Man commits suicide at Hermitage hotel

This all could have been avoided. The wife was never in any danger. The fight was with the brother-in-law. The wife then goes and takes the most important thing away, his son. She files a restraining order and does not even allow him to just have a little time with his son on Christmas day. Between the heartless wife, brother-in-law, and the ineptitude of the local law inforcement, this man never had a chance. Depression is bad enough for most, to add intentional pain is inexcusable.

How sad to blame the wife. Obviously this man had problems and has probably had them for years.These things usually don't happen overnight.Maybe his family should have seen the signs and gotten him some help before it escalated to the point of needing an order of protection. He must have been a very selfish person. Suicide is the ultimate selfish act. He surely didn't think of his son when he took his own life.Thankfully he didn't take anyone elses. My prayers go out to his wife and son.

How sad to blame the wife? You obviously never met this woman. This man went above and beyond to help this woman and her family. Mr. Diamond was not a wealthy man yet took a considerable amount of his savings to help his wife's mother out, along with allowing her loser brother to stay with them. This man had a heart of gold, he would help anyone out that needed it. If the wife couldn't see the so called "problems" how in the world is the family supposed to see it from where they are. Selfish, you want to talk about selfish? How about the fact that all this man wanted to do is give his son a Christmas gift and instead of letting him the wife calls the cops on him. I'm telling you, the wife overreacted (big surprise), Mr. Diamond would never intetionally harm his wife. Mr.Diamond loved his wife & son so much that the thought of living without them unfortunately caused a horrible decision. If I had a problem, my wife would stand by my side, not choose to throw me out, cut my child out of my life, & side by her brother. What the wife did was selfish, all the man needed was support from her, instead she will have to live with the fact that she was the only one with the power to save him & instead she turned her back on him. As far as prayers go, there will be one said for the son.

To whomever Heartsick is get your facts straight "SELFISH". Here is a man who put everybodys wants and needs before his own. Commenting about feeling sorry for his wife I don't. The only ones I feel sorry for are for his son and unborn daughter that will never have the opportunity to meet her wonderful father. This woman and her family are the reason this man is dead. No matter how much this man did for her, it was never good enough. The reason this guy moved to PA was to get away from her mentally disturbed mother and make a better life for her and their son. All of his friends including myself told him there was something wrong with this girl and her family. Her brother who was unemployed and homeless was taken in by this guy against all of his friends advice and when it came time to move him. The only people there to help was his mother and friends. While the so called poor, innocent wife and brother sat on their worthless butts and watched everybody else load up the truck and trailer while they ate sandwiches and crackers that they fixed for themselves. Talk about selfish I guess no one else gets hungry while working all day. Here is a woman who before meeting Jeff never really kept in contact with her brother or even had a decent relationship with her mother. Now all of a sudden on this guys dime she is now the worlds greatest daughter and sister. Also not to mention the brother could not stand his own mother. But let me guess, now all three have a beautiful home to live in and money in the bank, thanks to Jeff. This is the thanks he gets for taking care of his wife and her unstable family. But getting back to the main topic here is a man who was put in jail by his wife for fighting with her brother for making false accusations about Jeff and his neighbors. So who is the selfish one now ? The way I see it, if jeff wouldn't have taken in her worthless brother this would never have happened. Another thing that is bothering me is here is a woman that is so terrified for her life from her husband that she does not answer her cellphone or home phone but yet she feels comfortable enough to stay in their home alone which is several miles out of town. All Jeff wanted to do was see his son on Christmas and give him his train set he had bought him and tell him Papa loved him. I feel had the wife answered the phone and let Jeff speak to his son instead of ignoring his calls there would have been a positive outcome to this situation. I know personally as a father of four I would not want to be kept away from my children especially on Christmas day. As far as prayers going out the only ones I pray for are for Jeffs son and unborn daughter. I also pray that God will forgive Jeff for his sad and weak decision he made.

It sounds to me like a few people are feeling a bit guilty that they weren't there for this poor demented man. It is easier to place blame on the wife than to accept the fact that maybe one of you could have helped stop this tragedy. Like I said, these problems don't manifest overnight. Suicide is the ultimate passive agressive behavior."I'll fix them. I'll kill myself and then they will be sorry!" Easier to do that than admit that you need help. How tragic. I am not saying that the wife didn't need some help also.It is like living with an alcoholic. You need to get them help as well as figure out what you are doing to enable them. This man definitely had plenty of people enabling him to wallow in his own self pity. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on all of you. AND....God will forgive him for his "weak and sad decision". He is an almighty and compassionate God. It sounds like Jeff already lived his own personal hell and though he lost the battle, he fought his demons. May he find peace and may all of you finger pointers try to do his memory justice and help his poor wife and children. Think of how Jeff would want you to help them through this. If he was as kind and giving man as you say he would want that!

Mental illness (bi-polar, depression, etc.) is a terrible thing, especially the one living it and people who love them but are powerless to heal it. It is so sad, no one is to blame and negative comments are not helpful.

We can all support our loved ones and others who suffer from this disease by getting them help.

Heartsick, are you a friend, family or the wife herself? If not, you have no idea what the life of Jeff was like. This man moved thousands of miles away from friends and family in order to appease his wife. I have known Jeff for 23 years, and have never heard or seen him ever in this state of mind. What I do know is that the wife was the only person in the entire state of P.A. that he had & she washed her hands of him within a matter of days. If this was a gradual spiral why didn't the wife call friends or family to seek help for him? I'll stick to the fact. The fact is the wife throughout this horrible situation starting over the weekend never called the friends or family to say Jeff needed help, was in trouble, or needed support. Friends & family were in the dark, just as the wife wanted it. I'm not saying that what Jeff had done was all the wife's fault, but she made the decision for Jeff much easier in his mind when she "TURNED HER BACK ON HIM", and "TOOK HIS SON AWAY FROM HIM ON CHRISTMAS DAY" maybe permanently. Heartsick, do you have a son?,daughter? both? What state of mind would you be in if someone wouldn't let you see your son/daughter? Not a justification but a realization that this man's wife might not have kicked him down this path, but a fairly good nudge was good enough.

Heartsick? Ironic name for someone who is awfully one sided on a tragic internet article? Wouldn't you think anyone who jumps on the world wide web and writes negativley about another persons life struggles is more in the neighborhood of "Heart-Less". Anyone can write opinions on the internet, but kicking one's family and friends when they're down and already hurting enough doesn't say much about ones heart, character, integrity or education...But it's what your entitled to, I guess, if that's what you need to do to fill that empty feeling inside that so called HEART!!!! So get your facts straight before you write or attempt to critizize anyone or anything on the internet because an analogy between alcoholism and this situation doesn't coinside between an addiction issue and someone's personal struggles unless you recieved your Ph.D in Psychology from the inside of a cracker jack box at an AA meeting. Otherwise keep those comments/opinoins/attempted thought processes to yourself. And as far as prayers go owe Heartsick one, pray for yourself because last time I checked you didn't walk on water, and the one who did is not technically thumbs up with internet bashing of ones who will always be loved and never forgotten!!!

I have a lot to say so this will be a 2 part posting.

Part1

I would be remiss if I didn’t attempt to set the record straight for all people putting their opinions and emotional responses in this blog which is continuing the pain for all of his friends and family. While this is a long response it is all needed to be said and I hope it will help others to begin the healing process as it is doing for me.
First, Jeff was a good father, a good friend (the best I ever had) and he really tried hard to be a good husband. I watched him over the past several years do things that were very kind, gentle and good but, I also watched him do things that were very mean, wrong and unjust to his wife and her family. I tried so hard, over the last few years, to help him get to the point where I think he tried so hard to get to in his life. He always told me that he wanted to be a good father and husband (because he wanted to be better than the way his father treated his family when Jeff was a child). But, he also said he wanted to be a free spirit travelling the train lines ending up where ever it took him. Due to this internal struggle he couldn’t get to where he wanted to be in his life. I tried so hard to help him with this but, obviously I failed.
While I whole heartedly agree that Jeff tried to be a good man, I also watched him fight with his wife and always say she was the cause of the fight. While she did cause some of the fights, he also caused some of them by refusing to compromise with her and refused to accept responsibility for his short comings. For example, when she wanted to spend $10 on maternity clothes for which he became upset over however, he sent $700 on a chainsaw that was really unnecessary to spend that kind of money on when he had a 2nd child on the way and money was tight.
By no means am I saying his wife was not responsible for some of the problems in the marriage and it takes two to cause problems in a relationship. For example, she did waste money on things like $100 haircuts, not understanding that he wanted alone time or when he became frustrated when arguing she continued to push him. She would also not let things go when they had arguments until she got an answer, which caused the problem to, at times, to continue for several days. This would frustrate Jeff and I could understand that because it would frustrate me as well. She is not the witch you are making her out to be. She is a kind and gentle woman that did love her husband and family. She did try to get Jeff help several times but, he was resistant to it. I saw them together every day for the last 2 years and like all marriages they had their ups and downs but, she was a supportive wife and a good mother to their children. She is also hurting very deeply and attacking her is very unfair as you were not here and were not privy to their day-to-day life as I.

The events that took place prior to this were terrifying to her and traumatic. The reason why the P.F.A. was initiated was for the safety of her and their children. It was only a 30 day temporary injunction that she would have broken in a heartbeat if she knew what extreme measures Jeff would have gone to No one ever saw Jeff behave this way and we were all frightened by him. You were not here to see what happened so you really have no right or cause to comment. I was here and I saw the unbelievable look in his eyes after the assault occurred to her brother. I also was with him when he expressed concern and remorse for hurting his wife but, had no remorse for her brother. If any of you were here and saw his irrational behavior you would have also done the same thing that she did to guarantee the immediate safety of her family and their children. Her love for Jeff was honest and sincere and for any of you to question that is erroneous and counterproductive to the healing process for her. You have to realize that the Jeff that he was presenting to his biological family and friends in CA was not the Jeff that was presented to his family and friends in PA. Who we saw was the typical happy caring Jeff. While to his biological family he presented a troubled Jeff. I have no idea why he would do this other than to hide his problems from the people that would have been able to see it and intervene. Also remember that while he may have been hurting he did leave her to raise their children without a father. Imagine for a moment what it is like for her to try and explain to their son where papa is and why his isn’t coming home. Blaming her is spurious and shows ignorance of the true situation that occurred.

Part 3 of my comment...

Again, I want to reiterate that I will miss Jeff (my best friend) more than any of you could possibly know. If I were to tell you why, you would understand why I owe him everything and what I am saying is purely the facts without the bias that you all are expressing in your replies. I will say that you are all partially right and partially wrong and are entitled to your opinions. I think it is very wrong to blame his wife and friends in PA solely for not seeing the depression and deep mental instability that he had or causing his demise by abandoning him and not caring for him. I had numerous conversations with him over the years and based on them, I believe his mental instability started when his father left his family when he was a child and it continued to deepen over the years to the point where death was much less painful than life. While none of us are at fault for his death, we are all partially guilty of not seeing how deeply hurt he was and how deep the mental instability ran. Personally for me, I am finding it unbelievably and unbearably hard to ever forgive myself for not seeing the signs until after his death, by reliving all of our interactions. While hindsight is 20/20 real-time sight is also 20/20 if you recognize what you are seeing and accept it as the truth. You can’t help someone if they don’t want the help by hiding the problem from you. We all hide our problems for various reasons such as, refusing to believe you have a problem, not wanting to burden anyone with your problems, feeling embarrassed that you have a problem and so on.
While I am sure this useless and unhelpful finger pointing will continue, I implore all of you to please not disparage his memory and continue to hurt his grieving wife, friends and family (biological as well as through marriage) by saying so many hateful things about all parties involved.
For me, I will remember everything about Jeff, the good and the bad. I have to accept that he was a good man and that he also had demons that, when they surfaced, were hurtful and mean. I will take from him how to be a good person as well as how not to be a bad person. The good: being a good friend and helpful to others as well as not being judgmental and the bad: having an uncontrollable temper that can be hurtful as well as spiteful.
I hope that all of you will accept what I have said as factual and without personal bias driven by emotion. I will always honor his memory by passing his kindness forward by trying to help others the way he so unselfishly helped others. I will always support his wife and children because they also need the love and support of friends and family. You must remember that she is now raising two children alone and will also play the “what if” game forever, like the rest of us.

Part4 the final part...

I owe it to Jeff to look after and support his wife and children if they will let me. His brothers, sisters and mother are caring people who are grieving deeply for their brother and son. But, his family through marriage is also grieving deeply for their loss and I would ask that you please stop the hatred and start the healing process. I am sure you would all agree that Jeff would not want his children to be hurt by the barrage of negative comments from both sides. To honestly honor Jeff’s memory we must be willing to accept Jeff’s caring nature as well as his faults. We all have faults which makes us human and special.
If you want to lash out at me, so be it because it is what it is. I will not lower myself to respond to any negative or irrelevant banter as that will not help the healing process. Again you are entitled to your opinion and it will not affect me or the way I will remember and terribly miss my best friend Jeffrey S. Diamond.

Anubis, one question for you. If Jeff was such an important friend of yours why did it take almost two days to get him bailed out & why did my friend end up in what I have found out to be one of the worst motels in the area. A lot of this doesn't make sense. In C.A. there would be too many people to count that would have bailed Jeff out immediately. And I can tell you that there is no way that I would let Jeff sit alone in a ghetto motel by himself, especially on Christmas eve, & Christmas. You don't have to answer, I know it is beneath you, but for the friends and family thousands of miles away, we know that we would never have left him alone.

I see I'm not going to get my question answered, so I will add another in case you look again. Anubis, do you think Jeff would have left you in that ghetto hotel by yourself on Christmas Eve & Christmas day? NOPE, Jeff would never have done that to any of his friends. So you just keep playing the helping hand to the oh so grieving wife. Maybe you both are buying what each other are selling, I'm not.

My name is Ryan Gregory, I have been a friend of Jeff's for over 23 years. Lets get that straight because kristen had accused Jeff's family for what I had written. I expected kristen to do what she did, I never held her with much regard. kristen never showed Jeff's family the respect they deserved. But Anubis to say you were such a good friend, you didn't show it prior to and especially after Jeff's passing. I hope some day we will meet Anubis. I have heard what was done and no friend of Jeff's would have pulled the crap you did. To inventory his tools a day after the man had passed is reprehensible. After being told that another neighbor had Jeff set up to see a counselor, and in your infinite wisdom decided to go against this neighbors wishes to just dump Jeff in that roach motel, you were no friend of Jeff's. I am a firm believer that people will pay for thier actions and let me say Anubis, kristen, & scott, you all have something coming to you.

Looks like i Get the last word, 1st off I pray for every one that lost jeff. I never did get the chance to meet him. But i will tell you this, There are 2 kinds of men in this world some have everything to lose some have nothing to lose. You can only measure your love by your pain not your hate. I can not say much about Jeff, But i will Say that Kristen Is a outstanding Young lady That loved jeff very much so much That she married. So much She gave birth. All the tools are still there and the pain too. Only God can and will judge us Mr. Gregory..

First off, don't address me as though I give two craps about some comment from an anonymous poster who by the way never met Jeff. Therefore doesn't have a true grasp of the entire situation. What's done is done. Every day I think about my friend and can only hope that his children know what kind of man their father really was and are well taken care of. Beyond that is no concern of mine. So save your lectures for someone who will listen to a random, anonymous person on the internet.

A sad story from a Christmas past . The bottom line is that the despondent should not be left alone . The holidays get emotional for many and we can't begin to immagine what loads they bear . Many of us look after our friends and family to give them guidence and support . May the Spirit of Christmas decend upon those in need .