The same day police said he came to his wife’s house, doused her with gasoline and set her on fire, Donn Keever had been served with divorce papers.
Donn and Amy Keever had been married for 18 years when Amy filed for divorce July 10, saying the couple had an irretrievable breakdown in marriage. On Friday, Donn Keever was served with the divorce papers, according to court records.
That same day, Amy Keever was set on fire in the front yard of the home the couple had shared on Highland Avenue in Franklin. She told police her estranged husband, Donn Keever, had set her on fire. Fifteen minutes later, police said Donn Keever, 40, crashed his pickup truck head-on into a semi on Interstate 65.
Donn Keever was killed, and the coroner has ruled the death a suicide, according to a news release from Indiana State Police. Witnesses told police Don Keever was going south in the northbound lanes of I-65 at a high rate of speed, turned into a semi, hitting it head on, before the truck came to a stop and burst into flames.
Amy Keever was rushed to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis with serious burns over much of her body and remained in critical condition in the hospital’s burn center Monday.
Donn and Amy had been married since 1996 and have three children, ages 10, 11 and 16. Their oldest child suffered from juvenile dermatomyositis, a disease that causes a skin rash and weak muscles in children, and the couple hosted a fundraiser in 2003 to raise money for medication costs.
The two had been through the June 2008 flood together, during which about a foot of water got into their home. They lost many of their possessions and had to live in a hotel for several days.
That same year, Donn Keever filed for a restraining order against Amy Keever but withdrew it the next month, according to court documents.
Franklin police were called to the house once for an argument between Donn Keever and a relative but had no calls for domestic disturbances between the couple, Franklin Police Lt. Kerry Atwood said.
In January 2014, Donn Keever filed for divorce. But a month later, he called off the split, and the case was dismissed.
Then, in April, Donn Keever moved out of the family’s home on Highland Avenue, according to court documents. Since then, he had been living near Fairland in Shelby County.
After moving out, neighbors said Donn Keever would come visit his children on the weekends.
In the divorce, Amy Keever was seeking full custody of the couple’s three children and child support from Donn Keever.
The two were set to appear in court Aug. 5, according to court records.
