A father shot his son dead before killing himself after drawing up a ‘kill list’ of his wife’s relatives amid a bitter divorce battle, detectives have said.
Derek Thebo is claimed to have told his wife Katie that he would kill her and her children, according to a Police Protection Order (PPO) filed this year with the Kent County Circuit Court in Michigan.
‘He threatened to kill me, my children, and my family, and to commit suicide afterward,’ she wrote in court documents seen by Fox 17 news station.
‘He rattled off the names of my family members and said he knew where they worked, he knew when they were home, and that he could get to them and hurt them.’
Pictured: Derek Thebo (right), with wife, Katie (second-left), Son Dylan (second-right), along with Katie’s daughter from her former partner. Derek shot his son dead before killing himself after drawing up a ‘kill list’ of his wife’s relatives amid a bitter divorce battle, reports have said
Thebo and the couple’s three-year-old son Dylan were later found dead as they were going through divorce and child custody proceedings.
The father and son were discovered inside their home in Lowell Township, Michigan, on September 1 by Kent County deputies.
Investigators say Thebo shot and killed his son before turning the gun on himself.
It is clear from the PPO that Katie Thebo – who also has a daughter from a previous relationship – expected her husband to do something violent, with her fears being raised just two days after their wedding.
In the court filings, she described Derek as a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde character, and that every time they would fight he would make death threats, she wrote.
She said he threatened to kill her, their children, her family and then himself, even saying he would save her children ‘for last’.
Pictured: Derek and Katie Thebo’s three-year-old son Dylan (with the family dog), who investigators have said was killed by his father before he turned the gun on himself. The pair were found on September 1 inside their home in Lowell Township, Michigan
Katie also claimed in the documents that she received a gift for Mother’s Day which included a chilling message, despite a mutual no-contact order being in place.
The message on the gift read: ‘You will be my last’, she said.
Earlier, a judge granted the restraining order – but it was dissolved on March 22 after the no-contact order had been agreed, according to lawandcrime.com.
At the time, Derek denied it or said he didn’t mean it, stating in divorce documents that he loved nothing more than his son.
The father had been a corrections officer in Michigan, but was fired in 2019. After he quite another job in January this year, his wife claims the situation worsened.
‘One time we were having a conversation about a news story where a woman drove her car off a bridge killing her and her children,’ Dylan’s mother wrote in the request for the protective order.
Pictured: Dylan with a family dog. Court filings show that Katie Thebo expected her husband to do something violent, with her fears being raised just two days after their wedding
Pictured: Derek Thebo’s home where he was found dead along with his three-year-old son Dylan, in what police believe was a murder-suicide
‘He said something about the woman was probably trying to save them from something worse or protecting them from someone else. This led to him threatening that if I ever left him that he would protect his son from whatever I might expose him to outside of our marriage.
‘To me this was a threat to kill our son if I ever left him. He would repeat this threat when we would get into an argument and I would leave.’
Dylan’s mother has now set up a GoFundMe page in order to raise money to cover the costs of her son’s funeral.
On the page, she described the three-year-old as ‘an amazing kiddo who was full of energy, loved being around family and friends, and always brought a smile to everyone’s face with his crazy antics and sayings.
‘Dylan loved Paw Patrol, excavators, cars and trucks, and singing and dancing. Most of all Dylan loved his momma and big sister.’
A YouTube video shared on the page shows her son riding a bike and singing a song, while a picture shows him cuddling up to a dog.
So far, the appeal has raised over $25,000.