Man Murders Ex-Wife and Son Two Weeks After Divorce Hearing, Sets House Ablaze to Hide Crime

Just two weeks after a bitter divorce hearing, a father's rage turned deadly — ending the lives of his ex-wife and son before he tried to wipe it all away in flames.

In the final hours of 31 December 2024, firefighters were called to a house fire in the quiet town of Francisco, Indiana. By the time they arrived, the blaze had already consumed much of the property. Smoke poured into the winter sky. What looked, at first glance, like a tragic accident quickly began to feel like something else.

Inside the charred remains of the home, two bodies were found.

Early reports carried a grim uncertainty — a fire, two fatalities, a family address. But when post-mortem examinations were completed, the truth shifted the ground beneath the case. Malisa Kegg, 51, and her 34-year-old son, Michael Kegg III, had not died from smoke inhalation or burns. They had been shot.

The fire had come afterwards.

What now stands in place of their home is not just a blackened shell, but the aftermath of a domestic breakdown that escalated into lethal violence.

A Marriage Ends — And Something Breaks

Court records show that Michael Kegg Jr., Malisa's former husband and the father of her son, had been in court just two weeks earlier for a divorce hearing. By New Year's Eve, prosecutors say, whatever bitterness lingered had hardened into something far darker.

Investigators concluded that both victims were killed with a shotgun inside the house. Shell casings were recovered from the scene. Forensic teams later determined that an accelerant had been used to start the fire deliberately — a final act, they allege, meant to destroy evidence and obscure what had taken place inside those walls.

It is the sequence that unsettles most: gunshots first, then flames.

According to court proceedings, tensions between the former couple had centred on finances and responsibilities following the divorce. On the day before the killings, Kegg had reportedly contacted local utility services about the property. Prosecutors suggested the call reflected mounting frustration over money and control.

In February 2026, a jury found him guilty on two counts of murder. He was sentenced to 126 years in prison, the terms to be served one after the other. The legal outcome was decisive. The emotional unraveling behind it is harder to measure.

Another Arrest, More Uncertainty

The case took another turn when Amanda Kegg, who was married to Michael Kegg Jr. at the time of the killings, was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors allege she drove him to the house and waited outside while he left his mobile phone elsewhere in an attempt to avoid detection.

She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

That accusation adds another layer to an already disturbing story. Was this an explosion of anger in a moment of loss? Or was it something discussed, planned, and carried out with cold intent?

Authorities have been clear about one point: the fire was not accidental. When a house burns after a shooting, it invites the obvious question — was it panic, or was it an effort to erase the truth? In this case, investigators believe it was the latter.

For the community, the shock remains raw. What unfolded was not random violence, but something born from a family fracture. A marriage ending in court had spiralled into irreversible devastation.

What remains is painfully simple: a divorce hearing in mid-December, gunfire before the year was out, and a house deliberately set alight in an attempt to turn murder into smoke. The flames are gone. The sentence has been handed down. But the human wreckage — and the questions about how conflict can tip into catastrophe — lingers.