Gene Bartnes, Holmesville Township, Minnesota dad shoots & kills 3-year-old son, Koltyn Bartnes then self in Becker County murder-suicide. Detroit Lakes tragedy comes amid boy’s father experiencing mental illness as 3 suicide notes are left behind, including one to boy’s mother, Kristi Frazier.
A father in Minnesota is alleged to have shot and killed his 3-year-old son before turning the murder weapon on himself according to Becker County authorities.
The bodies of Gene Russell Bartnes, 45, and his 3-year-old son, Koltyn Bartnes were found Monday at a home in Holmesville Township.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Koltyn Barnes’ death as a homicide, and Gene Bartnes’ death as a suicide.
Dad shoots 3-year-old son as boy slept then self
The Becker County Sheriff’s Office says it received a call at about 12:39 p.m. Monday from a man who went to check on his brother because he had not shown up for work. The man went to his brother’s residence in Holmesville Township, which is northeast of Detroit Lakes, and found his brother dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, a child was also found dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
Responded Koltyn’s mother, Kristi Frazier following news of the murder-suicide: ‘I stood up, and just fell. I couldn’t even move… they said Koltyn was shot in the back when he was sleeping, and then his dad crawled into bed next to him and shot himself in the chest.’
Becker County dad struggled with mental illness
Frazier speaking to Valley News Live said the boy’s father had left three suicide notes.
‘One was an apology, one was for law enforcement, and one was addressed to me,’ she said.
Frazier said due to the active investigation, she was unable to read any of those notes.
The mom also said Bartnes might have struggled with mental illness. She said she was alerted to odd behavior just days before the deaths, but never anticipated the severity of an outcome like this.
Dad had just finished 3 year probation for domestic assault
The deaths came soon after Bartnes finished three years of unsupervised probation for a misdemeanor domestic assault conviction in 2023, according to court records. Bartnes pleaded Bartnes pleaded guilty to punching his fiancée’s 17-year-old son in the same home where the murder-suicide occurred, the criminal complaint stated according to the Star Tribune.
Koltyn leaves behind five siblings and his mother, Kristi Frazier.
Come Tuesday night, friends and family held a balloon release along County Rd 113, where the shooting happened.
A GoFundMe has been established to offer support to Kristi and to her family.
