On the night of February 17, 1988, sixteen year old David Brom got into an argument with his father, Bernard Brom. Allegedly, David had been listening to a music tape that his father didn’t want him listening to. After the argument, David stayed up until around 3am, then grabbed an axe and entered his parent’s bedroom. He first attacked his father, striking him over and over with the axe. He then hit his mother, Paulette, with the axe, who had gotten out of bed and was in the hallway. He then left his parents and entered his brother’s room, where he attacked and killed eleven-year-old Richard Brom. After the attack on Richard, he found his thirteen-year-old sister Diane, standing over the body of their mother. He attacked and killed her with the axe.

David skipped school the next day with his friend and detailed the attacks to her. By the evening of February 18, 1988, rumors had spread throughout the school that David had killed his family. Authorities checked the home and found the four bloody bodies of David’s family. Initially, because David was the only one missing from the home, they suspected that he could’ve been the victim of an abduction, but after interviewing his friends and hearing that he had been seen safe and told friends that he had committed the crimes, authorities went after him as the main suspect.

David Brom was apprehended the following day, on February 19th. Because he was only sixteen at the time, he initially was going to be charged as a minor, but that decision was then changed and he was charged as an adult. David had a history of mental illness and had attempted suicide in the past. Although the defense attempted to use his mental illness to get a reduced sentence, David Brom was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 3 consecutive life sentences and 1 concurrent life sentence.