PRINCETON, Ind. — Jury selection was underway Tuesday morning in the trial of a Gibson County man charged with killing his ex-wife and son in what prosecutors allege was a murder conspiracy.
Michael R. Kegg Jr. stands accused of fatally shooting Malisa Kegg, his estranged former wife, and his son, Michael Kegg III, before setting their two-story brick home ablaze and staging a getaway with help from his new wife, Amanda N. Kegg.
The 53-year-old Decker man has been held without bond in the Gibson County jail since Jan. 1, 2025, when he turned himself in to authorities hours after firefighters discovered the bodies of Malisa Kegg, 51, and Kegg III, 34, inside the burning residence at 7027 E. Indiana 64, near Francisco.
Kegg Jr. faces two counts of murder in the Dec. 31 killings. His then-wife, Amanda Kegg, 46, was arrested in October and charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She has denied having any involvement in the killings, filed for divorce in August following Kegg Jr.’s arrest and has pleaded not guilty.
Judge Jeffrey F. Meade, of Gibson County’s Circuit Court, is presiding over Kegg Jr.’s trial. As it stands, the court has blocked off 9 days to allow for the proceedings.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Gibson County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Roger Ballard, Malisa Kegg and Kegg III died from wounds inflicted by a shotgun. Autopsies revealed Kegg III also suffered three lacerations to his scalp, evidence detectives believe indicates a violent struggle before his death.
Inside the burned home, investigators found three spent .410-gauge shotgun shells and a single-shot, break-action .410 shotgun propped against a wall with its fore-end stock missing. The weapon requires the shooter to reload after each shot, indicating three deliberate shots were fired during the attack.
State Fire Marshal’s Office investigators collected evidence indicating the blaze was intentionally set after the shooting. Both bodies showed burn patterns consistent with a flammable liquid having been poured directly on them and ignited, court documents state. Investigators also discovered a can of flammable fluid near one of the deceased.
According to prosecutors, the killings occurred amidst a backdrop of financial strain and divorce proceedings between Kegg Jr. and Malisa Kegg.
Court records show the pair appeared for a divorce hearing on Dec. 16, 2024, when a judge gave Kegg Jr. a short timeline to complete court-ordered tasks. In preceding months, Kegg Jr. incurred monetary judgments totaling thousands of dollars.
The day before the killings, Kegg Jr. visited the Francisco town hall demanding the water service be shut off at Malisa Kegg’s address, according to court filings. Town officials described him as upset and angry, saying he was tired of paying for her utilities.
Kegg Jr. turned himself on Jan. 1 and gave detectives an account of the previous night. According to his arrest affidavit, Kegg Jr. admitted to visiting Malisa Kegg’s residence in the dark of night to work on a vehicle in an outbuilding. His ex wife and son were alive when he left on foot, walking through nearby fields to Hopkins Park.
Detectives said Kegg Jr. admitted to wearing gloves inside the house and acknowledged he knew the .410 shotgun was kept by the back door. He also admitted neither Malisa Kegg nor Kegg III knew he would arrive in the middle of the night.
The Gibson County Sheriff’s Office detailed Amanda Kegg’s alleged role in the killings in an October affidavit. She drove Kegg Jr. to Francisco in the early morning hours of Dec. 31 in a white Ford F-150, detectives wrote. Both left their cell phones behind — a decision authorities argue was designed to prevent law enforcement from tracking their movements.
Automatic license plate-reading cameras, which dot highways and backroads alike in Gibson County and much of Southern Indiana, tracked the F-150 as it traveled westbound on Indiana 64 near Princeton at 4:40 a.m. A medical log found at the crime scene and penned by Malisa Kegg recorded her vital signs at approximately 12:30 a.m., evidence she was alive before Kegg Jr. and Amanda Kegg would have been en route from Decker.
After giving conflicting accounts of her and Kegg Jr.’s movements on Dec. 31, she acknowledged driving him to Hopkins Park in Francisco, where he told her to wait for approximately two hours while he went to “take care of something,” the affidavit states.
Amanda Kegg reportedly told investigators she believed “something bad was going to happen.”
Detectives believe that after the killings, Amanda Kegg made an undisclosed trip to Patoka, Indiana, with $800 in cash she withdrew from an ATM in tow, as part of a planned meet-up with Kegg Jr.
If convicted, Kegg Jr. faces a sentence of between 45 and 65 years under Indiana sentencing guidelines.
Houston may be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Trial for man accused in Gibson County arson/murder plot underway
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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