Jamie Korbelik-Gibson, left, and her friend Amy Bedlan pose for a picture at a local bar earlier this year. Korbelik-Gibson, 35, was found slain in her boyfriend's Eagle home on Friday.
Jamie Korbelik-Gibson should have been dancing Friday night.
The 35-year-old mother of two elementary school-age children planned to spend the evening with Amy Bedlan at a Lincoln bar, just like they did last month when Bedlan taught her childhood friend a line dance called the Cupid Shuffle.
But their plans for a night out on the town were dashed Friday afternoon when Korbelik-Gibson was found suffocated to death in a rural Eagle home where her intermittent boyfriend also was found dead.
Cass County Sheriff's officials said they believe the boyfriend, Steven G. Wright, 35, of Eagle, suffocated Korbelik-Gibson and then hanged himself at his home at 2081 N. 226th St. in rural Eagle.
Korbelik-Gibson planned to spend Thursday night at Wright's house, Cass County Sheriff William C. Brueggemann said in a statement released Saturday evening. She was last seen leaving her apartment at 1400 Old Farm Road in Lincoln at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the statement said. Officials said they believe Wright spoke on the phone with a family member at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Bedlan said concern about Korbelik-Gibson's well-being grew Friday after she didn't show up to her job as a technician at BryanLGH Medical Center East and her cell phone was turned off. Soon after, Bedlan learned her friend was dead.
Little information could be found about Wright. According to the Cass County Assessor's website, Wright bought the home, where the bodies were found, in 2009.
Bedlan said Wright met Korbelik-Gibson in junior high school in Lincoln, and the couple had been dating off and on.
In his statement, Sheriff Brueggemann said "the couple has been involved in an intermittent relationship, occasionally involving domestic violence for several years." Bedlan said she did not believe the domestic violence had ever been reported to law enforcement, and Wright did not appear in a search of the Cass County Court database.
Bedlan and Korbelik-Gibson reunited a few months ago when they communicated via Facebook. They started going out together soon after that and became close again. On Saturday, Bedlan called Korbelik-Gibson "one of my closest and dearest friends."
Just a few weeks ago, the two friends spent the evening learning the Cupid line dance at Mary's Place in Lincoln.
"I taught her how to do that dance, and she had so much fun," Bedlan said. "That's how I want to remember her. She was so happy."
They planned to be back on a dance floor Friday night. That was before yellow crime scene tape surrounded the brick home with a three-car garage where Wright lived. Despite growing close to Korbelik-Gibson in the past few months, Bedlan said her friend never gave any indication that she was a victim of domestic violence.
Bedlan said she hopes Korbelik-Gibson's tragic story will inspire other women to leave violent relationships.
"At the first sign of a man treating you with any kind of disrespect, leave immediately," Bedlan said. "If we could at least help one person get out of a domestic violence situation. ..."
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