Nebraska man brutally beat mother, terrorized father in multiday rampage, authorities say

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A man is accused of attacking his mother, then holding his father captive for nearly 24 hours as he threatened his life.

Seth Ketelhut, 37, is facing multiple felony charges in connection with the assaults of his parents.

The Fremont Police Department said Ketelhut was at his mother’s house on Nov. 4.

An affidavit says she made a derogatory statement about one of his children, sending Ketelhut “into a rage.”

He hit her and “slammed her to the ground,” police said.

The hospital his mother was taken to said she suffered a stroke and a vertebral artery dissection because of the attack.

His mother told police that after the beating, Ketelhut took her car and left.

After that, he went to his 67-year-old father’s house near Eagle.

His father had an active protection order against him, according to an arrest affidavit.

On Nov. 5, Ketelhut forced his father to get in a chair.

Ketelhut tried intimidating his father by standing in front of him with a .22-caliber gun, the document says.

While his father was in the chair, Ketelhut hit him with a PVC pipe and bit him on his head and ears.

The son also swung a knife at his father’s feet, so his dad had to “keep moving his feet” to dodge the knife, according to the affidavit.

The father also told investigators that his son repeatedly flipped a coin and asked him, “Are you going to live or die?”

When authorities arrived on the morning of Nov. 6, the father was shaking and appeared “emotionally drained,” the affidavit says.

Ketelhut was charged Thursday with several felonies, including kidnapping, first-degree false imprisonment and second-degree assault.