Rosenberg Herald, October 4, 1935:

Funeral services for Mr. and Mrs. Otto Koeppen were held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the residence, with Rev. H. Probst officiating. Burial was in the Needville Cemetery, with the Foerster Funeral Home of Rosenberg in charge of funeral arrangements.

Relatives, friends, and neighbors were greatly shocked and grieved when they heard the sad news of the double tragedy which occurred in the Koeppen home in the Pleak community Thursday evening, September 26, which resulted in the untimely death of both parents.

Mr. Koeppen was born in Austin County, near Kenney, August 15, 1877. He moved to Fort Bend County in 1918 and lived in the Pleak community for many years.

Mrs. Koeppen, nee Lena Schlitzkus, was born in Burton August 21, 1900. She had been the faithful helpmate of Mr. Koeppen for many years.

Mr. and Mrs. Koeppen are survived by the following children: five sons, Ernest, Edwin, Gilbert, Ruben, and Otto Koeppen; four daughters, Mrs. Hattie Thielemann, Clara, Velma, and Leona Koeppen, all of Rosenberg; Mr. Koeppen's sisters, Mrs. Fred Appel of Brenham and Mrs. Herman Kunkel of Hobson; three brothers, David Schlitzkus of Pleak, Julius Schlitzkus of Beasley, and Albert Schlitzkus of Rosenberg; one sister, Miss Meta Schlitzkus of Houston.

The families of the deceased have the sympathy of a host of friends in this dark hour of sorrow.

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Texas Coaster, October 3, 1935:

Last Thursday evening, at their home near Pleak, Otto Koeppen shot and killed his wife and then committed suicide. Judge Chas. Holmans, Justice of the Peace of Precinct No. One, and other officers, went to the scene and Judge Holmans held the inquest.

According to Judge Holmans, it appeared that Mrs. Koeppen was killed outisde the house and then carried inside and laid out straight on the floor. They had had an altercation and Mrs. Koeppen had practically all of her clothes torn off. It is reported that they disagreed frequently and had quarrels and fights. When these occurred, we understand their children, numbering five or six, aged from 4 to 16 or 17 years, would go out and hide in the barn. The family lived on a farm in the Pleak vicinity. The children did this the evening of the tragedy.

Mrs. Koeppen was shot with a pistol three times. One bullet went through the abdomen, another went through her hand, and still another went through her head, going in at the neck on the left side and emerging over the right eye. After laying his wife down on the floor in a room of their home, Koeppen lay down closely beside her and blew his brains out with a shotgun.

The funeral was held the following day, with interment in the Needville Public Cemetery, under the direction of the Foerster Funeral Home of Rosenberg.

Koeppen, we understand, had been married three times, and besides the children mentioned above, he had several grown children by his first wife but none of them live in this section of the county. Koeppen was about 46 years of age and his wife was about five years younger.