This book covers the Freeman family murders in Pennsylvania that occurred in February 1995. Dennis (father), Brenda (mother), and Erik (bother) were brutally murdered by Bryan and David Freeman, along with their cousin, Nelson Birdwell. At the time of the murders, Bryan was seventeen, David was sixteen, and Nelson (aka Ben) was eighteen. Though raised as Jehovah's Witnesses, the boys decided that form of cultism wasn't for them, choosing to embrace white nationalist (Nazism) instead. They shaved their heads, got racist tattoos, and began using drugs. Their mother was scared of their behavior, and made several comments about it before the murders. The bodies were discovered by Valerie, sister of the victim. The brothers stated that the motivation for the murders was just general animosity for their parents and brother, but the brutality of the crime suggests more than just general animosity to me.

I started this book last night, read a good portion while waiting on the kids to dismiss from school, and then carried it in to finish up this afternoon. I meant for this to be my car book for next week, but I got too into it and had to finish it. This book was only 250 pages, so if you are looking for a short true crime book, this might be one to pick up. I am not terribly familiar with Fred Rosen, but I have a couple of his books. He is suggested on a lot of true crime lists as well. I thought he did a good job of conveying the facts of the case, as well as giving an accurate picture of the family life. I wish he would have included more detail about the community. I come from the South, and I know that generational ignorance and racism is certainly a thing, organized religious subscription is a thing, and the attitudes by and large impacting people really influence all of that. I wish that it would have had more of a focus on how they truly came to be involved with this ridiculous skinhead movement, so I was disappointed in that regard. As an aside, this case was featured on an episode of Killer Kids, which I have not watched yet, but am now planning to.