Kevin Metzger sent heartbreaking final message to friend before being ‘pushed to suicide’ by ‘evil’ ex Mandie Reusch
AN Army veteran allegedly driven to suicide by his estranged girlfriend gushed about being a father in an emotional text message to a close friend just days before tragically ending his life.
Kevin Metzger, 37, was found dead inside his apartment in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on June 18, 2021, after writing a cryptic message on Facebook and telling a friend “I can’t do this anymore.”
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Metzger’s suicide came after being sent a barrage of heinous, graphic, and tormenting messages by his estranged girlfriend, Mandie Reusch, over a period of several weeks, according to prosecutors.
Among Reusch’s alleged messages, the 35-year-old is purported to have repeatedly told Metzger to “go kill himself” and even sent him a video of her having sex with another man she claimed would be their daughter’s “new dad.”
“I hope for [the child’s] sake that you do kill yourself,” Reusch wrote in one message, according to an arrest affidavit. “She would be better off not even knowing you.”
Reusch was arrested on arraigned on Tuesday and charged with aiding suicide and harassment in the death of Metzger.
She has not yet entered a plea in the case and was later released on bond.
Krystal Whetzel, a close friend of Metzger’s who met him while serving in the Army in 2010, told The U.S. Sun she last spoke with Kevin just six days before his death.
During their final conversation, Metzger spoke about his love of being a father and pledged to give his young daughter the life he’d never had but always wanted.
“It took me a while, but being a parent is cool,” Metzger wrote.
“We do so much s**t together. We hiked 5k and we went on a 25-mile hike one day. We go rock climbing, I built a zipline at camp, we go on the boat, we swam in the pool.
“I wanted to do more but Mandie gets really s**tty about me taking her.
“I just want to give my child everything that I didn’t have.”
Tearfully recounting the conversation, Whetzel said: “That’s who he was. That’s the part I want people to know.
“He was a person and a great person.
“Kevin was such a light in all of our lives.”
FINAL MOMENTS
Six days later, Metzger would be found dead in his apartment.
In the moments preceding his death, Metzger had been in communication with Reusch, warning her that a message she’d sent him days prior telling him to kill himself was going to be posted online, according to an affidavit.
The message followed a succession of texts in which Reusch warned Metzger she would not be allowing their daughter to see him on Father’s Day, June 20.
Metzger then texted a friend, writing at 2.05pm: “It’s bad, it’s really bad right now.”
He then texted the same friend, “This gets known to the world,” to which the friend responded, “For what why?”
“I’m haunted I’m f**ked up. I can’t do this,” responded Metzger.
“I can’t do this anymore. She needs to be punished. The courts are too slow.
“My money will make her right.”
After Metzger was found dead later that same day, Whetzel contacted her local police department to inform them about the stream of abuse he’d allegedly been receiving from Reusch.
“I knew she was harassing him because he had been sending me all the messages,” Whetzel said.
“And when he died, she messaged somebody I know and said that he was faking his own death and that she hoped Kevin could get the help he needed,” she further claimed.
“She’s a compulsive liar and […] I think she is just an evil person to her core.
“She had no remorse and I didn’t see any good in her whatsoever.”
SICKENING MESSAGES
Reusch’s attorney, Phil DiLucente, has been contacted for comment about the claims made by Whetzel. This story will be updated if The U.S. Sun receives a response.
In a statement to CBS Pittsburg, DiLucente said suicide is terrible but his client is not responsible for Metzger’s death.
“Other not-so-nice things exchanged both ways, said to one another. It resulted in over two years later of being charged,” he said.
“My God, if we’re going to start prosecuting people for sending harsh texts to one another versus it being verbally communicated, then we are on a different path on our legal system.”
Right up until the point of his tragic death, Whetzel says Metzger kept her abreast of his ongoing feud with Reusch – but never did he let on how profoundly the alleged abuse was seemingly affecting him.
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“Kevin had a dark sense of humor, so I think in a lot of ways he was trying to laugh it off,” said Whetzel.
“I didn’t find it funny, but I don’t think he was contemplating suicide at the time, I think he still had hope that he was going to be able to maintain the relationship with his daughter.
“Kevin was such a light in everyone’s lives no matter what he was going through, and I think that’s why none of us really knew the extent of the mental torture he was suffering and how bad it was, because he’d laugh things off.
“He was the type of person who made sure you smile and he didn’t talk about his s**t.
“Even in messages, he would start to open up and then change the subject, saying ‘let’s talk about good s**t’, and he would talk about his daughter instead, and how he took her hiking or something.
“He just wanted to be a dad […] his daughter was everything to him and Mandie knew that and she used it against him to torture him.”
HARASSMENT REPORTED
The allegedly abusive messages at the center of the case against Reusch started being sent to Metzger on May 5, 2021, while he was away at military training. Metzger was at home at the time caring for their young daughter, according to court documents.
In messages sent via WhatsApp, Reusch informed Metzger that she was planning to move in with another man, and that man would become their daughter’s new father.
“Kill yourself. I mean it,” Reusch wrote in one message, according to an arrest affidavit. “I actually want you to kill yourself because I think you are the worst person on this planet.”
She also warned Metzger that he would no longer play any part in her life, per legal documents.
“You’ll never see her again. Ever,” read another message. “I’m shredding that book with your ugly a** old a** dog that you killed too.
“That dog f**king hated you and ran away every chance she could. Just like I ran away to suck anyone else’s d**k but yours because you’re literally the worst person I’ve ever met in my life.
“I will make it my dying wish to make sure you don’t see your daughter and that she knows who you really are.”
In one message sent on Mother’s Day 2021, Reusch told him that she planned to have sex with her new boyfriend “while your daughter calls him daddy.”
Reusch also told Metzger how he would “burn in hell” and she would dance on his grave.
When Metzger sent her $200, Reusch complained it wasn’t enough, demanded an extra $150, and then sent him a video of her having sex with another man, followed by a message in which she claimed to have destroyed his property left at the home.
Metzger filed harassment charges against Reusch with the Irwin Police Department on June 3, 2021.
The charges were dropped when Metzger was found dead at home just over two weeks later near a suicide note that began, “Maybe she was right,” according to court documents.
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‘HE WAS A LIGHT’
In Reusch’s arrest affidavit, authorities also reference messages from 2020 showing Reusch telling Metzger to kill himself and referencing a $250,000 insurance policy.
In an exchange from February 12, 2020, she wrote: “I hope you die. [The child] will be better off […] I can find her a much better dad than that when you’re dead and out of our lives and rotting in hell.
“Go kill yourself. You aren’t a real f**king human.”
In the same exchange, she later added: “The best thing you could ever do for her or [child] is the 250k.
“But knowing you, that policy probably lapsed and you’ll leave us with nothing but your disgusting body to throw in a hole.”
Whetzel said Metzger had previously informed her that Reusch was allegedly “trying to talk him into killing himself for his insurance policy with the military.”
Again, Whetzel said Kevin appeared to try to laugh off the remarks, but, eventually, it all became too much for her dear friend.
Reading back on messages Metzger sent her and hearing about more disturbing exchanges between him and Reusch following her arrest has been incredibly difficult, Whetzel said.
However, she voiced relief that the wheels of justice appeared to finally be moving in the right direction.
“He just wanted to be a dad […] his daughter was everything to him and Mandie knew that and she used it against him to torture him.”
Krystal Whetzel
“[Reusch’s arrest] is bittersweet because we’re really glad something has been done, but it also brings up all the old wounds because he was such a good guy,” said Whetzel.
“When the charges were filed […] I was surprised but I was glad, really glad, because for so long it seemed like nothing was happening.
“Kevin really did love her. He was happy to have a child with her, but she just tortured him.
“Her messages were f**king sick. Vile. I just hope justice is served in this matter so that people hear about the story and think twice before they tell someone to go kill themselves.
“Kevin’s gone and we can’t take it back. And if she goes to jail, it’s not going to be for long enough, because Kevin’s gone forever.
“But if one good thing comes from all this, it’s that we make somebody else think twice before they tell someone to kill themselves, so we can save someone like Kevin.
“He was such a light and I hope his story can help someone else.”
‘EGREGIOUS BEHAVIOR’
Reusch is due back in court for another pre-trial hearing on June 27.
Her arrest brought an end to a two-year investigation into Metzger’s death.
In a statement, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli alleged that Metzger took his own life as a direct result of the “heinous and graphic” messages sent to him by Reusch.
“Mr. Metzger may still be here today if those messages did not influence and encourage him to take his own life,” Ziccarelli said.
“These messages from Mr. Metzger’s estranged girlfriend were continuous and unrelenting for months, until it finally stopped when the victim took his own life.
“We will not allow or tolerate this kind of egregious behavior,” she added.
“The level of bullying, harassment and threats rose to a criminal level in this particular case, and we will prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law.”
Trooper Steve Limani, state police public information officer at the Greensburg station, told TribLive that police and the district attorney’s office completed a lengthy investigation of data from Reusch’s WhatsApp account and reviewed similar cases before her arrest this week.
He said that Reusch was “relentless and unwavering” in the messages that she sent Metzger, claiming it was “one of the most extreme cases of bullying” he’d ever witnessed.
“When you’re talking about telling somebody to take their own life and then constantly putting stress on them that might make them take action, there’s a chance you might be held accountable for that,” he said.
If you or anybody you know is having suicidal thoughts, you can call 988 or the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 800-273-8255, or you can text TALK to 741741.