Tulsa couple mourning suspected murder-suicide of son, daughter-in-law and six grandchildren in BA - Tulsa World

There was thing retired of the mean astir the petition Danny Nelson received successful a telephone telephone from his 34-year-old son, Brian, connected Thursday.

Would you babysit astatine 3 o’clock?

Danny and his wife, Marilyn, often pitched successful to ticker their grandchildren. But Marilyn, 74, has wellness issues that support her adjacent to home, and determination were six grandchildren to wrangle present — including a 1-year-old and 2-year-old.

Danny asked if the children could travel implicit to their grandparents’ southbound Tulsa flat instead, truthful helium wouldn’t person to instrumentality connected each six kids unsocial successful their Broken Arrow home.

“OK,” Danny said Brian told him, “but we’ll bring them implicit astatine 5.”

“Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them — nary responses,” Danny said. “I turned connected the 6 o’clock news, and they said determination had been a occurrence adjacent Hickory and Galveston successful Broken Arrow. That’s wherever my lad lives.”

Danny said helium wasn’t disquieted — but helium inactive felt compelled to go.

“I’ve had astir psychic feelings before, and dreams,” helium said, explaining wherefore helium hopped successful his car and made the 5-mile thrust east.

When helium pushed past the transgression country tape, helium came upon a country excessively horrifying adjacent for a parent’s worst nightmares.

Broken Arrow Police said six children were recovered dormant successful a backmost chamber of a 980-square-foot location that was connected occurrence astatine 425 S. Hickory Ave.

But not from fume oregon burns.

Two adults, whose bodies were recovered adjacent the beforehand of the house, are instrumentality enforcement’s premier suspects — meaning they could person been sidesplitting their children successful the aforesaid clip framework Danny was primitively asked to travel determination to babysit.

Police person not released immoderate much details oregon the identities.

But successful their South Tulsa flat location connected Friday, the Nelsons told the Tulsa World successful their archetypal in-depth interrogation that their lad Brian Nelson, 34, daughter-in-law Brittney Nelson, 32, and six grandchildren — Brian II, property 13, granddaughter Brantley, 9, grandsons Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2, and granddaughter Britannica, 1, are the deceased family.

“All nighttime past night, I kept saying: `It’s not real! It’s not real! It’s not real!’ And I couldn’t stop. But today, I cognize it’s existent — excessively real,” said Marilyn,” her dependable catching successful her throat. “I ne'er dreamed this would happen.”

Financial strain and a caput injury

A national bankruptcy tribunal listing successful Tulsa reveals that Brian and Brittney Nelson had a crushing magnitude of debt.

The section 7 bankruptcy petition they filed connected Dec. 31, 2020, reveals they had $8,803 successful assets versus astir $138,000 successful liabilities, the immense bulk — $127,081 — successful unpaid pupil loans.

Both indicated they were unemployed astatine the clip and their lone income was from SNAP benefits, immoderate constricted authorities inferior outgo assistance and rental assistance from the Oklahoma Housing Authority.

Brian Nelson reported helium grossed $4,510 successful income successful the erstwhile twelvemonth of 2019, portion Brittney reported nary income.

Among what small idiosyncratic spot they had to their names were 9 firearms — 5 pistols valued altogether astatine $1,600, 1 .22-caliber firearm worthy $100 and 2 shotguns worthy $150.

Marilyn said Brian ever had a pistol successful his pocket, but “he had a permit,” she noted.

The Nelsons said they knew their lad and daughter-in-law were struggling nether the value of increasing fiscal pressures compounded by the births of their 5th and sixth children successful precise abbreviated order. And successful the past twelvemonth oregon so, they were much distanced from Danny and Marilyn.

But they helped the young household with inferior bills arsenic often arsenic they could and readily babysat, noting Brittney had suffered from gallstones and much recently, seizures, truthful she often needed to spell to doctor’s appointments.

Where did Brian accidental they were going connected Thursday, erstwhile helium had asked Danny to travel implicit and babysit?

A doctor’s assignment for Brittney.

“I deliberation the accent was what got to them — trying to fig retired however to marque it from 1 month, to 1 month, to 1 month,” Danny said of Thursday’s tragedy.

Then Marilyn interjected: “Then each clip 1 of those headaches came around, helium conscionable would suffer it due to the fact that it was truthful excruciating.”

Danny and Marilyn hold their lad was everlastingly changed aft sustaining a terrible concussion successful a workplace mishap years agone astatine a ample retail chain.

Neither could callback precisely however galore years ago, possibly Brian was successful his aboriginal to mid-20s erstwhile helium was moving an overnight shift, stocking the dairy refrigerators.

“One nighttime erstwhile helium got there, the feline who had conscionable gotten disconnected enactment earlier him had spilled thing and did not mop the level and Brian fell, and helium deed his caput truly hard. The doc said that it was a precise uncommon concussion and told Brian that either it would spell distant oregon it would enactment — and it stayed,” Marilyn said, her dependable straining. “The headaches were horrible, and helium ne'er knew erstwhile helium was going to get them.”

Danny shook his head, saying helium wanted Brian to beryllium capable to proceed with aesculapian attraction for his caput injury, but a lawyer told him to bash truthful indefinitely was intolerable truthful helium accepted a settlement. He and Marilyn some said Brian ne'er laughed arsenic easy oregon seemed arsenic blessed afterward, and helium had “episodes” related to the symptom helium experienced.

Of her daughter-in-law Brittney, Marilyn said was intelligibly stressed from caring for six children, including home-schooling.

“She fundamentally went on with my lad Brian, but she usually was OK,” she said.

Brian and Brittney

Brittney’s parent “had issues,” her in-laws said, and died aboriginal successful her childhood. Her begetter wasn’t around, truthful Brittney had to unrecorded with relatives she claimed had been “mean” to her.

She and Brian met erstwhile they were some students astatine Tulsa’s East Central High School and rapidly formed a enslaved truthful ironclad that Brian, who was a people up of her, figured retired a mode to stay successful precocious schoolhouse for a 5th twelvemonth truthful they could postgraduate together.

Were Danny and Marilyn ever alert of immoderate unit successful the younger Nelsons’ home?

Both gave an emphatic “No,” but past Marilyn recalled, “Well, the archetypal mates years of marriage, erstwhile they conscionable had a babe and they were precise young, they struggled. They were conscionable retired of precocious school.”

Public records bespeak Brian and Brittney joined successful November 2008 and their archetypal commencement announcement, for lad Brian II, appeared successful the Tulsa World conscionable 4 months later.

Rather than holding down a occupation for precise long, their lad had devoted a batch of clip to assemblage implicit his big life, taking courses astatine some Tulsa Community College and Oklahoma State University, perchance arsenic caller arsenic this semester, the Nelsons said.

“He was precise intelligent,” Marilyn said. “Maybe excessively overmuch truthful for his ain good.”

Brittney besides had immoderate assemblage classes nether her loop but ne'er worked extracurricular the home.

Memories of the innocents

Marilyn got weepy and Danny’s eyes welled with tears arsenic they talked, but they said they wanted the satellite to cognize their grandchildren were beautiful, happy, mean children.

And they adored and loved them.

Their tears were interrupted by wide smiles and laughter arsenic they picked up framed photographs from a support successful their surviving country and got retired their cellphones, with their wall-to-wall grandbaby photos, and recounted each child’s property oregon a comic anecdote.

Brian II was the lone kid to ever be school. He went to kindergarten and 1 semester of archetypal people astatine a Broken Arrow simple schoolhouse but, “His begetter didn’t get on with what they were teaching,” Danny said.

“They wanted boys to creation similar girls. That was the last thing,” Marilyn recalled.

Brian and Brittney opted for home-schooling from past on.

The 2 oldest children, Brian II and Brantley, doted connected their younger siblings, Danny and Marilyn said.

They swiped done their cellphone images to amusement disconnected videos of Brian II artifact sword warring successful the backyard with Ragnar, who Danny and Marilyn said was the rough-and-tumble 1 of the bunch, and of their lad Brian successful a snowball combat with Brian II and Ragnar.

Brantley, they said, was the creator successful the family, and Marilyn proudly showed disconnected their refrigerator papered with Brantley’s galore drawings of each mode of bears — her grandmother’s favorite. And she was over-the-moon blessed to yet person a babe sister.

“She had truly agelong eyelashes, and she knew however to bat them astatine you,” Danny said of babe Britannica, who was 19 months old.

The 3 youngest boys, they said, had alternatively antithetic names acknowledgment to their father’s favourite amusement programs. “Vegeta the Prince” arsenic helium was known successful the Nelson family, was named aft a quality successful the Japanese anime tv bid Dragon Ball Z, portion they were told Ragnar and Kurgan were named aft Viking characters from thing oregon other.

“My lad has a weird consciousness of coming up with names,” Danny said.

Vegeta the Prince, they said, kept everyone connected their toes. He was the lone mechanically inclined grandchild, truthful helium loved to ticker YouTube repair videos with Danny, who prefers to fig retired however to hole things astir the location himself.

“I’d springiness him tools for his day alternatively of presents, and helium liked that,” Danny said, beaming.

Both grandparents laughed hard astatine a representation of Vegeta from this summer, erstwhile helium had gotten ahold of a brace of clippers and shaved a stripe of hairsbreadth disconnected the apical of his head, from beforehand to back.

“He asked if helium could effort the clippers connected maine and I said, `No, I’ve seen the mode you springiness haircuts,’” Danny recalled, laughing.

Then their memories turned to their ain son, due to the fact that helium had done thing akin successful kindergarten.

“He had chopped clumps of hairsbreadth disconnected with scissors present and there. He wore a chapeau to schoolhouse but seemingly took it off,” Danny said. “They asked me, `Did you bash that to him?’ and I said, `No, helium did it to himself!’”

Never dreamed this could happen

Hindsight sometimes brings clarity, but it’s acold excessively aboriginal for the Nelsons to person immoderate of that.

What Danny hopes the nationalist takes distant from the senselessness that conscionable wiped retired an full household of 8 is to not enactment disconnected seeking assistance for yourself oregon your loved ones.

“A batch of radical accidental well, we’ll cheque into it tomorrow, tomorrow, time — and sometimes, time don’t ever come,” helium said.

Marilyn said 1 representation of her son, successful particular, keeps replaying successful her mind.

When Brian was archetypal attending Tulsa Community College aft precocious school, helium aspired to beryllium an histrion successful plays and possibly adjacent movies 1 day.

“He did a play successful this large theater, and we were determination to spot it. In it, helium played a worker and of course, helium was successful an Army outfit oregon whatever, and helium had a country wherever helium had breached down,” she said. “When the play was implicit with, radical were swarming up to him telling him however large an histrion helium was.

“I asked my son, ‘How were you capable to propulsion that disconnected and it was truthful real?’ He said, ‘Mom, it’s those damn headaches.’”

Marilyn started to outcry again conscionable then.

“I privation radical to cognize that astatine 1 clip helium had each his encephalon together,” she said. “I conscionable don’t recognize why they did what they did. I conscionable don’t recognize why helium ended up successful that situation. I speech to God each the clip — and I conscionable don’t understand.”

Staff writer Curtis Killman contributed to this story.