Bailey Koch, writing on a GoFundMe page that she had “no pride left,” detailed her husband’s struggles with mental health and her desperation to find answers.
Days later, she and her entire family died.
The Nebraska State Police said in a press release that they responded to an apparent murder-suicide in rural Dawson County, in the Cornhusker State’s Panhandle. Dawson County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at a home in Johnson Lake, Plum Creek Canyon #1, around 9:45 a.m. on Saturday. When they went inside, they discovered four bodies: Koch, 41, her husband Jeremy, 42, and their two sons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16.
Authorities believe Jeremy Koch stabbed his wife and sons before killing himself. Police recovered the murder weapon.
Bailey Koch’s post, titled “Jeremy’s Battle: Mental Health Support Needed,” detailed her husband’s years-long battle with depression. She described her family as “as vanilla as it gets” with two teenage sons, one of whom was about to graduate high school and move to California for a three-year bonsai apprenticeship. She was a teacher, while Jeremy Koch ran the family landscaping business.
“But my husband tries to kill himself…a lot,” she had written.
Jeremy Koch was diagnosed with “severe depression” in 2009 and survived at least four suicide attempts over the next few years, the worst of which occurred when he drove a semi-truck down the highway, according to his wife.
“He was left with a leg broken in four places, punctured lung, fractured pancreas, complete colon reconstruction, brain bleed, and…still depression,” she had written. “When he awoke, I was amazed and relieved. “He was destroyed; his attempt had failed.”
Then her husband went about seven years “without experiencing dark thoughts.” However, his mental health issues worsened in July, and he was unable to work, resulting in the landscaping business failing and them living on her teaching salary, she wrote.
“In March, just a couple months ago, I woke to Jeremy shaking me awake saying, ‘Something is wrong,'” Bailey Koch wrote on her blog. “He was standing over my bed with a knife, ready to take his life. I was able to calm him down and convince him to accept help.”
He spent a few days in a hospital’s mental health ward. They were turned down for ketamine treatments and instead tried electroconvulsive therapy, according to the fundraiser page. But it did not work. Back at home, Jeremy Koch refused to get out of bed and eat, according to his wife. She said he ended up back in the hospital due to dehydration.
“By not eating or drinking, Jeremy is slowly completing suicide,” she claimed. “I’m asking for help.” I’ve taken out every penny we have to cover bills. My retirement is over. Jeremy’s retirement is over. I’ve started looking into selling our family business because the stress is too much for my husband, and nothing is worth losing him.
Bailey Koch posted an update on Thursday, two days before her death, stating that while her husband was home, he was not responding well to his new medications. However, she expressed “hope” after learning that a hospital about an hour away from their home offered a different treatment. She wrote that they were going to the hospital on Friday to see if they qualified.
The fundraiser raised more than $20,000 but was taken down on Sunday afternoon. It is unclear why.
Officials have ordered autopsies for all four people in the house. The investigation is ongoing.