The Freeman Family Murders

Introduction

Familicide - A familicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members in quick succession, most often children, spouses, siblings, or parents. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-suicide.

In this rich tapestry of humanity there are a percentage of people who become killers. Of these killers there are various different types, as most people listening to this will know. But today we are going to look at a specific type of killer, possibly the most terrifying of them all: The Family Annihilator. Now having already defined familicide it’s important to understand that even among the family annihilators there have been classified four distinct types:

1. Self-righteous - These killers blame the mother for any of the family’s problems. They often believe that their status as “breadwinner” is central to their ideal image of the family. They might even call their partner before the murders to explain their actions.

2. Disappointed - The Disappointed Family Annihilator feels that their family has failed them or somehow undermined their ideal image of family life. This could come from children not following established family traditions or observing traditional religious practices.

3. Anomic - With these killers the family is seen as the result of financial success, and when that success falters the family is seen as no longer having a purpose.

4. Paranoid - These killers sense some kind of external threat to the family (this can range from perceived societal decline to pending issues with the legal system). Whatever the threat or perceived threat is, the killer see’s ending the family’s lives as the only way to protect them.

The psychologies of the four types are disconcerting because for all the vast differences between them there are so many disturbing similarities. From triggers and responses, all the way to being capable of tremendous violence. Now I’m compelled to say the overwhelming majority of family annihilator cases are when the patriarch of the family unleashes hell upon the people he was meant to cherish and protect. This is not always the case however, and even as I have laid out some “norms” I am going to present to you a case that falls outside of these established parameters. 

Chapter 1 - The Brothers

Dennis and Brenda Freeman were a very religious couple and had raised their three sons, Bryan, David and Erik as devout Jehovah’s Witnesses. For Bryan and David however this religious lifestyle would only breed hatred and resentment in them, of the most radical kind. The teenage Bryan and David fell in with a group of white supremacists and began to live a very neo-Nazi lifestyle. Friends of the late Brenda Freeman have said that Brenda was terrified of her two eldest sons. The boys went all in on the lifestyle too; Bryan having the word “Berserker” tattooed across his forehead while David had the (always classy) “Sieg Heil” tattooed over his eyebrows.

Dennis and Brenda did all they could trying to reconnect with their sons and to pull them back from this very dark path they were heading down. Brenda contacted therapists asking for advice, the boys even attended “anti-skinhead education” courses organized by the police but despite their best efforts the boys would not turn away from their creed of hate. The brothers were both deeply troubled with Bryan being admitted to a psychiatric unit for severe mental health issues and David having done stints at multiple juvenile detention centers and receiving counseling for substance abuse. From 1993 to 1995 the police made a total of five visits to the Freeman home. During one of these instances the police said Bryan had threatened to kill his parents over a fight about using the family car.

Both youths were on a very dangerous spiral. They both had their issues but fueled by rhetoric of hate, and people preying upon their anger only exacerbated their issues. A pattern of substance abuse and poor mental health coupled with their neo-Nazi beliefs was a recipe for absolute disaster, as the world was about to learn first hand.

Chapter 2 - The Tragedy

February 26, 1995 would see violence that would shatter multiple lives, and see the tragic and senseless end of three. Bryan (17) and David (16) had been out at the movies with their elder cousin Nelson “Ben” Birdwell (18) and returned to the Freeman family home afterwards where Bryan and Brenda got into a heated altercation about Birdwell being in the house. Things between Bryan and his mother escalated, resulting in Brenda being stabbed to death by her eldest son.

Meanwhile David and Birdwell had gone upstairs where Dennis Freeman was sleeping at the time. The pair assaulted Dennis and beat him to death with an aluminum baseball bat. But the rampage was not done just yet. The spree’s final victim was the 10 year old Erik Freeman. Some combination of Bryan, David and Birdwell bludgeoned the boy as he slept with the handle of a pick axe.

Chapter 3 - Afterwards

In the immediate aftermath the murderous trio fled from Pennsylvania and went to the home of one of their skinhead associates, Frank Hesse, who was living in Hope, Michigan at the time. The day after the murders Bryan and David’s elder sister Valerie found the bodies of the family. The scene that met the authorities was one of absolute brutality. Dennis and Erik were beaten so badly that their faces were barely recognizable. The Allentown Coroners said it was one of the most brutal acts of murder they had ever seen.

The killings took place on February 26th and the trio were apprehended on March 2nd. With the death penalty very much on the table Bryan Freeman plead guilty to the murder of Brenda Freeman. In a separate plea David pleaded guilty to the killing of Dennis. Birdwell was charged with all three murders however no one was ever convicted for the killing of young Erik. Birdwell was however found guilty for his part in beating Dennis Freeman to death when blood on his shirt was found to belong to Dennis.

Initially all three men were sentenced to life without parole. But in the intervening years things have changed and as of 2024 Bryan and Dennis were re-sentenced to 60 years with parole eligibility. However this was only good news in the abstract as the brothers still will not be eligible for parole until 2055, another 30 years from the time of this writing.

Bryan, for his part, has expressed remorse for what he did in his youth. He has said that the murders were the result of years of built up animosity between the brothers and their parents. While I’m not going to try and excuse his behavior obviously, I do think that the things that a twisted ideology like nazisim can do to someone that is abusing drugs and suffering a mental health crisis cannot be underestimated. Just like any cult the skinhead culture preys upon people who feel frustrated and not in control of their life. The culture fosters that hatred and teaches you to see everyone as a potential enemy. Ultimately it teaches you to lash out at your perceived persecutors. It’s a slippery slope and one I’ve seen several people fall into and get caught up in.

Conclusion

So there is the case of the Freeman Family Murders. A Family Annihilator case that breaks the mold to some extent but at the same time falls so neatly into the category. As with most things it’s complicated and requires a lot of different perspectives to see the entire picture. A lot of things contributed to the tragedy that unfolded on that day 30 years ago, but the biggest culprit of all was the toxic ideology that taught these youths to embrace their rage and their hate. Ultimately that ideology turned three young men into brutal killers for one terrible night, and until we can figure out how to keep that kind of hate from poisoning young men like Bryan and David Freeman there will be no shortage of tragedies in the future.