A Minnesota man killed himself last week after gunning down his wife, his ex-wife, and his two children.
Duluth Police were asked to conduct a welfare check Thursday at a home in West Duluth, where they found the bodies of 47-year-old Erin Abramson, Anthony Nephew’s ex-wife, and their 15-year-old son, Jacob Nephew, the Star Tribune reported.
Police went to Nephew’s home, about a mile away, and found the bodies of his current wife, 45-year-old Kathryn “Kat” Ramsland and their 7-year-old son Oliver Nephew.
Nephew’s body was found at that home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police are studying cell phone data, and Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said that Newphew was known to struggle with mental illness. Ceynowa said officers had been called to his home in the past over such issues.
Nephew frequently posted about his struggles on social media and had written a column in the Duluth News Tribune in 2021 about the need for better care for people who suffer from mental illnesses.
“Because they have to, because they’re told to, or because they don’t realize their mind is broken, they keep pushing forward, incurring one psychic injury after another, trauma after trauma, collecting interest, until finally the synapses overload, and they suffer a breakdown,” Nephew wrote in the newspaper.
“For most of us, that’s the best end result. For millions of Americans, a breakdown leads to suicide — or homicide before suicide.”
Abramson worked for the Environmental Services Division of the city of Superior, and her son, Jacob, was a student at the Marshall School, where he was part of the orchestra, Knowledge Bowl Team, Nordic ski team, and Chess Club. Ramsland taught art at Lake Superior College. Her son, Oliver, was a first-grader at Rockridge Academy.
