Kaylee Sue Freitag was 17 when she died on March 12, 2021, at a home on Knowlton Road in Nelson Township, Portage County, Ohio. She was found dead in the basement of the home from an apparent gunshot wound; the incident was reported at about 4 p.m. Kaylee was born September 26, 2003, to Samuel Freitag and Elizabeth Patton and had been a student at Southeast High School before switching to online schooling in August 2020.

Eighteen-year-old Zachary David Blosser was at the scene and was arrested and charged with first-degree murder; he pleaded not guilty and was held in the county jail on $2 million bond. Kaylee’s grandmother initially told a 911 dispatcher that Kaylee had accidentally shot herself during an argument with Blosser, but the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office alleges Blosser pulled the trigger. The case remains under investigation and court proceedings are ongoing.

A Celebration of Life for Kaylee was held March 21, 2021, at Shorts Spicer Crislip Funeral Home in Ravenna. If anyone has information about what happened that afternoon on Knowlton Road, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office wants to hear from you.