On May 10, four bodies were discovered inside a lakeside Nebraska home by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities believe that Jeremy Koch, 42, killed his wife, Bailey Koch, and their two sons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16, before taking his own life in what is being treated as an apparent murder-suicide.
Days before the tragedy, Bailey took to Facebook, pleading for help to save her husband’s mental health.
Allegedly, Jeremy was battling depression since 2009 and had attempted to commit suicide several times over the years. Bailey even started a GoFundMe in order to raise funds and help her husband’s struggles. “May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so here we are… making you aware,” Bailey reportedly wrote. Further, she explained that Jeremy’s depression became increasingly severe, writing, “Jeremy cannot get out of bed unless forced. By not eating or drinking, Jeremy is slowly completing suicide.”
His mental health declined in March, when Bailey awoke to him standing over her bed with a knife, saying, “Something is wrong.” She was able to talk him to access a round of electroconvulsive therapy, which sadly didn’t help him much.
“It didn’t work. Jeremy became a shell of himself,” Bailey wrote at the time.
“I have no pride left. 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, Bailey posted on the social media that her husband was released from inpatient care so that he could attend Hudson’s high school graduation which was supposed to take place just hours after after the family was found dead.
“Our boys are doing well living their lives, and for that, we are thankful,” Bailey wrote. “Please just pray Jeremy is able to somehow be with us on Saturday for our oldest son’s high school graduation.”
Authorities determined that Bailey and her sons were stabbed with a knife.
Bailey Koch was a special education teacher at Holdrege Public Schools, who issued a statement shortly after the tragedy took place, writing, “Our hearts are with everyone impacted by a tragic event that has deeply affected us all.”
In an open letter posted on the social media, Bailey’s father, Lane Kugler, who found the dead bodies of his daughter, grandsons and son-in-law, expressed his anger over the tragedy.
“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.”
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