Prosecutors allege that Chris Doerman admitted to lining up his three young sons before executing them with a rifle. “This is by far the most sickening, horrifying crime I have seen,” Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said, per WKRC-TV. “I can only imagine the terror these little boys felt and experienced as their father – their protector – was murdering them.”

Chad Doerman allegedly shot his partner as she tried to protect her sons

Chad Doerman and his unnamed partner shared three sons. Doerman posted a Facebook photo of himself and the boys’ mother having fun on the snow in January 2022. “Night before at 11 pm I woke everyone up to build [a] snowman,” Doerman commented. “I was scared the snow would melt.”

Doerman’s girlfriend was likely the first to report the shooting: at 4:15 p.m., someone called 911 screaming that ‘her babies had been shot’. Three minutes later, a driver reported seeing a terrified young girl along the road saying that her father ‘was killing everyone’. The girl is Doerman’s daughter, Alexis. First responders found Doerman calmly seated next to a rifle outside his property. 

The boys’ mother was shot in the hand while trying to protect her sons. She was treated at University Hospital in Cincinnati and informed that her children had died. Rachel Brown, her sister, has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the boys’ funeral. The fund’s description reads:

“My sister lost her three amazing babies yesterday. Nothing will make this better, it will never be okay. But please if you can find it in your heart to help relieve the financial burden of this tragedy, please donate. No one should have to go through this.”

Keith Doerman, Chad Doerman’s father, said his son looked fine when the pair talked several days before the shootings. The older Doerman stated that the murder suspect had no history of strange behavior or mental illness. Keith told The New York Post:

“He just snapped. There was something going on in his life that he couldn’t handle no more. I can’t talk to him, they aren’t letting me talk to him so I don’t have any answers. He probably hid a lot of stuff from me.”