Father accused of killing his three children planned murders for months, police say

Chad Doerman, an Ohio father accused of murdering his three children, had been plotting the murders for months, according to court documents.

“The defendant made a statement during an audio and video-recorded interview, during which he admitted to having been thinking of shooting his children since October,” the list of details obtained by WCPO reads. Doerman had not slept in the three or four days before the murders because “the thought of having to kill his children was too heavy for him,” she added.

The document establishes the series of events that led to the father allegedly murdering his three-, four-, and seven-year-old children. After Mr. Doerman came home early from work, he asked his wife and three children to join him for a nap in the master bedroom, the bill says.

While the rest of the family was in the master bedroom, Doerman’s 12-year-old stepdaughter watched TV in the living room.

That room housed a Marlin Model HC .22 rifle, WCPO reported. As his family lay down for a nap, Doerman removed the rifle from his safe and began loading a magazine into it, the outlet said, before shooting one of his sons twice.

His wife reportedly tried to help the boy while yelling at their other children to run. The 12-year-old boy moved into the master bedroom in time to witness the first shots, according to the document.

He ran after one of his brothers, yelling for him to run, but Doerman shot the boy as he ran, causing him to fall and allowing his father to shoot him again at point blank range, the outlet wrote.

The 12-year-old girl then picked up another of her siblings and took him out of the house, the document continues. But Doerman caught up with them as they neared the road. He raised his gun and told her stepdaughter to kill her brother, she said.

Seemingly out of ammunition, Mr. Doerman attempted to fire again, but the gun misfired, allowing the boy to run to his mother, who was trying to help her son, who had been shot outside. The stepdaughter ran to the local fire department, telling a passerby she stopped her that “her father of hers was killing everyone.”

Mr. Doerman then walked over to his wife and the third child. He bit his wife to try to get to his son, the document says. As they fought, Mrs. Doerman was able to grab her rifle, but her husband fired at her, shooting him in the thumb.

This caused her to drop the third child, who Doerman allegedly shot in the head.

“After the defendant executed the three children, he sat on the side step of the residence” and watched his wife try to save their children, the outlet reported.

The document says the father fired nine shots: one boy was shot once, the other two were each shot four times.

According to the sheriff’s office, Doerman faces 21 counts: 9 counts of aggravated manslaughter, 8 counts of kidnapping and 4 counts of criminal assault. His first court appearance was on June 16, one day after the murders. Doerman pleaded not guilty; the judge ordered that his bail be set at $20 million.

“This is the most serious crime we have on the books, Judge,” Clermont County Assistant District Attorney David Gast said during the first court appearance. “That’s it. You can’t commit a more serious crime.

Clermont County District Attorney Mark Tekulve announced in June that his office plans to seek the death penalty for Doerman.

“My goal is to execute this man for killing these three young men,” Tekulve said. “It is an act of incomprehensible horror that he perpetuated in this family.”