There are few details and many questions about the death of 32-year-old Sergeant Heidi Ruh. Her family in Wisconsin is looking for answers. Sergeant Ruh served in the army for 11 years and was in Kosovo after volunteering for duty there to work a medical unit.
Last Friday she was found shot to death on a running track at Camp Bondsteel. Now, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is trying to figure out what happened, and why. "Before she left she said 'Dad, I just want to see the world, I want to enjoy myself and I'm gonna be OK,' and that's the last talk I had with her at Christmas,'" said Scott Ruh, soldier's father.
Scott Ruh's daughter Heidi was OK until last Friday at the Multinational Battle Group's Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.The mother of two boys, ages 8 and 11, was found dead on a running track by a civilian army employee. It is being categorized only as a non-combat death, but there has been no public explanation offered to family members as to what led to her shooting death.
"My dad was in the Korean War and you know, (she's) 3rd generation, we're just so proud of what she's done," said Scott Ruh.
The Ruh family is from Kiehl, Wisconsin near Green Bay, but according to Army records, Heidi Ruh was living in the Chicago suburb of Barrington when she enlisted 11 years ago. She was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas for eight years and did a tour in Afghanistan. When she told family members in the Midwest last Christmas that her next adventure would be around the world in Kosovo, they were relieved.
"I wasn't as afraid as I was in 2012 when she went to Afghanistan, you know, we were thinking this was a nice base and that she'll be fine," said Scott Ruh.
"She worked in the multifunctional medical battalion, she fixed medical equipment. . . she was always bubbly, always smiling, she was never sad, she just enjoyed everything, the two boys meant everything to her," said Scott Ruh. "I'm very proud of her, I wish that I could tell her one more time that I am."
Ruh was with the first medical brigade in Kosovo, assigned to repair biomedical equipment. She had received numerous military commendations.
