LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After a mother was killed in a home invasion in Shelby County, leaving behind four children, her grieving husband said there were warning signs that could have saved two lives.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office initially said officers responded to the 8000 block of Bagdad Road "for an unknown emergency." Jessica Hager, 40, was shot and killed by a man who used to date her sister-in-law, according to police.

David Hager said he and his wife, Jessica, were sound asleep when someone broke into the house. 

"Jessica shook me and said 'David, I think somebody's breaking into the house,'" Hager said. "Sure enough, I heard glass breaking and the door being kicked in. I thought it was police for a minute. But I didn't know, my mind was everywhere. It happened so quick."

The couple were the only two people in the house when the intruder broke in. David Hager said it was chaotic, but he came up with an exit plan.

"I got up, and I told Jessica before I left the bedroom, I said 'you go to the basement and go out the door, no matter what happens' and I'm going to see what's going on," said Hager.

He eventually made it to a neighbor's home to call for help, but realized his wife was missing.

"I heard the shots fired, pretty much," he said. "Soon as I got to (the) neighbor's house to call for the backup, I heard like bang bang noise and stuff like that."

According to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, Michael Rahmlow, 42, broke into the home and shot Jessica before shooting himself. Investigators said Rahmlow and Jessica knew each other.

"I was like what the hell is going on here, what's going on, when I saw the car I was like, why," Hager said, adding that Rahmlow was like family. "He was a friend (on an) every day basis. We were up here, or he was at our house every day. He texted me on the phone. He called me on the phone, 'what are you doing?' We were friends."

Rahmlow, a Franklin County resident, was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Jessica's sister-in-law. 

"He was dating my little sister, and then every time they would break up, he would think automatically my Jessica's telling my little sister to leave him over some bull crap," said Hager. 

Hager said Rahmlow was a marine veteran who suffered from PTSD and tried to get help at the VA Medical Center.

"And he's talking about it all over his Facebook that he needed help," he said. "Pretty much, they denied him. He can't walk, he can't do this. His mind's playing tricks, and they denied that man the help he needed."

Hager said he and Jessica were married in July.

"We was living. We was living," he said. "We had planned on seeing the world. And we was doing it, every day."

Louisville-area Crime News:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.