Missing Oregon Mom Committed Suicide

Police say they have a "good idea of what happened."

ByABC News
August 6, 2014, 10:22 PM

— -- An Oregon mom whose body was found in a remote area after she was missing for nearly two weeks committed suicide, authorities said tonight.

Jennifer Huston killed herself by asphyxiation, the state medical examiner's office and police said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Huston's SUV was found Tuesday in a rural and remote area of Yamhill County, the Newberg-Dundee Police Department said.

Detectives and the medical examiner think the married mother of two young boys died "fairly close" to the time she was reported missing on July 25, police Capt. Jeff Kosmicki said in a statement. Detectives also found a note addressed to the woman's family, the AP reported.

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Police said nothing indicated foul play.

PHOTO: Jennifer Huston is seen in this image from the "Find Jennifer Huston" Facebook page her family set up.
Jennifer Huston is seen in this image from the "Find Jennifer Huston" Facebook page her family set up.

In a statement released through police, Huston's family said, "Our hearts ache today. We have lost our first-born child. We have lost a wife and a mother.

"We don't know what led Jennifer to this dark place and to this end and perhaps never will understand this.

"We are incredibly thankful to family, friends, community and media for their searching, supporting and getting the information out that led to locating Jennifer's car and finding Jennifer."

Van Clemmer spotted the SUV on his property on Tuesday, about one-eighth of a mile from his home.

"It's a pretty thick canopy of trees so it would be pretty difficult to see from the air," he told KATU.

Clemmer told his wife, Charlotte Clemmer, who immediately realized it was the missing mom's vehicle.

"I said, 'Was that SUV a late model 1999-2000?'" she said. "He said, 'Yep.'" I said, 'Was it dark green?'. He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'That's it.'"

Huston, 38, disappeared on July 24 after leaving to run errands. She was last seen at a gas station near Portland, Oregon. She also purchased trail mix, Gatorade and sleeping pills before she died, KATU reported.

Her family had been searching for her ever since, and her distraught husband pleaded for her return in an interview with ABC News last week.

He said he couldn't imagine his wife leaving her family of her own will. The couple had two sons, ages 2 and 6.

"She wouldn't leave all of us. She just wouldn't do this," Kallen Huston said. "Everybody who knows her agrees."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.