Content warning: This article describes murder, child murder, and suicide. Please take care while reading.
Anthony Nephew — who Minnesota police say shot and killed his wife, ex-wife, and two sons last Thursday before turning the gun on himself — indicated on social media he was experiencing a mental health crisis after the election. Nephew also wrote an op-ed in the Duluth News Tribune three years ago about poor mental health support in the United States.
At a press conference, Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said officers performed a welfare check at 47-year-old Erin Abramson’s home when Nephew’s coworkers reported Nephew missing. There, they found Abramson, Nephew’s ex-wife, and 15-year-old Jacob Nephew, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Jacob was Erin Abramson and Anthony Nephew’s son.
Suspecting the husband and father, Duluth police surveilled Nephew’s house, just a short distance away from the shooting, which Nephew shared with his wife, 45-year-old Kathryn Nephew, and their 7-year-old son, Oliver Nephew.
Law enforcement entered the residence with drones, and found Kathryn and Oliver dead from gunshot wounds. Anthony was also found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Duluth police said.
Nephew had known mental health challenges
At the press conference, Chief Ceynowa said Nephew had known mental health issues, and Duluth police had responded to calls at Nephew’s home in the past. An official motive for the quadruple murder-suicide had not been established, he added. But Nephew, reportedly an independent, posted often on Facebook about his mental health and opposed Trump. In one post last summer, Nephew reportedly said his mental health and the world could no longer peacefully coexist, and he said, “A lot of the reason is religion,” the Duluth Star Tribune reported.
Nephew added, “I am terrified of religious zealots inflicting their misguided beliefs on me and my family. I have intrusive thoughts of being burned at the stake as a witch or crucified on a burning cross, or my absolute favorite [—] Having people actually believe that I or my child are Satan or the anti-Christ or whatever their favorite color of boogie man they are afraid are this week.”
In other posts, Nephew said the Duluth Star Tribune‘s decision not to endorse a candidate frustrated him, compared proposed Republican policies to “Gilead,” a dystopian patriarchal and misogynist fictional country from Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale, and criticized Trump.
But in another, he wrote, ” … as an Independent voter, I would really like to see both the political parties in our country pick better candidates. We can do better than a binary choice between fascism and not fascism,” according to the New York Post.
Better mental health support could have possibly helped prevent the Duluth tragedy
As well as writing openly on social media three years ago, Nephew penned a Duluth Star Tribune op-ed about the mental health crisis in the United States. In it, Nephew wrote that those who experience mental health challenges in the U.S. “ … keep pushing forward, incurring one psychic injury after another, trauma after trauma, collecting interest, until finally the synapses overload, and they suffer a breakdown … For most of us, that’s the best end result. For millions of Americans, a breakdown leads to suicide — or homicide before suicide,” Nephew said. As an X comment on Nephew’s tragic new story pointed out, “This is so sad. Getting more and more important to talk about mental health in today’s society.”
At his press conference, Duluth Police Chief Ceynowa concluded, “I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and victims who were involved in this tragedy yesterday. We also want to send our condolences to both the Duluth community and Superior community as this is a senseless and tragic event.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. A list of international crisis resources can be found here.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or if you believe someone you know is being abused, contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE or spoken with online via the hotline’s website. Mobile phone owners can also text “START” to the number 88788.