -- is there any connection with the three of them? Did those three react? Or is there some foreign substance these guys picked up overseas?" said White.

The families all live within about an hour of each other, and have now banded together for support and to search collectively for answers.

They decided to share their stories to try to prevent others from experiencing the same loss.

"It was supposed to be a new beginning for us. We had plans. We had a lot to live for," said Layne.

The families of the two marines and one soldier sent a letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller's office explaining their stories and their concerns.

A representative from Rockefeller's office says the Senator is very interested in finding out more about the situation.

The families also want to make people aware of a new organization called West Virginia Friends of Veterans that intends to help other military members and their families.

The number for that organization is (304) 881-2764. You can also e-mail wvfov@yahoo.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story by Sara Gavin

Watch Story Video

Christopher Tharp recently said goodbye to two close friends and fellow veterans and no one can tell him why.

"Within a month you're going to two funerals for two of your best friends and it kinda makes you a little upset because you don't know what's going on," said Tharp. Tharp met both Eric Layne and Andrew White through a support group for veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Within about three weeks of each other, both men died unexpectedly in their sleep "My heart just dropped. I couldn't believe it," remembers Tharp.

A third veteran from West Virginia - Nicholas Endicott- was being treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital in late January when he was reportedly discovered dead in his bed.

The families of all three men are still waiting for official causes of death but have discovered multiple similarities in their stories and are searching to find a connection.

For Tharp, the unanswered questions are the hardest part.

"I'm scared to go to sleep, scared to take anything. I sit and I wonder maybe it's one of the immunizations I got that may have done it, maybe it was one of the areas over there we walked through."

Tharp is not alone. 13 News has received e-mails at the station and comments posted to our website from military families all across the country wanting to know more about what happened to these men. As a father of one with another on the way, Tharp can't help but wonder whether he could share the same fate as his friends.

"If I die tomorrow, is my family that I'm leaving behind going to be ok?"

Veterans and their families looking for help with this issue or any other can contact a number of organizations.

The group West Virginia Friends of Veterans can be reached at (304) 881-2764, (304) 746-0510 or through e-mail: wvfov@yahoo.com

Senator Jay Rockefeller has a special e-mail address for veterans: vets@rockefeller.senate.gov.

The state headquarters of Veterans of Foreign Wars is in South Charleston. They can be reached at (304) 768-7514.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story by Sara Gavin

As many as one in five military members are returning home from Iraq with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to recent statistics.

But experts admit there's still a lot they don't know about this dangerous disorder. [CG in 0'19" to 0'24":cg1-lwr3\David Clayman\Psychologist]

"What we know is when they're exposed to trauma, their brains are flooded with chemicals at levels they wouldn't have otherwise. It's so they can adapt to the stress and some people actually have the traumatic event embedded in their brains," said Dr. David Clayman, a clinical psychologist in Charleston.

Three Iraq war veterans from West Virginia all recently died mysteriously in their sleep.

Each had been diagnosed with P-T-S-D and had been prescribed a combination of drugs that included Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel. [CG in 0'46" to 0'51":cg1-lwr3\Mike O'Neil\UC School of Pharmacy]

"I'm pretty sure all three of these drugs are in the top most common prescription drugs in the country," said Mike O'Neal of the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy.

The drugs are often used to treat different symptoms associated with PTSD - Paxil for depression, Klonopin for anxiety and Seroquel for mood.

:All have been out for a long period of time and all have been found to be very safe and effective and actually there's very good data where the drugs used in combination are shown to be safe and effective as well," O'Neil said.

There is no evidence at this point that the three drugs had anything to do with the deaths of the three young veterans. Their families are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests.

In the meantime, medical professionals say PTSD is a serious condition and those that may be suffering need to seek help.

"If it's not identified, it can ruin lives," Clayman said.

Share your reaction

Some selected comments from our forum on this issue:

"It would seem to me that there should be a nation wide broadcast of this issue, unexplained death & PTSD & medications, as well as an inquiry as to traumatic brain injury and biological contamination. Did these men have problems with their endocrine system, urinary system, muscle and joint pain, reproductive system, headaches, etc? Are women at risk for this? What does the veterans Affairs have to say? Why isn't there an organization out there dedicated to combat veterans and their needs? I know the hospital system is overrun with veterans who were never in a war zone, so these guys and girls have to wait to get checked. Why are they not catering to these vets? The war has been going on since 2002/3 and our VA hospital system started their special programs 6 months ago. Are they checking these kids out in an in depth manner or the same way the Department of Defense does?"
Veteran at Large
Elkview,West Virginia

"I find this discovery shockingly similar to what we Vietnam vets experienced coming home in the 60s & 70s. Mysterious deaths and illnesses. I fervently hope our VA system can find the cause quicker, this time, and effectively address it! Radar `73-`75"
Kerry
North Adams, MI

"While I do not doubt that the medication they were taking played a part, I have to wonder if these three men had recently been given the experimental anthrax vaccination, which has been associated with some pretty bad adverse reactions. The DOD, in typical fashion, has kept a pretty tight lid on the data they have concerning this."
Troll
Moundsville, WV

React to the comments above and share your reaction