Chris Kyle Final Text: ‘This Dude Is Straight Up Nuts, Watch My Six’
Chris Kyle’s eerie final text message was revealed in court yesterday during the trial of his accused killer, Eddie Ray Routh. The former Marine, allegedly suffering from PTSD, is also accused of murdering Kyle’s friend, Chad Littlefield.
“This dude is straight-up nuts. He’s right behind me. Watch my six,” American Sniper Chris Kyle texted to Chad Littlefield, who was seated next to him inside the truck as the trio drove to a Texas gun range.
Did the renowned Navy SEAL sniper have a sense that his trip to the Rough Creek Lodge could be his last?
Eddie Routh, 27, allegedly shot and killed Chris Kyle and Littlefield a short time after the man who inspired American Sniper and his friend arrived at the gun range. Opening arguments in Routh’s murder trial began Wednesday in Erath County, Texas, where the two men were found dead on February 2, 2013. Taya Kyle clutched her husband’s dogtags as tears escaped her eyes while on the witness stand.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Chris Kyle was attempting to help Eddie Ray Routh cope with PTSD at the time of the double shooting at a Texas gun range. Routh’s attorneys requested a change of venue in the murder case, claiming that the popularity of American Sniper will make it extremely difficult to select an impartial jury for the Eddie Ray Routh trial. The change of venue in the Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield murder trial was denied.
American Sniper was not only an unprecedented January box office hit, it is the most profitable and popular war movie ever released in the United States. Eddie Ray Routh was a small arms technician in Iraq before leaving the Marines in 2010. Approximately 800 people were reportedly named to the Chris Kyle murder trial jury pool.
Eddie Routh was “in and out” of Veterans Affairs clinics for PTSD treatment since 2011, according to his mother, Jodi Routh. Routh also said that her son had not shown any signs of improvement and his erratic actions spiraled out of control.
The Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle murder trial will reportedly focus significantly on Eddie Routh’s history of mental illness and military background. Routh’s defense attorney stated in court on Wednesday that his client had been diagnosed with a host of conditions, including paranoia, psychosis, schizophrenia, and PTSD. The defense will reportedly argue that Routh is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Routh had undergone psychiatric treatment at both the Green Oaks Hospital and the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Dallas, according to his attorney. Just a few weeks before the Chris Kyle murder, it was reportedly determined that Eddie Ray Routh could pose a danger to others, but the VA hospital gave him a prescription for anti-psychotic medicine and released him anyway.
Before stealing Chris Kyle’s truck and fleeing the scene, Eddie Routh allegedly used two guns to do the killing and stopped to reload the weapons.
[Image by Brandon Wade/Getty Images]
