Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Grisly New Details Emerge in Case of Ohio Dad Accused of Killing Three Sons
A bill of particulars filed in Clermont County describes the final moments of the Ohio boys allegedly killed by their dad, the months leading up to the attack, and the mother and sister believed to have tried to save the boys.
Horrific new details have emerged in the case of an Ohio dad accused of executing his three sons. A bill of particulars filed in Clermont County laid out the alleged grisly details about the killings, the months leading up to the brutal attack, and the mother and sister believed to have tried to save the boys.
Warning: This story contains disturbing information.
Chad Christopher Doerman, 32, was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and felonious assault in the deaths of his three sons — 7-year-old Clayton, 4-year-old Hunter, and 3-year-old Chase — and is being held without bail.
On June 15, police arrived at Doerman’s house in Monroe Township in response to a 911 call made by his wife. Body cam footage showed Doerman sitting calmly on his stoop with a rifle next to him. “I ain’t gonna hurt you. I ain’t gonna hurt nobody,” he said as he was apprehended. After being booked into Clermont County Jail, he later allegedly confessed to killing his sons with a Marlin Model HC .22 rifle that he kept in a gun safe next to his bed.
According to the bill of particulars obtained by ABC-affiliated TV station WCPO, Doerman came home from work early that day and asked his wife and boys to join him in the master bedroom for a nap. Meanwhile, his daughter watched television in the family room of the home, the document states. After lying down with his wife and sons for a bit, Doerman retrieved the rifle from the bedside safe, inserted a loaded magazine, and shot one of his sons twice, according to the document.
The mother immediately tried to help the boy and yelled for her other sons to run. By this point, the sister had made her way to the master bedroom in time to witness the first shots fired, according to the document. She followed one of her brothers as he fled, screaming for him to keep running, but Doerman allegedly hunted him down and continued firing until the child was hit and fell. Doerman eventually caught up to the boy and fired again at close range, the document states.
The girl then returned to the house, where she picked up another brother in her arms and attempted to flee with him. Doerman allegedly intercepted them as they neared the road and, brandishing the rifle, demanded she put her brother down. The dad then fired, but the rifle didn’t go off, with the gun seeming to be out of ammunition, according to the document.
The small boy ran to his mother, who was out in the yard attempting to provide some aid to the boy shot outside. The quick-thinking young girl then took off toward the nearby Monroe Township Fire Department, and alerted a passerby that “her father was killing everyone," according to the court document.
Back at the house, the mother had picked up the third boy in her arms, and Doerman allegedly bit the woman as he tried to pull the boy away from her. In the scuffle, the woman grabbed the rifle and Doerman fired it shooting her through the thumb, the document states. She dropped the boy, and Doerman allegedly shot him once in the head.
A total of nine shots were allegedly fired that day by Doerman: one boy was shot once, and the other two children were shot four times each. The daughter was the only child who came out of the situation alive.
According to a neighbor, Doerman frequently lashed out at his family. “He was angry every day,” Richard Kincannon told WCPO. “There wasn’t a day he didn’t yell at his wife and kids out there,” the neighbor said, adding that he treated his wife "like “sh-t."
Doerman allegedly admitted to authorities he had been thinking about murdering his sons since October, the court documents stated. He hadn't slept for three or four days leading up to the killings because “the thoughts of having to kill his sons was so heavy on him," according to the paperwork.
Doerman was indicted on nine counts of aggravated murder, eight counts of kidnapping, and four counts of felonious assault. Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve called the killings “an unspeakable tragedy,” according to Law & Crime, and said that prosecutors would seek to the death penalty.
“My goal is to have this man executed for slaughtering these three little boys,” Tekulve said. “It is an incomprehensible act of horror that he perpetrated on this family.”
If you’re experiencing domestic violence or know someone who is, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org.
