Young Dad Nearly Decapitated In Front Of His Wife By Random Stranger - And Dies 2 Weeks Later

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

A young father from Alabama has died two weeks after he was nearly decapitated by a man wielding a hatchet during an apparently unprovoked attack at an Arizona bus stop.

According to reports from the city of Tucson, Arizona, 32-year-old Jacob Couch (pictured above) died last Thursday night just before 9:00 p.m. local time after doctors chose to remove him from life support at the city’s University Medical Center. Couch had been in the intensive care unit there since he was attacked nearly two weeks before, in the middle of the morning on April 5, at a bus stop in Tucson.

Couch’s alleged attacker has since been identified as 25-year-old Daniel Michael. He was arrested three days after the attack and charged with aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument and causing serious physical injury. But now that Couch has died from the injuries, according to KGUN 9 News, Michael’s charges have been amended to include murder.

According to the Tucson Police Department, Couch was at the bus stop with his wife Kristen Couch on their way traveling back to their hometown of Arab, Alabama. The couple had been living in Los Angeles for the last ten months before opting to go home. But when they got to the bus stop in Tucson to continue their voyage back east, their whole world was upended.

Per KGUN, Kristen said that she and her husband had been approached by Michael at about 10:00 a.m. local time as they waited at the bus stop. He allegedly yelled at them, causing a confrontation. Not wanting to get involved, Kristen and Jacob tried to walk away. But as she told the news outlet, that’s allegedly when the horrific act took place:

“I told the man we’re leaving, and my husband bent down to, I guess, like, get our stuff, and he just came up behind him [and swung at him with the hatchet] and walked away.”

OMG…

Jacob was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were able to keep him alive for 12-plus days after the awful incident. But sadly, in the end, the injury was too severe for his body to recover. Per KOLD News 13, Kristen reported that her husband developed pneumonia in the last few days and eventually “his heart gave out,” leading to his passing.

In a Facebook post mourning her loss, Kristen referenced how she and Jacob had dealt with a crushing miscarriage last year which was what prompted them to move to LA in the first place. She wrote:

“I can’t believe we made it 11 years. I always thought we would have so many more. I’ll love you forever and always. Please hold our sweet baby so tight until I can be with you again. … I know Jake tried to fight. We could all see it, but now I think that may have been what little closure he could give us before he left this world.”

For now, the family has put up a GoFundMe page to help Kristen and the couple’s two daughters who they shared from previous relationships navigate life after the tragedy. And as for Michael, after the upgraded charges were filed at the end of last week in a Pima County courtroom, People reports he is still in custody on a $2 million cash bond.

You can see more about this tragedy (below) in this report from the day before Couch was taken off life support: