CONTENT WARNING: Article includes descriptions of suicide, child sexual assault, and pornography.
A Bozeman man charged with felony sexual assault of children died of suicide last week while under detention.
The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Jeffrey Scheihing was arrested on November 25th and according to the coroner, was pronounced dead on Thursday, November 27, 2025.
The case has been turned over to the Montana Department of Criminal Investigations.
A Bozeman anesthesiologist charged with child sexual assault has died by suicide while in custody
"An outside agency comes, in this case, an outside coroner also investigates as to the cause of death and whatnot. That matter has been turned over to them," Undersheriff Nate Kamerman said.
According to court documents, on October 17, 2025, Scheihing, a local anesthesiologist, became the focus of an investigation sparked by a referral from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force when an email account linked to him was used to set up several accounts on the messaging app Kik, which contained "apparent child pornography."
"There is some really terrible stuff out there, but fortunately, we have a lot of really good people fighting, trying to keep kids safe, too," Kamerman said.
While investigating the referrals from ICAC, a Gallatin County Sheriff's detective learned that photos and videos of juvenile boys were shared with other users from Scheihing's reported accounts on Sept. 17, 18, 2024, and Nov. 16 and 26, 2024. In March of 2025, Scheihing reportedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with multiple Kik users about children, and sexually molesting male children. Scheihing and another Kik user allegedly expressed their mutual sexual attraction for male children. Schiehing also reportedly indicated he used to have "hundreds of photographs and videos of 12 to 16-year-olds" but had lost them when his storage crashed.
An agent with the Montana Department of Criminal Investigations was able to confirm through a subpoena that the IP (Internet Provider) address was associated with Scheihing, with his home address and phone number.
Scheihing was a member of the Gallatin Valley Anesthesia Associates and reportedly had privileges at Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center since 2019, but was not an employee. According to hospital policy, background checks are conducted every two years. Scheihing reportedly had no patient complaints against him, no record of staff/employee-reported concerns, and had a clean background.
Bozeman Health released the following statement to MTN News:
“We are aware that a local medical provider with privileges at our hospital was arrested outside of work on charges unrelated to our facility. We had no prior knowledge of the investigation and were not contacted by law enforcement during their investigation. We have no information suggesting any concerns related to the individual’s work within our facilities.”
According to medical professionals, anesthesiologists have limited interaction with patients and are never alone with a patient; therefore, he likely never was alone with a minor child.
Scheihing also worked at other medical facilities throughout the region.
"Regarding workplace or anything like that that is a part of the greater investigation going on, as I said, we are taking steps from our investigation division to make sure any victims or potential victims in our community are noted and actions taken to make sure there is nothing further there," Kamerman said.
As the investigation moves forward, the sheriff's office shared its condolences to MTN News.
"As far as the family of the offender, that's a difficult thing, and our hearts go out to the greater community surrounding him, too, because that has an impact," Kamerman said.
Kamerman also urged parents to monitor their children's online activity.
"Just be aware, especially of your kids, what's going on on the internet, be always aware what they are looking at, what they are getting into, and who they are communicating with," Kamerman said.
NOTE: If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call 988 to be connected to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or 911 if a person is in immediate danger.
