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In November 2009, Jeremy Simko from Vermilion, Ohio, was found shot to death by authorities in a house he shared with his wife Julene Simko. There were only two people inside the house when cops arrived at the scene — a very dead Simko and a covered-in-blood and hysterical Julene, who claimed that the attacker was still there when she made the 911 call, a false claim.
A years-long investigation eventually revealed the darker side of their marriage, including a master-slave agreement between the couple and BDSM pictures. Later, a confession from one of the first responders, who arrived at the crime scene on that fateful morning, led to Julene's arrest in 2014. Three years later, she was convicted of her husband's murder.
Oxygen's Snapped is slated to revisit Jeremy Simko's chilling and unusual murder case from 2009 in an upcoming episode on December 26, 2022. The episode, titled Julene Simko, airs at 5:00 pm ET. The synopsis states:
"When the owner of an Ohio landscaping company is found shot to death in his bed, the ensuing investigation exposes an elaborate web of sex, obsession, and power."
Jeremy Simko died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head
Jeremy Simko's wife Julene frantically called 911 on November 18, 2009, claiming that her 36-year-old husband had been shot dead and that the attacker was still inside their Vermilion, Ohio, home.
Upon arriving at the crime scene, authorities found that all doors were still locked, showing no signs of a break-in, and that the only two people present inside the house were Simko, who was shot once in the back of the head, and his wife, who was covered in blood and hysterical. Julene Simko was rushed to the hospital.
According to Oxygen, Vermilion Police Chief Robert Kish detailed the events from the day of the murder, saying,
"There’s two people in the house, one person is dead, this lady’s hysterical, you have a lot of things running through your mind. She’s covered with blood, she’s hysterical, so I kinda felt the best thing to do at the time was to get her to a hospital."
While investigating the murder, detectives discovered that Julene was s*xually assaulted by her father when she was young and that the victim, Jeremy, was an aggressive and dominant person, always looking for a fight. Their relationship was seemingly perfect and according to a friend of the couple, they even "worked together and played together and "were a normal, happy couple."
Upon scowering their property, authorities found that the Simkos were security conscious and had multiple alarms set throughout their house. Moreover, they discovered a .357 magnum revolver, the alleged murder weapon, with one spent cartridge in the chamber and used s*x toys.
Julene later claimed that they were robbed once before the murder and once after, but authorities were unable to track down any leads, after which authorities found that the couple was suffering from fiscal problems. Also, no unusual DNA or prints were retrieved from the scene, which made them suspect that someone from within the victim's close quarters was behind the murder.
Jeremy Simko's unconventional marriage with wife Julene surfaced during the murder investigation
Investigators only made a breakthrough in Jeremy Simko's case years later, when they discovered BDSM pictures and videos from the couple's marriage along with a 14-page master-slave agreement. However, in November 2013, Julene came forward, asserting that she was not a victim of s*xual violence and that it was completely consensual.
But within days, authorities received crucial information from one of the first responders from Jeremy Simko's murder scene - a nurse who claimed that Julene Simko told her that "I just shot my husband," before changing her statement to "oh, somebody shot my husband." She was indicted in December 2014 on multiple counts, including aggravated murder and tampering with evidence.
In 2017, Julene Simko was found guilty and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Tune in to Snapped to learn more about Jeremy Simko's murder case.
