An Ohio father who fatally shot his three children last summer had been listening to a spooky song in his car hours before, authorities have revealed.
Clermont County District Attorney Mark J. Tekulve gave a briefing Monday after Chad Doerman pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of murder.
The 33-year-old wept in court as he confessed to shooting his sons Clayton, seven, Hunter, four, and Chase, three, to death in their Monroe Township home, 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Cincinnati, on June 15, 2023.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting his then-wife, Laura Doerman, who tried to stop the killings, and his teenage stepdaughter, who has not been named because of her age and status as a victim in the case.
Tekulve revealed that on the morning of the murders, Doerman searched for a song called Happy in Hell by Colt Ford on YouTube while driving to work.
Chad Doerman, the Ohio father who fatally shot his three children last summer, was listening to a spooky song in his car hours before, officials have revealed. (Pictured: Doerman at his sentencing in court on Friday)
Doerman admitted shooting his sons Clayton, seven, Hunter, four, and Chase, three, on June 15, 2023, at their family home in Monroe Township, 20 miles east of Cincinnati.
Tekulve belted out the song’s chorus, which features the sinister lyrics: “I’m twenty-two in the splits/ Damned if I don’t/ I’m in love with another girl/ And I’m dreaming in another world/ I’m living with the devil/ While I’m sneaking around with an angel/ All’s well that ends well/ I think I’ll be happy in hell.”
Doerman called his father around noon and told him, “Clayton is going to be the toughest” — a reference to the killings that only his father understood in retrospect, Tekulve said.
The prosecutor also released chilling surveillance footage that same day of Doerman waiting for help at a Little Clinic at his local Kroger’s. That help never came.
Doerman waited just two minutes at the clinic, which is designed to help with common illnesses, before leaving without speaking to anyone.
We see him leaning casually on the counter before leaving the store.
The Ohio father then bought a Bud Light beer before returning home to his family.
According to Tekulve, Doerman made a number of strange statements in the hours before the murder, but nothing that could have warned his wife of what was about to happen.
He admitted to killing his sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, when he was arrested on June 15, 2023, in Monroe Township, 20 miles east of Cincinnati
Doerman updated his Facebook page to post this photo just six days before the murders
Doerman will serve three life sentences without the possibility of parole, but will not receive the death penalty
He told his wife, “This will be my last good meal” as they had lunch together, and later that day he opened the gun safe.
But he also spent a good part of the day playing with his family, as usual. The night before, he had coached them in baseball practice, as if nothing had happened.
“Between approximately 1:00 and 3:30 p.m., the suspect spent the afternoon gardening and playing with the children. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, nothing that convinced Laura that she needed to do anything to protect her family,” Tekulve said.
‘At 3:30, 3:45, he starts reading the Bible to Hunter. He walks around the house with the Bible and mumbles, “Chad knows what’s good, Chad knows what’s good.”‘
‘Just before 4:00 p.m. he goes to the gun safe and leaves it open. Laura says, “You’re scaring me.” Chad says, “I’m just playing.”
“He did this to alleviate any concerns about her safety, his safety, or the boys’ safety. He actively deceived her.”
Tekulve added that at 4 p.m., Doerman told his boys that he “loved them and they had done nothing wrong” and that they were “the best guys ever.”
The prosecutor then described the moment when Doerman pointed the gun at his sons.
A child’s bicycle, along with evidence markers, in the front yard of the Monroe Township home
Police bodycam footage shows the arrest of Chad Doerman, who was sitting on the stoop of his home when police arrived after he shot his three sons, ages 7, 4 and 3.
A crying Doerman appeared in court on Friday for his summons
“At approximately 4 p.m. on the day of the murder, the defendant, Laura and all three boys went into the master bedroom,” he said.
‘Laura is worried that he might harm himself.
‘Suddenly, after the suspect lies down, he jumps up, grabs the No. 22 rifle from the safe and the room is filled with fear.
‘Laura is screaming, the boys are screaming, Laura is afraid he’s going to commit suicide.
‘They all try to discourage him, tell him they love him and beg him not to commit suicide.
‘Laura picks up the phone to call 911. He grabs the phone, throws it across the room and says: it’s too late.’
“And then, what I can only imagine — well, I can’t imagine — he points the gun at Hunter and shoots him multiple times.”
Doerman then shot the two younger boys and wounded his wife when she tried to save them.
On Friday, Judge Richard Ferenc sentenced Doerman to three life sentences without parole, and a minimum of 16 years for the assault charges. He will not receive the death penalty.
The boys’ distraught mother told the court she agreed to the settlement but said the decision would come as a surprise to some, even though “it brings a definitive end to the litigation for my daughter and me.”