A Nebraska father, Jeremy Koch, 42, is believed to have fatally stabbed his wife Bailey, 41, and sons Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16, before killing himself—just hours before his son’s high school graduation on May 10.
Authorities say Koch had a long history of mental illness, including multiple suicide attempts. His wife had publicly shared their struggles to raise awareness. The incident has shaken the Cozad community, with school officials and family calling attention to the urgent need for better mental health care.
Autopsies have been ordered as the investigation continues
Wife tried desperately to save husband days before he killed entire family in apparent murder-suicide
COZAD, Neb. (KSNB/Gray News) – A mother in Nebraska fought hard to save her husband’s mental health days before he killed her, himself, along with their two sons in an apparent murder-suicide.
On May 10, the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office went to a home around 9:45 a.m., where they found four dead people inside the residence.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, it is believed that Jeremy Koch, 42, killed each of his sons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16, and his wife, Bailey, 41, before killing himself.
Just days prior, Bailey Koch pleaded online, asking for others to join in helping her husband, who she said was battling depression.
Bailey began a GoFundMe, hoping to raise money for more treatments to help Jeremy, who survived at least four past suicide attempts, since being diagnosed in 2009.
After many years, the 41-year-old woman said Jeremy’s mental health had severely declined in March when she awoke to him standing over her bed with a knife, saying, “Something is wrong.”
However, she was able to talk him down and get him to accept help.
After ending electroconvulsive therapy treatments at the end of April, Bailey said Jeremy had become “a shell of himself.”
On May 3, he was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with severe dehydration and malnutrition.
Medical staff also noted he was in a “mental health crisis – failure to thrive.”
“I have no pride left,” Bailey wrote. “Mental illness is taking my husband from me, and I’m begging you to open your eyes and see the reality that is this society’s mental health crisis.”
On May 8, Jeremy had been released from inpatient care at a hospital.
In a social media post, Bailey appeared to celebrate the fact that Jeremy would be home in time for their eldest son, Hudson’s high school graduation.
But that same morning, police were dispatched to the family home and discovered Bailey, along with her two sons, fatally stabbed.
Bailey’s father, Lane Kugler, wrote in an open letter on social media that he discovered the bodies of his daughter, grandsons, and son-in-law on Saturday morning.
“What I saw will haunt me for the rest of my life,” the grieving father wrote, adding that he is “so angry” over the alleged murder-suicide and the failed attempts to help Jeremy.
“Jeremy had been fighting mental illness for many, many years,” Kugler wrote. “His depression had turned into psychosis. It was not Jeremy who committed this horrific act. It was a sick mind.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
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