A Kentucky middle school science teacher and high school volleyball coach was fatally shot by her estranged husband less than a month after she filed for divorce, authorities said. He then died by suicide.

Nelson County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting at 8:11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at a home on Harley Drive northeast of Bardstown. Inside, they found Keyata Lynn Harman, 51, and Brian Harman, 52, dead. The Nelson County Coroner’s Office identified the two and ruled the deaths a murder-suicide, according to local news reports.

The Harmans married in 1996 and had four children. They separated in September 2025, and Keyata Harman filed for divorce on Oct. 15, 2026.

Harman had taught science at Bardstown Middle School since 2018. She previously coached volleyball there and was the head volleyball coach at Nelson County High School at the time of her death.

Halle Calbert, who played for Harman as a student and later coached alongside her, remembered the small things her former coach did that meant so much to her players. Harman would drive them home after practice or take them to get something to eat after a long night at a tournament, Calbert told WLKY.

“We’re just honestly heartbroken because she’s done so much for all of us,” Calbert said.

Bardstown City Schools Superintendent Ryan Clark said students sought Harman out for advice and support, and that she regularly showed up to cheer them on at games. Teaching was a second career for Harman, Clark said, but the way she connected with students made it clear she belonged in the classroom.

Outside school, Harman was involved in 4-H and loved caring for her horses and chickens, according to her obituary. It also remembered her as a grandmother who took every chance she got to spoil her grandchildren.

Neighbor Nancy Ulrich told WLKY that Harman’s death felt like the loss of more than a neighbor. “I considered her my friend,” she said.

The couple’s four children started a fundraiser after the deaths, saying they were heartbroken and asking for help with the unexpected costs of losing both parents.