'Our hearts ache today:' Oregon mother's death ruled suicide

NEWBERG, Oregon -- Jennifer Huston's death has been ruled a suicide, the Oregon State's Medical Examiner's Office announced Wednesday.

The married mother of two disappeared on July 24th. Her body was discovered about 40 yards from her SUV in a wooded area in Sheridan, Oregon.

The medical examiner said Huston's cause of death was asphyxiation and the manner of death was suicide. Toxicology reports were not available, officials said.

Investigators said an empty box of sleeping aids that she bought the night she disappeared was found at the scene, along with a receipt from the gas station in Newberg where she was last seen.

Police said they found a note addressed to family members left inside the SUV.

Her purse and other belongings were also found inside the car. Huston's cell phone has been analyzed by computer forensic detectives.

Huston's family released the following statement:

Our hearts ache today.
We have lost our first born child. We have lost a wife and a mother.
We don't know what lead 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 lead to locating Jennifer's car and finding Jennifer.
Additionally, we are grateful for the support of those who took the time share their words of encouragement and prayers on FaceBook and helped fund the extensive search efforts.
This community really came together to support this effort as so many could relate to a mother of two small children and a husband desperately looking for his wife.
We also appreciate all the efforts of the Newberg-Dundee Police Department with support from other law enforcement agencies, on our behalf to find Jennifer.
Lastly I'd like to thank the media for the viral coverage to get the message out of our search for Jennifer. We appreciated the sensitivity to our desperate search for her.
At this time we are respectfully ask for privacy from the media for Kallen, the boys and our extended family and friends.
The family will be holding a Celebration of Life at a yet to be determined date, time and location. We will post this on the "Find Jennifer Huston" FaceBook page when arrangements have been finalized.
The City of Newberg will also post this information on their website and FaceBook page.