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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Convicted ax killer David Brom says 'cloud of depression' impacted his thoughts in 1988
Jul. 18—ROCHESTER — David Brom said he felt like depression had been clouding his thoughts and emotions when he used an ax to kill his parents and two younger siblings in 1988. Members of the Minnesota Department of Corrections Supervised Release Board had to reconcile those acts carried out by Brom at age 16 with the 53-year-old man who appeared before them with a nearly spotless 37-year incarceration record. Brom had "changed everything about myself," he told the board in a January 2025 hearing reviewing his eligibility for release. Brom said he understood that the effects of his actions went beyond the lives he took and that his crimes affected the community and well as his family — "the family," as he referred to them. He said he understood his actions affected law enforcement, the community, people in the courts and the church his family attended. "I caused tremendous loss, incredible grief and pain left them with confusion and unanswered questions," Brom said. "I apologize for the ripple effects of losing an entire family in such a horrific way." "The gravity of this offense is enormous," said Paul Schnell, Minnesota Department of Corrections commissioner of corrections. However, Schnell and release board members noted that Brom has continued his education while incarcerated, and mentored other people in custody by working toward becoming an inmate chaplain. His only infraction in more than 37 years of custody was a single incident in which he had more people than permitted in his cell at one time. Schnell asked Brom to describe his crimes through the lens of his years of counseling, education and model inmate behavior. Brom said depression had "clouded his thoughts" and hampered his ability to process emotions when he carried out four brutal murders while he was a Lourdes High School student. "I had grown to a short sighted view that I thought these things were going to last forever," he said. "In the cloud of depression, I started to believe that other people were at fault for how I felt." Brom was convicted in 1989 of the four murders and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences — each carrying a minimum of 17 years in prison. Counting his time served in jail leading up to his trial, Brom was not eligible for release until 2037. However, a 2023 Minnesota law gives offenders convicted as juveniles a chance for review after they serve 15 or more years of a sentence. Although Brom had only started serving time for his third sentence at the beginning of 2022, he is eligible for parole or supervised release. Brom will be eligible for release July 29 to a supervised work release program at a Twin Cities halfway house. He will remain in state custody and be monitored by GPS, according to Aaron Swanum, Minnesota Department of Corrections media information officer. After six months, he will be reviewed for eligibility for parole. Complicating the decision to allow Brom to move toward release was the effect the decision would have on the community. Ultimately the board decided not to have Brom return to Olmsted County. In the January hearing, members suggested getting feedback about the decision. That's something Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson was more than willing to provide. As a deputy with the Olmsted County Sheriff's office in 1988, Torgerson was one of the first law enforcement officers on the scene of the murders . He responded to a call from Lourdes High School officials about a rumor Feb. 18, 1988, that Brom had hurt and possibly killed his father. Torgerson discovered the bodies of all four family members in the upstairs of the Brom home on the north outskirts of Rochester. "(I)t is still hard for me to accept and forget the sights and smells of what I saw that Thursday evening in 1988," Torgerson wrote in a statement Wednesday, July 16, 2025 responding to the SRB's decision to begin Brom's transition to parole. Togerson said he was asked in December prior to the hearing to provide written input about the decision to release Brom and that he spoke with one of the Department of Corrections commission members. In that written statement to the board that Torgerson later echoed in the public statement he made Wednesday, Torgerson said Brom has twice benefited from leniency. The first time was when his sentence for killing his youngest sister Diane was made concurrent with his sentence for killing his younger brother Ricky. "With the vicious severity and the needless nature of the killings of his little brother and sister it seemed he should have been expected to serve full sentences for both," Torgerson said. Brom's second break came with the 2023 legislation, Torgerson added. Torgerson said the sentencing decision disregarded community sentiment in 1989 and that the SRB's decision allowing Brom to move toward release at the end of the month likely does as well in 2025. Torgerson said he heard about Brom's new release date from local media. Although Torgerson said he feels his input didn't influence the SRB's decision, he said the decision has been made and that whatever happens next is up to Brom. "I hope and pray he has changed, can control his anger, and other emotions," Togerson said. "At this point we must trust he will."
CBS News
4 days ago
- CBS News
Minnesota murder victim's family retraumatized during parole process
Granting parole to a prisoner is a big decision that makes a big impact. Over the past year in Minnesota, the responsibility was turned over to citizens as part of new legislation. It used to be up to the commissioner of the Department of Corrections. So far, the Supervised Release Board has paroled a higher percentage of prisoners than any commissioner in the past 30 years. Current Commissioner Paul Schnell has reviewed the most cases, paroling nearly 17% of them. But one family says those statistics don't tell the whole story. The family of Mary Ann Hagford sits around a picnic table sharing memories of their sister and aunt as they wait for the parole hearing for her killer to start. "That's all we all we got, these pictures, these memories. She was young, 28, was just starting her life," brother Bob Hagford said. The grief wells up in their chests, the loss still present. "Boy, I'm gonna have a hard time with this, but yeah, Mary Ann was the youngest one in the bunch," Bob Hagford said. It was just before Christmas 1993. Mary Ann Hagford's live-in boyfriend, Paul Wilson, shot her in the head, killing her. They'd been drinking and had an argument in their Crystal, Minnesota, home over a Christmas tree. "There's not a lot of words, other than you're never going to see her," Bob Hagford said. A jury found Wilson guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. The judge sentenced him to life, with the possibility of parole after 30 years. They say Mary Ann Hagford's murder tore their family apart. "I was 14 when it happened. Nobody was around after this happened. Everyone was divided," nephew Michael Hagford said. The siblings found their way back to each other and are united in their desire for Wilson to stay in prison. For them, his apology letter came too late. "You'd figure there'd be remorse, days after, weeks after, you know, once you sober up. And we didn't get that for 20 years," Michael Hagford said. The family says they weren't notified ahead of Wilson's first hearing, but were present last year when the commissioner signed off on Wilson moving to a work release program. The family opposed it. "You come to these and you think, makes a difference. You come here and stay stuff, and it's going to mean something," brother Wayne Hagford said. On this day, the Hagfords listened as the Supervised Release Board questioned Wilson about why he should be free. "I believe I have grown, especially over this last year, to a person who can be a contributing member of what will be a new community," Wilson said. His wife, whom he married soon after the trial, was by his side. "I have done a lot of work to address emotions, to be able to be in emotions, not make them bigger than what they are sometimes and to have a choice," Wilson said. A member of the board questioned the prior decision made about Wilson. "Some of the things really concern me. And going back in time, I would not have voted for work release. And at this point, what are our options?" Jo Earhart said. After some discussion and reservations, the board voted to parole Wilson. "You can't put this genie back in the bottle, and the losses are insurmountable. And yet we want you to be successful. And we expect you to live a good life going forward," Schnell said. "My feeling is, is that justice wasn't served. He should be in there for a long time yet, but he's going to be free now. He's got the rest of his life and Mary Ann's got nothing," Bob Hagford said. Wilson is scheduled to be released in late August. The Department of Corrections told WCCO victims must sign up for the notification system to be alerted about updates and hearings. Click here to learn more.
