A tragic incident unfolded in Seward, Nebraska, where a 54-year-old man, Casey Kindt, forced his way into his ex-girlfriend’s home and shot her to death, just a day after being released from jail. The victim, 36-year-old Jamie Hagen, was killed late Saturday night, with her 15-year-old daughter inside the house at the time of the attack.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, police received a 911 call shortly before midnight from Hagen’s teenage daughter. When officers arrived at the home on North Second Street, they found the storm door partially open and the interior door clearly forced open. As they approached, they saw a man—later identified as Kindt—step outside. His face was bleeding, and he had a gun tucked into the front of his waistband. He had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound but was still alive.
Inside the home, police found Hagen lying on the floor of a bedroom with gunshot wounds to her forehead, arm, and chest. She had no pulse and was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers also discovered her 15-year-old daughter hiding in another bedroom with the door locked. She was unharmed.
Kindt was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and authorities are keeping him under close watch while he receives medical treatment. As of now, he has not been formally charged.
This wasn’t the first time police had encountered Kindt in connection to Hagen. On December 16, officers arrested him for allegedly assaulting and threatening her in front of one of her children. The police report stated that he shoved her into walls, doors, and shelves, while also making violent threats, including saying, “I will deck you, I will f—ing end you.” Hagen later told police that Kindt, a military veteran, suffered from PTSD. He was arrested on charges of terroristic threats, domestic violence assault, and child abuse. A few days later, Hagen filed a protection order against him.
Despite this, Kindt found a way to contact her. After being released on bond, he used an intermediary on January 4 to send her messages, hinting that she could make the charges “go away” if she wanted to. He also mentioned that he had never reported her for “child neglect and SNAP benefit fraud.” Hagen immediately showed the messages to the police, leading to Kindt’s re-arrest.
A judge then increased his bond to $75,000, which he posted on Friday. The very next day, he allegedly broke into Hagen’s home and killed her.
Hagen’s father, Charles Hagen, spoke to the media, expressing his heartbreak over his daughter’s tragic death. He shared that Jamie and Kindt had been in a relationship for about two years and were even planning to get married. They had bought a house together, but things took a dark turn when Kindt started becoming aggressive.
“Things just started shifting a different way, and he started getting aggressive, I guess,” Charles Hagen said. “I don’t know 100% of the story, and some of the hidden things, and some of the other things are starting to come out now.”
He also pointed out how the legal system failed his daughter, despite her doing everything right.
“He was put in jail twice over this and still posted bond,” he said. “If he’d just stayed in there, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Now, the community mourns the loss of Jamie Hagen, while questions remain about how someone with such a violent history was able to walk free and commit this horrific crime.
