They Were Portrayed as a Wholesome Family on TV — Then One Son Came Home with a Gun

He was the quiet son in a God-fearing, music-loving reality TV family. But nearly a decade after Wife Swap introduced the world to the ultra-strict Stockdale family, Jacob Stockdale turned their idyllic farmhouse into a crime scene — killing his mother and younger brother before turning the gun on himself.

On June 15, 2017, police say the then 25-year-old shot his mother, 54-year-old Kathryn, and his younger brother, 21-year-old James, inside the family’s home in Beach City, Ohio. He then attempted suicide but survived. 

After years of psychiatric treatment and a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, Jacob eventually admitted to the killings in 2021 and was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 15 years to life in prison, PEOPLE previously reported. 

The tragedy shook the small Ohio town — and stunned viewers who remembered the Stockdale family’s 2008 appearance on ABC’s Wife Swap. 

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At the time, the deeply religious family was portrayed as a strict and close-knit. The children were homeschooled, dating was forbidden and secular entertainment — like television and video games — was banned. The family performed together in a bluegrass group, and their daily life centered around faith, work and music. 

Laurie Tonkovic, the temporary mother assigned to the Stockdale family during the show’s two-week switch, told TMZ that Jacob panicked when she offered him and his three brothers small liberties, like watching TV. 

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“I was gonna let them have fun… television, video games. You know, [let them] experience life a little bit,” Tonkovic told the outlet after Stockdale’s arrest. “But Jacob went outside crying… fearful of the repercussions because of what his parents had drilled into him over the years.”

“He was petrified that his religious mom and dad would be angry and that he would ‘burn in Hell,'” she said. “He lived in a very controlled environment… his mom and dad told him what to do.”

Investigators never publicly identified a motive — but the case has fueled speculation about whether the family’s extreme isolation and rigid rules may have contributed to a mental health crisis. 

PEOPLE previously reported that Jacob was committed to a psychiatric facility after the shootings and was deemed incompetent to stand trial until nearly three years later. 

Now 33, Jacob is serving his sentence in an Ohio state prison.