Neighbor of Oklahoma family ‘killed in murder suicide’ says good Samaritans rushed into burning home

An Oklahoma mom has shared how she watched in horror as neighbors pulled two parents out of their burning home, only to learn that their six children were dead inside in what is now considered a homicide-suicide.

Brian Nelson, 34, and his wife Brittney, 32, died Thursday at their Broken Arrow home.

Their six children, aged one to 13, were found dead in the burning house, but police do not believe they were killed in the fire.

Brian’s father, Danny, who lives five miles from the house the Nelsons have rented for the past eight years, said on Saturday the couple was in huge debt and Brian was unable to work due to splitting headaches from a work injury in his 20s.

The couple filed for bankruptcy in December 2020: With no work and living on benefits, they had $138,000 in debt — the vast majority, $127,081, in unpaid student loans.

Brian Nelson reported in the bankruptcy filing that he had $4,510 in income in 2019 while his wife had no income.

They had $8,803 in assets, including eight guns worth $1,850 in the house: five handguns worth $1,600; a .22 caliber rifle worth $100, and two shotguns worth $150.

Shawna Chiles, 39, who lives in the next neighborhood, said she saw smoke rising from the house shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday and drove to the house to see what was going on — even before the fire trucks reached the house.

“There were two boys there,” Chiles said. “One of them had already entered the house and taken the woman out. She lay face down.

“So she’s laying there, and I was trying to see if she was still alive. You could see her back moving, she was breathing.’

Chiles said she was told the two men were neighbors.

‘Then I see the man dragging the father out. He had blood all over his shirt.

“The man said the man was dead, but the woman wouldn’t make it.”

Chiles said she was shot in the head.

She said other neighbors told her they heard a loud bang before the fire — “like a transformer,” Chiles said — but no gunshots.

Chiles said immediate neighbors were stunned by the events and no one had noticed any fights or disturbances in the house.

Kris Welch, the couple’s landlord, said the Nelsons had rented the house for the past eight years.

“I feel like throwing up, honestly,” Welch said.

She said Fox 23 that the pair informed her on Tuesday that they wanted to shut off the gas, as they suspected a leak.

“They thought there was a gas leak, so they had the gas shut off,” Welch said.

‘Which I thought was very strange, because it’s cold and they have children.

“It’s like they just want to be left alone. They didn’t want me to do anything about it, which I also thought was really weird.

“And then, two days later, this.”

Danny Nelson, Brian’s father, told… Tulsa World that he should have been babysitting the kids that night – Brian II, age 13; granddaughter Brantley, 9; grandsons Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2; and one year old granddaughter Britannica.

“Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them – no responses,” he told Tulsa World.

“I turned on the six o’clock news and they said there had been a fire near Hickory and Galveston in Broken Arrow. My son lives there.’

Danny Nelson drove to the house and came upon the devastating scene.

His wife Marilyn Nelson added: ‘I said all night long last night, ‘It’s not real! It is not real! It is not real!’

‘And I couldn’t stop. But today I know it’s real – too real.

“I never dreamed this would happen.”

They told Tulsa World that their son and his wife had ongoing medical problems – Brian suffered lingering effects from a severe concussion, when he slipped and fell at work, and Brittney suffered from gallstones and seizures.

“I think it was the stress that happened to them — they were trying to figure out how to get from a month, to a month, to a month,” Danny Nelson said.

Marilyn added, “Every time that headache came on, he just lost it because it was so unbearable.”

Danny and Marilyn said their son was in school with Brittney, whose own single mother “had problems” and died young.

She was raised by relatives who were “mean” to her, the Nelsons said.

The couple married in November 2008.

When asked if there has ever been any violence, both Nelsons replied, “No.”

Marilyn added: “Well, the first few years of marriage, when they just had a baby and they were very young, they had a hard time. They just got out of high school.’

They said Brian and Brittney sent their oldest son to school, but then took him out.

“His father couldn’t get along with what they were learning,” Danny said.

Marilyn added, “They wanted boys to dance like girls. That was the last.’

All of their children were home-schooled, and Brian began college repeatedly, his parents said.

“I want people to know that he once had all his brains together,” Marilyn said.

“I just don’t understand why they did what they did. I just don’t understand why he ended up in that situation.

“I talk to God all the time—and I just don’t understand.”

Broken Arrow Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said on Friday the causes of death are still being investigated, but it appears no one has died as a result of the fire.

Chief Berryhill said, ‘No one should have to face this tragedy.

“We set up peer support teams, outside counseling for firefighters and families, and crews met with the chaplain’s team to raise their health issues.

“This is a tragedy that you only experience once.”

He added: “To arrive on the scene yesterday and see the looks on the faces of our first responders and firefighters absolutely broke my heart.”