An Oklahoma couple suspected by police of murdering their six children before taking their own lives had been under financial pressure, while the husband suffered crippling headaches from a workplace head injury, family say.
The Broken Arrow Police Department on Sunday named Brian Nelson, 34, and Brittany Nelson, 32, as the parents who were found dead with their six children, aged 1 to 13, in a burning home in Tulsa on 27 October.
Brian Nelson’s parents, Danny and Marilyn Nelson, told Tulsa World they had been due to babysit their grandchildren on the day they died so that Brittany Nelson could go to a doctor’s appointment. They asked Brian Nelson to bring the children to their house at 5pm.
“Five came and went. Then it was six. I texted them — no responses,” Danny Nelson 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. That’s where my son lives.”
Danny Nelson told the outlet that he drove the five miles to his son’s property and that his worst fears were confirmed when he found police and fire officers at the scene.
Police said six children were found dead in a bedroom at the back of the house, and the two adults were in a room at the front of the property.
They have said none died as a result of the fire, but have not yet released their causes of death pending a medical examiner’s report.
The grandparents gave the children’s names are grandsons Brian II, 13, Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2, and granddaughters Brantley, 9, and Britannica, 1.
In 2020, the parents filed for bankruptcy listing assets of $8,803, including nine firearms -- five pistols valued at $1600, a .22-calibre rifle and two shotguns worth a combined $250.
Marilyn Nelson told Tulsa World her son always carried a pistol with him and had a legal permit.
The couple had debts of around $138,000, most of which was unpaid student loans, per federal court documents obtained by Tulsa World.
The parents reported a gross 2019 income of $4,510 and survived mostly off federal and state benefits, according to the bankruptcy filing.
Brian Nelson’s parents told Tulsa World that he had suffered a life-changing concussion in his 20s when he slipped and hit his head while stocking refrigerators overnight at a large retail chain.
“The headaches were horrible, and he never knew when he was going to get them,” Marilyn Nelson told the newspaper.
She said the couple, who had been high school sweethearts, had been under increasing financial pressure after the births of their two youngest children.
“I want people to know that at one time he had all his brain together,” Marilyn Nelson 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.”
Brittany had been stressed from homeschooling the six children and experienced health problems, they said. Danny Nelson said he thought the stress of “trying to figure out how to make it” from month to month had got to them.
