MURDERER: Michelle Kehoe

 A mother believed that the only way to save her children from possibly inheriting her mental illnesses was to end their lives.

Seth Kehoe

October 26th 2008 Gene Kehoe had to make a phone call that no father or husband would ever want to make. His wife and two sons had gone missing whilst the three were taking a trip to visit family.
They had planned to spend the day with Michelle Kehoe’s (35) ill mother at her care home in Sumner. It should have only taken them around an hour to drive from their home in Coralville to Sumner but they never arrived.

The next morning, at 8 am, Michelle stumbled up to the front door of a home in Littleton. When the door opened Michelle fell into the home, trying to speak to whoever had answered, a slash across her neck was the reason she was struggling to speak.
The person at the door grabbed a pen and paper for Michelle to write what it was on whilst they called for emergency services.
Michelle wrote, “a man killed my boys and tried to kill me.”.

When emergency services arrived, Michelle directed them to a secluded area near a pond around half a mile from the home. There they would find 2-year-old Seth Kehoe deceased on the floor beside the family’s minivan and his older brother, 7-year-old Sean Kehoe was curled up inside on the driver’s seat. Thankfully, Sean had managed to survive the night locked inside the van with a slash on his neck.

Michelle and Sean required emergency surgery but both survived their injuries.

Sean was interviewed the same day that he was found by Deputy Stephen Peterson. The most notable question asked was “who did that to you?” regarding the wound on Sean’s neck. He would respond “My mom.”.

That was all that was needed for Michelle to officially be seen as the main and only suspect in the attack and murder.

At the scene, the police found evidence that Michelle had attempted to cover things up. There were pieces of first aid scattered around and a handwritten note documenting Michelle’s cover story. The note detailed that a man had broken into the car whilst the family was pulled over at a gas station. He forced Michelle to drive to the pond before knocking her out when she tried to fight him off with pepper spray. Michelle claimed she had written the note during the attack wanting to explain what had happened to whoever would find their bodies.
The note ended with “oh no, here he comes again…”.

The murder of Seth and the attack on Sean would cause police to look into another incident involving all three members of the Kehoe family. In December 2007, the family’s 2002 Volkswagen Eurovan crashed into the Iowa River by Park Road Bridge. Four passers-by saw the crash and dove into the water to rescue the passengers inside.

Michelle told the police that Sean and Seth had distracted her while she drove which caused the crash. At the time they believed but after what happened on October 27th 2008, they had begun to doubt if that was the case. Michelle would later admit that the crash was another failed suicide attempt.

In court, Michelle faced charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment causing injury. Her defence attorney tried to argue insanity or diminished-capacity plea. This would fall through as there was evidence of a detailed plan leading up to and following the attack, including a note written by Michelle at the scene trying to place blame on a nonexistent man.

An alleged timeline of October 26th was created and presented in court. During the drive to Sumner, Michelle pulled the car over at a pond east of Littleton. She bound both boys with duct tape, covering, as Sean described in his initial interview, their eyes, nose, and mouth. Then using a hunting knife she had bought a month earlier, she slashed Seth’s throat and then Sean’s before walking to the water’s edge.
She attempted to kill herself by cutting her throat.
It isn’t entirely clear why Michelle staggered half a mile to a nearby home but the owner opened the door at 7:30 am.

Not long after Michelle was found, Shawn Even a member of the Jesup Fire Department found both boys. Shawn said that he didn’t need to check if Seth was alive as “it was obvious” that he wasn’t alive.
Sean was found kneeling on the driver’s seat of the van, he managed to get his duct tape off and locked himself inside throughout the night.

Michelle’s defence team tried for an insanity plea or diminished responsibility plea, citing Michelle’s extensive history of depression. A psychiatrist evaluated her to determine if they thought that she had grounds for the plea and testified that Michelle’s thinking was “so coloured by depression” that she didn’t have the capacity to know right or wrong.
A jury would disagree, taking the plea out of the question.
Michelle was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of Seth Kehoe, 25 years for the attempted murder of Sean Kehoe, and 10 years for child endangerment.