Murder-Suicide Suspect Dies After Early Morning Lincoln Crash

Wesley Absher, 40, died Wednesday afternoon at Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, two days after allegedly killing a Polk County hog farm owner and kidnapping his own wife before turning the gun on himself at a second rural location.

The Nebraska State Patrol said Absher was pronounced deceased at the hospital on April 9, closing a violent sequence that began just after midnight Tuesday and left one man dead and a woman hospitalized in Polk County.

According to a preliminary investigation, Absher traveled to Happy Hogs, a hog farm near County Road T and 127th Road, south of Shelby, at approximately 2 a.m. on April 7 and shot and killed Brian Gabel, 44, of Osceola. Gabel, the farm's owner, was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman also present at the business was then kidnapped by Absher, investigators said. He took her to a second location on farm ground near County Road S and 129th Road, where she was assaulted. At that location, investigators believe Absher shot himself.

The woman, later identified as Absher's wife, drove herself to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Osceola and reported the shooting and assault just after 1:30 a.m. Absher was subsequently transported to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln with life-threatening injuries; his wife was taken to Columbus Community Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The violence unfolded just four days after Absher bonded out of the Platte County Jail. In February, he had been arrested on four felony charges: second-degree assault, terroristic threats, and two counts of using a weapon to commit a felony, all involving the same woman. He was ordered held on 10 percent of a $250,000 bond and had been barred from contacting his wife, who initiated divorce proceedings that same month. He paid the $25,000 required for release on April 3. His sentencing on those charges had been scheduled for June 10.

The Nebraska State Patrol is leading the investigation with assistance from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The investigation remains ongoing.