Prosecutors said the shootings came weeks after a divorce hearing and were followed by a house fire meant to erase evidence.
PRINCETON, Ind. — An Indiana judge has sentenced Michael R. Kegg Jr. to 126 years in prison after a jury found he fatally shot his ex-wife and adult son at a home near Francisco on Dec. 31, 2024, then set the house on fire in an attempt to cover up the killings.
The sentence closes one major chapter in a case that began as a structure fire and quickly turned into a double-homicide investigation in Gibson County. Prosecutors said the killings of Malisa Kegg, 51, and Michael Kegg III, 34, grew out of a bitter divorce and financial strain. The case still is not fully over: Amanda N. Kegg, Michael Kegg Jr.’s wife at the time, also faces murder and conspiracy charges, and her criminal case remains pending.
Judge Jeffrey F. Meade ordered Michael R. Kegg Jr., 53, to serve consecutive terms of 64 years for the killing of his son and 62 years for the killing of his ex-wife, for a total of 126 years in state prison. The sentence followed his conviction on two counts of murder in Gibson County Circuit Court. Authorities said deputies and firefighters were called to the 7000 block of East Indiana 64 near Francisco after a 911 report of a house fire early on Dec. 31, 2024. Once the flames were brought under control, investigators entered the brick home and found two bodies inside. One was in the kitchen near a can of accelerant. The other was in the living room. Both victims had burn damage, but investigators soon found evidence that the fire was not the original cause of death. The discovery shifted the case from a fire scene to a homicide inquiry within hours.
Autopsies later found that both victims died from gunshot wounds to the chest before the fire began. Court records say investigators recovered three spent .410-gauge shotgun shells inside the home and found a single-shot, break-action shotgun propped against a wall with one unfired shell still loaded. Investigators also noted that Michael Kegg III had lacerations to his scalp, which detectives took as a sign that a struggle happened before he died. Fire investigators said the blaze was intentionally set. Records described burn patterns on the bodies that were consistent with a flammable liquid being poured directly on them and ignited. Detectives also found a container of flammable fluid near one victim. Because the shotgun required reloading after each shot, prosecutors argued the evidence showed repeated, deliberate acts rather than a sudden burst of violence. The state’s theory was that the fire came last, after the shootings, as a way to destroy evidence and delay discovery of what had happened inside the house.
Investigators focused early on Kegg, who had appeared in court with Malisa Kegg at a divorce hearing on Dec. 16, 2024, about two weeks before the killings. Court records described ongoing financial pressure and court-ordered tasks that had been imposed on him during that period. Prosecutors said those tensions mattered because they showed the backdrop to the crime. The day before the killings, officials said, Kegg went to the Francisco town hall and demanded that water service be shut off at Malisa Kegg’s home. Town workers described him as angry and upset, saying he no longer wanted to pay the utility bill. Prosecutors used that episode to show a worsening dispute in the final day before the shootings. Investigators also said Kegg knew the layout of the home and knew a .410 shotgun was kept near the back door. In an interview after he surrendered, detectives said, he admitted he went to the property in the dark and that neither victim knew he was coming. That account placed him at the scene during the crucial period.
Kegg told investigators he had gone to the property to work on a vehicle kept in an outbuilding and that Malisa Kegg and Michael Kegg III were still alive when he left on foot through nearby fields toward Hopkins Park. But detectives said other parts of the evidence undercut that version. Authorities said Kegg admitted wearing gloves inside the house, a detail prosecutors argued pointed to planning rather than innocent contact with the scene. They also pointed to evidence collected from the house, the timing of the fire response and what investigators said was a staged escape. In court filings, detectives described the killings as an execution-style attack. Prosecutors argued that the physical evidence, the number of shots, the use of accelerant and the effort to leave phones behind all fit a plan designed to kill both victims and make the deaths look like a house fire. Kegg’s defense challenged parts of the state’s interpretation, but jurors ultimately sided with prosecutors and returned guilty verdicts on both murder counts.
The investigation widened months later when detectives arrested Amanda N. Kegg, who was Michael Kegg Jr.’s wife at the time of the killings. Authorities said she first gave detectives one account of her husband’s movements and later changed it. According to court records, she eventually said Kegg told her in the early morning hours of Dec. 31 to leave her phone at home and drive him to Francisco because he needed to “take care of something.” Detectives said both left their phones behind, which prosecutors argued was meant to keep law enforcement from tracking them. Automatic license plate readers placed a white Ford F-150 traveling west on Indiana 64 near Princeton at about 4:40 a.m., according to court filings. Investigators said Amanda Kegg later acknowledged dropping him near Hopkins Park and waiting while he was gone for about two hours. Authorities also said she withdrew $800, the daily maximum, from an ATM and later traveled with cash as part of an alleged plan to meet up with him after the killings. She has denied involvement and has pleaded not guilty.
The case drew close attention in southwestern Indiana because of the family ties at its center and the way the investigation unfolded from a fire call into a broader murder conspiracy case. Michael Kegg III, the slain son, was 34 and lived at the Francisco home. Malisa Kegg was 51. Michael R. Kegg Jr., from Decker, turned himself in on Jan. 1, 2025, hours after the bodies were found, and he has been held without bond since then. Amanda Kegg, 46, was arrested later, in October 2025, after detectives said the continuing investigation produced evidence tying her to the plan. Records show Sgt. Roger Ballard and Jennifer Loesch of the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office were among the detectives involved in the case. Even with a conviction and sentence now in place for Michael Kegg Jr., some questions remain outside the public record, including exactly what was said inside the home in the final moments and what role a second defendant may or may not have played. Those issues are expected to be tested more fully in future court proceedings.
For prosecutors, the sentence marked the formal end of the trial phase against Michael Kegg Jr. but not the end of the court story. Amanda Kegg still faces two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and a trial date has been set for November. Her case will move on its own timeline, with the state still required to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The conviction of Michael Kegg Jr. does not resolve the charges against her. As that case proceeds, lawyers are expected to keep fighting over statements to police, vehicle movements, phone evidence, financial records and the sequence of events before and after the fire. For the Gibson County court system, the next key milestone is that pending trial. For the victims’ relatives and the wider community, the sentence brought one measure of finality, but the public record is still likely to grow as prosecutors continue to present evidence about what detectives have called a coordinated plan.