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A mother-of-three has been accused of slashing the throats of her children, leaving just one alive following an attack.
Kailey Erhart allegedly went on a stabbing frenzy in her North Dakota home on August 6, where she was said to have chased her husband and the children's grandmother out of the house.
Authorities tragically announced that her three-year-old and five-month-old daughters died from their injuries.
The 22-year-old's one-year-old son survived following a number of miraculous surgeries, but his exact condition remains unknown.
Officers described seeing a blood-soaked mom once they arrived to the property, with the mom in the kitchen holding a knife to her throat.
She then begged for them to kill her, according to investigators via an affidavit, according to Valley News Live.
Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler revealed that the mom was detained and taken into custody by law enforcement, though officers were left traumatized by what they witnessed.
He stated: “A scene like that is something that nobody should ever have to see, and the way [the officers] came through in one of the most horrific times that they’ll probably experience in their life, I’m proud,
“I want to acknowledge this is an extreme, tragic and heartbreaking incident for the children involved, their families, our community and first responders who arrived on scene.”
Police found the three young children unresponsive on the floor in a bedroom, with wounds to their necks.
The father of the children, who was in the process of divorcing Erhart, was at home with the children and their grandmother before she chased them out with a knife, locking the door behind them.
He told authorities that prior to being chased out, he took a firearm off her, which caused the mom to bite and scratch him.
Reportedly, he disassembled the weapon and scattered the pieces to stop the children from being harmed by it.
According to the affidavit, a chilling video on his phone prior to the incident showed her carrying one of the kids while holding a pistol at her hip, telling her estranged husband: "Say goodbye to your children."
The father had reported threats to harm himself and the children in the past, leading to Erhart being placed in a mental health facility within the last 12 to 18 months.
She was given medication and was discharged, with Erhart also allowed to be with her children when the attack took place, as the affadacit notes that the CPS was aware of the previous threats.
The mom is facing nine criminal charges for her heinous crimes, including Class AA felony murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault.
Erhart's bond was set at $3 million cash, with the judge explaining that this is due to 'the extreme violence in these alleged charges and the threat to the community, victims, and children.'
Additionally, she has been blocked from contacting surviving victims or family members - she has not yet entered a plea.
When questioned by police, she said she put the children to bed and believed their throats were slashed before then.
Erhart claimed that she didn't remember what happened, but that there was a knife in her hands when police arrived.
The children's paternal grandmother, Melissa, has since set up a GoFundMe page to support her son and surviving grandchild.
She explained: “He is a father trying to survive something no parent should ever have to face,
“I lost two precious souls in a devastating tragedy… and the pain is more than I can put into words.”
“Right now, our focus has to be on caring for this child and making it through each day while grieving such heartbreaking loss,” she said.
The mom is due in court for a preliminary hearing and arraignment on October 6.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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A New Hampshire mother who had been documenting her husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis on TikTok fatally shot him and two of their children before turning the gun on herself, authorities confirmed.
Emily Long, 34, her husband Ryan, 48, and two of their children - Parker, eight, and Ryan, six - were found dead inside their Madbury home on Monday night (August 18) after police responded to a chilling 911 call reporting multiple deaths.
According to the Daily Mail, the caller had reported "multiple deaths" within the property.
The family’s third child, a three-year-old, was discovered alive and unharmed inside the house and is now in the care of relatives.
Autopsy results revealed Emily shot her husband multiple times, each child once in the head, before taking her own life.
Ryan, a school psychologist at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a highly aggressive and terminal form of brain cancer. Emily worked as the director of operations at the restaurant chain Wing-Itz.
“It was a perfect family as far as we knew,” neighbor Bevy Ketel told WBZ-TV, per CBS News. “It’s just shocking. We didn’t see it coming.”
Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati told WCAX that investigators are still trying to understand the motive behind the killings.
“One of the biggest questions they have right now is motive, why? And I think that's probably one of the more difficult things that they are trying to grasp to understand how this came to be," Agati said.
In the months leading up to the tragedy, the mom shared a series of increasingly distressing TikTok videos with her nearly 8,000 followers.
Just two days before the deaths, she posted a clip on her now-private page opening up about her grief, isolation, and struggles to care for her children as her husband’s health declined.
“All I want to do is hide under a blanket with my kids, but that isn't healthy for them and it's not healthy for me,” she said, cited by Daily Mail. “Today I decided I need to make a conscious effort to shift my mindset. I'm getting out of this depression whether I want to or not.
“I am determined to create normalcy... I’m trying to get myself out of the rut, our kids are definitely struggling, and now I’m starting to notice some changes in our three-year-old.”
In separate TikToks, she spoke about having to tell her children that her husband's diagnosis was terminal. She revealed that her two eldest children understood the condition and the outcome more thoroughly than their youngest child.
On May 11, she uploaded a video captioned: "Want to watch someone actually fall apart before your very eyes? I swear, this cancer will be the thing that breaks me," per The Mirror.
According to the New York Post, police officials have disclosed that they are aware of concerns within the household at the time of the killings, but have not elaborated further.
"Based upon the information available at this time, it appears that in the early morning hours of Monday, August 18, 2025, Ms. Long took a handgun from the home and caused the deaths of Ryan Long and her two children, Parker and Ryan, and then took her own life immediately thereafter," a medical examiner said.
"While investigators are becoming aware of various concerns/issues ongoing in the household at the time of the event in question, people should avoid speculating that this event was caused by a single reason or stressor," they added.
The tragedy remains under investigation.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
A Montana mother, who has been accused of killing her five-year-old son after allegedly suffocating him with a plastic bag, gave investigators a chilling four-word response after his murder.
Kathryn Garaas is facing charges in connection with the death of her son, Reign Tyler Blair, whose body was discovered inside their home near Whitehall, roughly 60 miles northwest of Bozeman.
Garaas reportedly believed she was trying to “save him because things would have only gotten so much worse.”
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the residence on April 24 after reports of a medical emergency.
KRTV reported that the child’s father had requested a welfare check after receiving a disturbing message from Garaas.
When deputies arrived at the property, Garaas reportedly answered the door and chillingly told officers, “He’s in his room.”
Inside, authorities found the young boy with a plastic bag over his head, according to court documents. Deputies attempted lifesaving measures, but Reign was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Investigators say that during questioning, Garaas allegedly explained her actions by saying she wanted to “save him because things would have only gotten so much worse.”
In an interview with KRTV, Colleen Much, who organized a GoFundMe for the family, said Garaas had previously been separated from them. However, she had recently been staying with Reign and his father for several weeks before the incident occurred.
“I cannot and will absolutely not pretend to claim we have even a remote understanding of the reasoning behind this, or what occurred,” Much wrote on the fundraiser page. “We pray for answers that may never come, and when they do, no healing will come of it.”
She also described the deep bond between Reign and his father, writing: “Reign is his purpose, his love, and his life from the moment he took his first breath.” Much added that despite the tragedy, the child’s life had been filled with “love, laughter, and precious joy.”
Garaas is expected to be arraigned on a deliberate homicide charge on June 10. She remains in custody on a $5 million bond.
A mother reportedly issued a plea for help over her husband's mental health just days before he allegedly killed her and their two teenage sons in a triple suspected murder-suicide.
On May 10, at around 9:45AM, deputies from the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home at Johnson Lake in Plum Creek Canyon, where they discovered the bodies of Jeremy Koch, 42; his wife Bailey Koch, 41; and their sons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16.
All four were found in their beds with fatal knife wounds. Authorities recovered the murder weapon at the scene.
The Nebraska State Patrol said in a press release that the deaths are being investigated as a triple murder-suicide, with evidence suggesting Jeremy fatally stabbed his wife and children before turning the knife on himself. Autopsies have been ordered, and the investigation remains ongoing.
The horrific discovery was made by Bailey’s parents, Lane and Peggy Kugler. In a heart-wrenching Facebook post, Lane wrote: “I found our two grandsons, Hudson, 18, and Asher, 16, and our daughter Bailey, and our son-in-law Jeremy, dead laying in their beds. What I saw will haunt me the rest of my life.”
Lane continued, explaining that Jeremy had “been fighting mental illness for many, many years. His depression had turned into psychosis. It was not Jeremy that committed this horrific act. It was a sick mind".
Just days prior, Bailey had shared a raw and emotional plea for help on a now-deleted GoFundMe page titled “Jeremy’s Battle: Mental Health Support Needed," Law and Crime reported.
She wrote of the years-long struggle her husband faced with severe depression and her growing desperation as his condition deteriorated. “But my husband tries to kill himself… a lot,” Bailey reportedly revealed.
The late mom explained that her husband had first been diagnosed with severe depression in 2009 and had survived at least four suicide attempts, including a horrific crash involving a semi-truck that left him with multiple life-threatening injuries, such as broken bones, a brain bleed, a punctured lung, and more.
The couple, high school sweethearts who had been together for over 25 years, were raising their two sons while running a landscaping business. But by July 2023, Jeremy was no longer able to work, and Bailey’s teacher salary was all they had.
“In March, just a couple months ago, I woke to Jeremy shaking me awake saying, ‘Something is wrong,’” Bailey wrote. “He was standing over my bed with a knife ready to end his life. I was able to talk him down and into accepting help.”
Despite several hospitalizations, Electroconvulsive Therapy, and even considering ketamine treatment, Jeremy’s condition did not improve. He stopped eating and drinking, and Bailey feared he was “slowly completing suicide.”
In her final update, shared just two days before her death, Bailey wrote that Jeremy was back home but struggling with side effects from new medication.
Despite this, she remained hopeful, explaining that they planned to visit a nearby hospital on Friday to see if he qualified for a different treatment option.
The couple's son, Hudson, had been set to graduate from Cozad High School the same day the bodies of the four family members were discovered. The 18-year-old had planned to move to California for a three-year bonsai apprenticeship.
His brother, Asher, has been described as bright and creative. Meanwhile, their mom was a beloved educator and mental health advocate who frequently contributed to the site Her View From Home.
In a tribute, the site wrote: “Bailey would be the first to tell you her story is not an easy one to hear. But the world needs it… As she liked to say, mental illness does not win. Hope does.”
Cozad Community Schools issued a statement acknowledging the tragedy: “Our thoughts are with all those impacted during this incredibly difficult time.” The graduation ceremony went ahead as planned, with grief counseling provided for students and staff.
Holdrege Public Schools, where Bailey worked, also shared their condolences, describing her as “a passionate educator, a caring colleague, and a bright presence in the school community.”
The Nebraska State Patrol is continuing the investigation with assistance from the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Eustis Fire & Rescue, and the Dawson County Attorney.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
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