·¬ÇÑapp

Jeremy Koch, 42, killed each of his sons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16, and his wife, Bailey, 41, before taking his own life, according to a statement Saturday from the Nebraska State Patrol. All four were found with fatal knife wounds. A knife was found at the scene.

At approximately 9:45 a.m., the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a residence at Johnson Lake, Plum Creek Canyon No. 1. Upon arrival, deputies found four deceased individuals inside the residence.

All four were residents of the home. The Dawson County Attorney has ordered autopsies of all four residents. 

The deaths were discovered just days after Bailey Koch posted a appeal on social media to try and keep their greenhouse and landscaping business, Natural Escapes of Cozad, afloat. Jeremy Koch has struggled with bipolar disorder and depression for years, she said in the post, and has been unable to operate the business.

The special education teacher at Holdrege Middle School noted that May is Mental Health Awareness month. Her husband, she said, attempted suicide many times.

"We are as vanilla as it gets...middle class Nebraska family. I'm a special education teacher and my husband runs our family landscaping and greenhouse services business we've owned for the last 19 years. We have two teenage boys...the oldest will graduate high school next week and then move to California for a three-year bonsai apprenticeship (yes, he's a pretty cool kid). Our youngest is a freshman and a rockstar golfer on the varsity team. Proud parents here.

"But my husband tries to kill himself . . .a lot."

The Kochs have been known for their advocacy and open sharing of their experiences with mental health. They co-founded Anchoring Hope for Mental Health, a nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness and providing support for individuals battling mental illness. Jeremy has faced multiple suicide attempts, including a near-fatal car accident in 2012, which led to his open sharing of his story and the couple's advocacy efforts.

"Diagnosed with severe depression in 2009, we spent years living in the dark . . . telling nobody our truth," Bailey Koch wrote on the fundraising post. "We finally began sharing our reality in 2015 after Jeremy had survived at least four attempts, the worst was near-fatal in 2012 . . . a car accident in which he drove straight into a semi on the highway."

Bailey Koch said her husband "fights for his mental health harder than anyone I know." She said that her husband went seven years "without experiencing dark thoughts" but that changed last July when those thoughts returned.

Because Jeremy had been mostly unable to work since August the family business had been struggling. The couple had cashed out their retirement accounts in December and January in order to pay bills and debt.  

"In March, just a couple months ago, I woke to Jeremy shaking me awake saying, 'Something is wrong.' He was standing over my bed with a knife ready to end his life," Bailey wrote. "I was able to talk him down and into accepting help. He went to our safe place, Richard Young Hospital in Kearney, Nebraska, for inpatient mental health treatment for the fourth time in our marriage and stayed for four nights and five days.

Electroconvulsive therapy treatments didn't work and "Jeremy became a shell of himself," she wrote. The treatments were discontinued.

"We stopped treatments on Monday, April 28th, because symptoms were becoming progressively worse," Bailey Koch wrote. "Jeremy cannot get out of bed unless forced. He does not eat or drink unless I make him. He cannot take his meds or remember how to function as the very busy and loving adult he truly is."

As of Sunday morning, the GoFundMe effort for the Koch family had reached $21,535, 77% of the $28,000 goal. 

"If we can raise funds, I can keep our small business going . . . or pay the loans . . . or sell. I don't know," she wrote. "What I do know is I need help, and my husband's brain won't let him help me. So I'm on my own, and I have no problem asking you.

"Then, we can continue to share our story far and wide. Welcome to May . . . Mental Health Awareness Month. This is our reality."