Authorities said the boy’s death was ruled a homicide and the father’s death a suicide after a welfare check in rural northwestern Minnesota.

HOLMESVILLE TOWNSHIP, Minn. — A 45-year-old man and his 3-year-old son were found shot to death in a rural Becker County home after the man failed to report to work March 30, and authorities later ruled the case a murder-suicide.

Investigators have publicly identified the dead as Gene Russell Bartnes of Detroit Lakes and his son, Koltyn Wayne Bartnes. The case drew wider attention after the child’s mother said police told her the boy was shot in his sleep, and after records showed Bartnes had recently finished probation in an earlier domestic assault case tied to the same home. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime lab is assisting the Becker County Sheriff’s Office as officials continue to sort out the final timeline and motive.

The first sign that something was wrong came when Bartnes did not show up for work that Monday. According to the sheriff’s office, Bartnes’ brother went to check on him at the home on County Road 113 in Holmesville Township and found him dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Deputies were called to the property at about 12:39 p.m. When they entered the home, they also found Koltyn dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Authorities said the scene appeared isolated and there was no broader threat to the public. By the next day, the sheriff’s office had released the names of the father and son, while the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the child’s death a homicide and the father’s death a suicide.

Much of what the public knows about the child’s final hours has come from Koltyn’s mother, Kristi Frazier, who spoke in television interviews after the deaths. Frazier said police told her that Koltyn was shot in the back while he was asleep and that Bartnes then climbed into bed next to him and shot himself in the chest. She also said Bartnes left three suicide notes, one addressed to her, one to law enforcement and one apologizing for what he had done. Frazier said investigators had taken the notes as evidence and that she had not been allowed to read them. Authorities have not publicly released the contents of the notes, nor have they announced a motive. Police also have not said when, before the bodies were found Monday afternoon, the shootings took place.

The deaths unfolded in a home that had already appeared in court records. Bartnes had pleaded guilty in 2023 to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge after punching his fiancée’s 17-year-old son in the same residence, according to court documents reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune. Those records said the woman and eight children were living there at the time. A sheriff’s sergeant who responded in that earlier case gave the woman information about the rights of domestic abuse victims and discussed the possibility of an order for protection. Court records later showed no petition for such an order. Bartnes was placed on three years of unsupervised probation, and the newspaper reported that the probation period had ended only days before the March 30 deaths. Officials in the current case have not said whether that earlier assault played any direct role in what happened.

As the investigation moved forward, grief became visible in the family’s public statements and in fundraising efforts that sprang up around the community. A GoFundMe page created to support Frazier described her as a day care provider and said she was facing the kind of loss no parent expects to endure. Frazier told local reporters the funeral had been put on hold as the family struggled through the shock and waited for official steps to continue. She said people who had seen Bartnes shortly before his death told her he had seemed off, though she also made clear she did not expect anything like this. That combination of unanswered questions, seized notes and delayed funeral plans has left much of the case suspended between official findings and raw grief.

Holmesville Township is a quiet area outside Detroit Lakes, and the stark nature of the scene gave the case an outsized weight even in a state that has seen other family killings draw attention in recent years. Here, though, the public record remains narrow. Authorities have identified the dead, classified the deaths and stated that investigators do not believe the public is in danger. They have not described the firearm, explained whether anyone else was expected at the home that morning or said whether new records may be released. What remains are the sparse official facts, the mother’s account of a sleeping child and a sequence that began with a missed day of work and ended with a brother’s welfare check at a rural house.

The case remains under investigation, with assistance from the BCA crime lab, and officials have not announced any further public briefing or release date for additional findings.

Author note: Last updated April 21, 2026.