Visitation for the children

Candlelight vigil

Searching for answers

Students mourn loss

Slideshow: Mother charged with killing children

Earlier WHAS11 coverage

Woman disarmed at U of L

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - A final goodbye Tuesday for two Louisville children allegedly shot and killed by their mother.

14 year-old Greg Coontz and his 10-year-old sister Nikki were laid to rest at Resthaven Cemetery.

The children were buried next to their father who died of natural causes 11 years ago.

Authorities say the children were killed while they slept last Thursday morning inside their home.

Their mother, 37 year-old Gail Coontz, is charged with two counts of murder.

Earlier Coverage:

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Gail Coontz, 37, is behind bars charged with two counts of murder and one count of terroristic threatening.  Police say she shot to death her two children, apparently while they slept, inside their Okolona home Thursday morning.  She is also accused of holding a University of Louisville counselor hostage at gunpoint.

Those who knew Coontz and her two children – Greg, 14, and Nikki, 10 – say the story is “bizarre.”  They describe her as a “great mother” who was greatly involved in her children’s lives, including serving as a Girl Scout Troop leader.

Coontz pleaded not guilty in court Friday morning. 

She was a single mother, whose husband, Randy Coontz, died about 11 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter Nikki.  After his death, they moved back to Louisville, where her family lives.

As a single mother, she juggled being a full-time student at U of L and a part-time job with Volunteers of America. 

But Gail Coontz had declared bankruptcy twice in the last four years.  In 2006, she was $158,900 in debt, according to an Associated Press Report.  She also owed $101,000 on her home.

A police report gives a glimpse into her mind at the time.  It says Coontz said, “she sent the children to be with their dad.”

That statement is apparently what led police on U of L’s campus back to the house where they found the two dead bodies. 

Coontz’s family in Louisville declined to talk to WHAS 11.  She is being held on $500,000 bond and is scheduled to be back in court April 7^th .