Blood Crimes

by Fred Rosen

Describes how two teenage brothers brutally murdered their father, mother, and younger brother; their involvement with the racist neo-Nazi skinhead movement; their flight across America; and their eventual capture and conviction. Original.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Crime

352 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

About the author

American true crime author and former columnist for the Arts and Leisure Section of The New York Times.

Rosen's published works in the genre include Lobster Boy, There But For the Grace: Survivors of the 20th Century’s Infamous Serial Killers and When Satan Wore a Cross.

He is also the winner of Library Journal’s Best Reference Source 2005 award for The Historical Atlas of American Crime, and has written many other works of historical non-fiction including Cremation in America, Contract Warriors and Gold!.

Reviews

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad story of a devout family of Jehovah’s Witnesses with two sons who become violent thugs. It's very frustrating to see the parents try to cope when they obviously don't have the tools or skills to deal with their unwanted situation.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bryan and David Freeman, along with their cousin Ben Birdwell, killed their parents by brutally beating and stabbing them to death along with their 6 year old brother Erik. These boys had been angry and violent throughout their lives. What started as anger at the harsh rules and lifestyles of their Jehovah's Witness parents, evolved into becoming Skinheads, claiming to hate all non-whites etc.

Each gave conflicting stories of the crime and even after the trial, we probably will not know the whole story.

What came out though is that these boys had a history of acting out and David even spent time in a reform-type school because his parents could not control him. Part of the problem seems to be a desire to keep it all in the Church so proper intervention really never happened. They were out of control, and very very angry. A sad story which is even more relevant in this time of increasing hate groups and hate crimes.

[The Romance Book Disciple (Samantha) · Rating 3 out of 5]

good, but I felt there was something missing. There were moments of tangents that really derailed the story and in the end, I still felt like there were so many questions.

[Bonnie Kernene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the murders of Dennis and Brenda Freeman along with their son Eric. They were murdered by their 2 other sons, David and Bryan, and their nephew Ben Birdwell. The book gave a well described past leading up to the murders and all that surrounded them. I found it very interesting. It was well-written and well researched. The three teenage killers were neo-nazis, a group that is unpleasant to read about, to say the least, but here, it was interesting and easy to follow. I found it interesting when one of the witnesses in the cases testified against them saying that yes, they believed in white power, but you don't kill your family. I liked the book and do recommend it. It does not dwell on the gory parts of the murder, but rather, the facts and sometimes the emotions.

[Philippe Yaworski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book shouldn't even really exist, honestly. If you've read other real crime/trials story, this is way too open-and-shut to be worth reading. This was mostly an excuse to write about Skinheads and Jehova's Witness.

-1 for meandering(talking about Skins and JWs wayyy more than necessary) and pointless authorial self-insert (which seem to be on-brand for Rosen)
-1 for being poorly edited (typos, repetitions ("of the of the"), nonsensical sentence structure in some places)

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the Freeman family murders in Pennsylvania that occurred in February 1995. Dennis (father), Brenda (mother), and Erik (bother) were brutally murdered by Bryan and David Freeman, along with their cousin, Nelson Birdwell. At the time of the murders, Bryan was seventeen, David was sixteen, and Nelson (aka Ben) was eighteen. Though raised as Jehovah's Witnesses, the boys decided that form of cultism wasn't for them, choosing to embrace white nationalist (Nazism) instead. They shaved their heads, got racist tattoos, and began using drugs. Their mother was scared of their behavior, and made several comments about it before the murders. The bodies were discovered by Valerie, sister of the victim. The brothers stated that the motivation for the murders was just general animosity for their parents and brother, but the brutality of the crime suggests more than just general animosity to me.

I started this book last night, read a good portion while waiting on the kids to dismiss from school, and then carried it in to finish up this afternoon. I meant for this to be my car book for next week, but I got too into it and had to finish it. This book was only 250 pages, so if you are looking for a short true crime book, this might be one to pick up. I am not terribly familiar with Fred Rosen, but I have a couple of his books. He is suggested on a lot of true crime lists as well. I thought he did a good job of conveying the facts of the case, as well as giving an accurate picture of the family life. I wish he would have included more detail about the community. I come from the South, and I know that generational ignorance and racism is certainly a thing, organized religious subscription is a thing, and the attitudes by and large impacting people really influence all of that. I wish that it would have had more of a focus on how they truly came to be involved with this ridiculous skinhead movement, so I was disappointed in that regard. As an aside, this case was featured on an episode of Killer Kids, which I have not watched yet, but am now planning to.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Crime story

This is an average true crime book. The author makes a stab at the cause of the crime, but does not make a study of them. The major interest in the book is the skinhead beliefs of the defendants but the book makes clear that the boys were generally resentful and would have taken up any cause.

[Jerri Lynn Leader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids

Very sad yet intense book. These boys were so young and get felt they had to kill their family. Or was it the cousin who pushed the brothers, I guess no one really will ever know. Only God and those 3 boys know what went down that night. My prayers to the family for the loss and prayers for those boys they sure do need it.

[Viola Gray Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. It is well written and a very engaging story. It is about the murder of three innocent individuals by their family members but, also gives a great deal of insight into how the Skinhead society works in the US. A very quick read.

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bryan and David Freeman were born and raised in Pennsylvania to Jehovah Witness parents and rebelled against their family and their way of life. After killing their parents and younger brother, they went on the run. This is their true crime story. I highly recommend this book.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable crazy people

[Sharon Lombardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good true crime story

Good true crime story. Just enough of the boys' character to keep me interested in reading through fairly quickly. Would have liked to know more about the old JW man in the courtroom who "scribbled notes madly." I read this book because I wanted to know why the three boys came to belong to the skinhead movement.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Picked up through a Humble Bundle package. Well written but pretty depressing :(

[Ramesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hate born from too many tears and too little Love"