This one is kind of a WOWSAHS.
I haven't had a chance to ask David or Mitch what their take on it is yet, since their Gopherish type for reals, but to my Florida eyes, this seems a bit...dare I say it?
WHACK
In 1988, at the age of 16, David Brom killed his mother, father, and two younger siblings with an ax. Now, decades later, he has been granted work release, as officials say he has changed his life. https://t.co/4KMjS3CE10
— FOX 9 (@FOX9) July 16, 2025
Ah! That's it!
Oh, how sweet.
He's 'changed his life.'
Well, he's had nothing better to do after sitting in prison for the last thirty-six YEARS, for not just one, two, or three axe murders.
But for whacking all four of his sleeping family when he was a young and impressionable 16-year-old.
I mean, darn it - everybody makes mistakes.
The man accused of killing his parents, sister and younger brother in 1988 is set to be released from prison on July 29.
David Brom was 16 when he used an axe to kill his family members in their Rochester home. He pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, but was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Over an argument with his father.
He killed them all and still went to school the next morning.
David Brom, now 53, was 16 when he went on a murderous rampage inside his family's suburban northwest Rochester home in the early morning hours of February 18, 1988. According to a witness at his trial the following year, the Lourdes High School student described how he had gotten into an argument with his father hours earlier and then murdered his parents and two of his siblings with an axe.
Responding to a rumor circulating among Lourdes High School students later that day, school officials notified law enforcement, and the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office sent then-deputy—and now Olmsted County Sheriff—Kevin Torgerson and his partner, Mike Braley, to the Brom residence, where they found the bodies of 43-year-old Bernard, 42-year-old Paulette, 13-year-old Diane, and 11-year-old Richard Brom.
The gruesome discovery led to a massive manhunt in the Rochester area, with law enforcement officers and citizens put on alert for a van that David Brom was believed to be driving. The teenage mass murderer was finally arrested on the morning of February 19, 1988, after he was spotted using a pay phone at the Rochester Post Office. Investigators later learned that he had spent most of the previous night sleeping in a culvert at a nearby concrete plant.
HOLY CRAP
Brom was sentenced to consecutive life terms and shouldn't have even been eligible for parole until 2040 or so.
...David Brom was convicted of multiple first-degree murder charges during a trial held in October 1989. He was ordered to serve three consecutive life prison sentences, which, under state law at the time, would have made him eligible for parole beginning in 2041.
But the MN state legislature, in their infinite wisdom and compassion, passed a law two years ago that said juvenile defenders, no matter how heinous the crimes, could no longer be given sentences of life without parole - I believe we have done something similar here in Florida. They also ordered a review of those serving adult sentences.
In cases where juveniles were already serving life sentences, the law now allows for parole eligibility after the fifteenth year.
Brom does not have a parole hearing scheduled yet, but he has already been approved for a work release program and will be moving to a halfway house sometime around the end of the month.
The people involved with the case, either at the murder scene or prosecuting it, are not happy.
Four people - Brom's whole family - were brutally murdered by the out-of-control teenager that night. That is hard to forget.
...All four individuals had sustained numerous gashes in the head and upper body. Police subsequently found a blood-stained axe in the basement that forensic tests indicated was used to kill all four victims.
...Several months after the law was passed, former Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem sent a letter to the state specifically asking them not to give Brom a chance to be released.
...Though not the county attorney at the time, the letter states the sentence handed down by the judge all those years ago was exactly what was needed.
...This particular case has left a heavy shadow over many in the community, so it’s no surprise why so many would be against Brom’s release, even if they respect the parole board’s decision.
The Olmstead County Sheriff was one of the first on the scene that horrific night, and he had something to say, scarred as he is by the memories of what he witnessed as a responding deputy all those years ago.
...So, with that, Mr. Brom is benefitting from leniency twice for mutilating four people: his family members, including his two younger siblings. Diane and little Ricky could be parents and very productive members of our society but were never given the chance due to Mr. Brom’s selfish, immature, sixteen-year-old actions. To Mr. Brom’s credit and my understanding he has done remarkedly in the various prison settings and has reached an understanding of the seriousness of his crimes. Mr. Brom has apologized to everyone involved and is remorseful for his actions. I cannot stop what is already in motion, and I, we as the public, must trust the parole board’s decision and must hope Mr. Brom is ready for this transition in his life. I’m very pleased to hear that but it is still hard for me to accept and forget the sights and smells of what I saw that Thursday evening in 1988...
Four people. His family. With an axe.
Nope.
I don't get it.
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