The Devil in Bellaire: Couple Murdered by 'Satan'? // 648

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1:02So just sit back, relax, and switch to team mobile today. Visit teamobl.com slash membership for details. It's better over here. What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host, Teez. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Whoa. Today's story. Whoa. It's freaking messed up. Like, yeah. All I can say is, whoa. If you are a sensitive person to goor, you may want to skip certain parts of this episode. Cory, one, let's play this after the kids go to school. This was actually recommended years ago by Kelly and we are like sifting through our recommendations, looking for cases that would feel good for October.

2:04Of course, Ethan, I like to be seasoned all in. This happened in late September, early October. So it's like perfect timing, but also because we're going to talk about Halloween today and like, oh wow. This is it. Oh wow. Oh wow. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you, Kelly. Woof. Thank you, Kelly. I can't believe that I was unfamiliar with this case before. I know I say that a lot, but whoa. This is a freaky story. And we've also had this on our list for quite some time. I remember finding it back in 2022, coming up to dive into it. So it's been four years. Sorry, Kelly. So at least Kelly, so sorry. But without further ado, this is the devil in Bel Air. So let's get into it. In the fall of 1995, a community was shattered when two members of the same family were found

3:07brutally murdered inside their home. But attention quickly turned toward a troubled person with an increasingly disturbing fascination with darkness, violence, and Satan. The investigation quickly flooded with sinister writings, a frightening list featuring the names of more local victims. And revelations so bizarre that the case would eventually earn its killer one unforgettable nickname, the devil in Bel Air. These are the murders of Marilyn and Terry Brooks. Marilyn and Terry Brooks, who were 52 and 53 at the time of their murders, were a typical midwestern couple. You know, Marilyn hailed from Kentucky and Terry from Texas, but they settled in Bel Air, Ohio. We're not in California today. Y'all, we're in Ohio. Yeah, not that Bel Air. Not that Bel Air. So this is actually right along the Ohio River adjacent to West Virginia. The pair married in 1965 and were raising their three sons in a modest home in the hills

4:08above Bel Air, where Marilyn worked as a program specialist for the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Fund in Washington. And Terry was an Air Force veteran who was working as a postal carrier, so he was a postman, a mailman, if you will. Now Bel Air was a small, safe working class town of only about 3,000 people. And there, the Brooks' were known as Quiet and generally friendly, but neighbors said that they mostly kept to themselves, very quiet kind of insular family. Not like, you know, the ones hosting the potlucks around. Yeah, not the talk of the town. No. Which I think is part of what makes this story so interesting is that this case completely changed the town of Bel Air. And as obviously, I think I can say this, the most famous, craziest thing to happen there. And so the fact that it happened to a family that was so kind of quiet, it's really interesting. Well, at the time of the murders, their oldest son James was 24.

5:08Their middle son Nathan was 17 and the youngest Ryan was 16. The family was deeply connected to their Catholic faith, and when Nathan was young, he even talked about growing up to be a priest. But as he grew older, problems arose with this middle child Nathan. By then, his older brother James had married and moved to the Columbus area with his wife, while Nathan spent the summer before his senior year in Columbus with James, you know, hanging out with his older brother. You picked up his odd behavior as well. So his brother James is really noting while they're spending all this time together, that summer in Columbus, like, oh, there's something going on with Nathan. Yeah, kind of like a little switch happens. Yeah. So Nathan was reclusive. He didn't seem to have many friends, and he had trouble making connections with kids his age. In his freshman and sophomore year at Bel Air High School, Nathan played on the football team and seemed, you know, like any other amiable student at the school, which I think is interesting that he was like on the football team, you know, you might think he's a popular

6:10young lad. But as time progressed, he fell into a downward spiral and began acting very strangely. His teachers reported Nathan discussing satanic rituals at school and also carrying a satanic Bible around with him, like, goth kid 1000. You started making that switch, you know, it's a, that's really interesting because, like, not to say I was anything like Nathan, but I remember being really into sports in middle school and then that hop to high school was just right into like music and metal. Totally. You know, emo shit. And he did that, but in a much darker way than most kids would, like, for example. Yeah, I'd say. Yeah, former peers note that he used to sign school documents, Nathan Brooks Master of Death, which is like the sound of corn. And he frequently complained of smelling rotting meat or flesh, which is like, you know, how they say that when, I think this is what they say, crack me of arm wrong.

7:12What do they say, Daphne? If like a demons around, like you smell rotting flesh. Like you know, when you have something like ghosts around, you get cold or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's nothing that demons, if there's a demon, you smell rotting meat. I think it's something similar to that. I always thought that it was like if you, it's smoke, like if you smell smoke, then the demon is never heard of that. Then you must be a demon cigarette man. But you know, I think that's kind of interesting, an interesting part of his lore and where the story is going to go that he just said that sometimes like, oh, it smells like rotting meat. And everyone's like, what? Nathan, Master of Death. Yeah, multiple people, including the school counselor who Nathan had an intimidating run in with flagged their concerns about his increasingly unstable and resentful behavior. But his parents who honestly were probably afraid of their kind of upstanding Catholic family getting a bad reputation, maintained that he was just a rebellious teenager going through a phase that he would grow out of it.

8:12And that is antics should be ignored, which that's a problem. Well, you know, this is a pretty normal thing for teenagers to go through to have a little bit of an angsty period. Sure. But nobody, most people don't respond the way that Nathan did. Yeah, I mean, yeah, to be fair, we're going to talk a lot about his behavior later as well. But I feel like this seems to be a lot further along than just him being angsty. And I think it says a lot, not saying anything bad about them, but that his parents and family seem to kind of ignore this and say, ah, he's just a teenager, ignore him. Like something's going on. We need to, we need to address this. We need to address this, yeah, the mental health angle in the room. Well, according to those who knew the family, Nathan was the clear black sheep. And his parents praised his older brother James, who had moved forward with his life after leaving Belair. And then of course, his younger brother, who had become a football star at Belair High. So even it seems like the family is like, yeah, he's the weird black sheep, ignore him, but like, oh, James, you're so amazing.

9:13Ryan, you're a star. Yeah. Which is never a good thing when that happens. No. Nathan developed a morbid fascination and curiosity about death and the afterlife, reportedly after losing two friends in high school within a short time frame. And instead of feeling, you know, melancholy or grief stricken by the loss of these friends, he became fixated on their decomposition and what would become of their souls after death. Freaky. Yes. And I want to give a little animal abuse warning here. What I'm about to say is quite disturbing, but I'll give you a second if you want to skip 10 seconds of something that Nathan did. Here we go. He was even said to nail fish to trees to watch them struggle, which just makes me sick. And James reported finding animal bones in Nathan's room when he was staying with them for the summer prior to his senior year. So even James, like, what the hell? Imagine it. Yeah. You go into the room that your brother's staying and you find animal bones.

10:16What? Yeah, pretty crazy. I mentioned to you earlier, we were talking about this and I was like, what were those the big mouth, belly, bass, the little gifts that you used to give to? Don't worry. Yeah, exactly. You used to give them to your dad or your uncle or whatever. You know, kind of seemed like a really fucked up version of that. Really? You know, nailing fish to a tree. So sad. Nathan later admitted to huffing a can or two of butane gas per day, can or two, no big deal, which gave him a temporary high, but it definitely could have caused him brain damage and developmental issues as well. Doesn't seem like a good idea. Yeah, don't do that. Yeah. Nathan was also known by the way to experiment with LSD and then of course, occasionally, marijuana. I say, of course, I don't know. I said, of course, but he did do that too, which is fine. Because the other two things are like, you know, like up here. Yeah. And then a little bit of weed. Yeah. Well, on the evening of Saturday, September 30th, 1995, Ryan and a friend named Eric Barati.

11:19Yes. Eric Barati headed to a football game and then they went back to Eric's mom's house, Pat Barati. Well, when he called home to let his parents know that he was going to be staying a little bit longer, Nathan actually picked up the phone and told him that he should be coming home instead. Which is interesting. So he's trying to get his brother to come home. Yes. Well, thankfully, Ryan didn't listen to Nathan. He's like, no, screw you. I'm going to stay with my friend. I mean, instead, it changed the course of his life. Sorry, I'm sorry. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, instead, he and Eric stopped by the home of another friend of theirs on their way back to the Brooks's home. And around 2.45 AM, Ryan and Eric arrived home to find a scene straight out of a horror movie. Nathan's parents, Marilyn and Terry Brooks, who slept in separate rooms, by the way, had both been killed and mutilated in their beds. Terry Brooks's body was found in his bed, having been shot in the back of the head, and his head had been detached from his body.

12:22His arms were split out above his torso and blood spatter surrounded the room. His head was actually left inside of a punch bowl in the living room and around the edges of the bowl were ashes, as if somebody was, you know, trying to burn something there. What possibly Terry's head? Well, tacked on the walls in Nathan's room were depictions of demons and pentagrams. Supposedly, indicating that his father's head was some sort of demonic sacrifice or offering. Marilyn Brooks, on the other hand, was also found in her bed in her room, still under the comforter, which was doused in her blood. She had sustained at least 10 stab wounds, and had also been struck in the back of the head with an axe. God, like so many wet beds. Yeah, there's just a whole lot to unpack here as far as, like, everything that these two experienced, you know, during their murders. Well, there were nails and a hammer left near her body, and the detectives who later assessed this scene actually believed that her killer was going to attempt to crucify her upside

13:25down to make a joke of biblical crucifixion. God. Since, of course, she was Catholic. Well, the knife that was used to stab her was still lodged in her body when police assessed this scene. On Nathan's bed was an axe, a shotgun, and the hexal that was used to sever Terry's head, which is just like, I mean, again, this is straight out of horror movie. And it's like, you know, hiding any of it. It's all right there. You didn't clean up the scene, didn't remove the creepy ship from your bedroom. It's almost like you wanted police to see to walk into this house of horrors. Well, there was also no sign of a struggle. So, you know, actually, police believed that the killer was able to murder them while they were still asleep. And then did this horrific shit to them? Yeah. 16-year-old Ryan Brooks and his friend, Eric, found their bodies, and they raced to the home of Eric's dad, Dennis, in a nearby trailer park before reporting to a local fire station to report this absolutely insane crime.

14:28Meanwhile, Nathan was out there looking for his brother, Ryan. Some locals recall that he was stalking the streets with a knife or a shotgun during the search for his brother, Ryan, which, you know, will make a lot more sense here in a minute. But Pat Barotti recalled Nathan, who seemed a bit manic at the time, showing up at her home at 3 a.m., needing to speak with Ryan urgently. But by then, Ryan and Eric had already left, so she just sent him on his way. But could you even imagine, and especially with what we're going to talk about here in a second, like she came so close to being possibly another victim of Nathan's? Well, and just the fact that he is so desperate to find his brother, and it's not in the way that you might think, because it's not like he's saying something happened to our parents where's my brother, he's looking for him for a different reason. A very different reason. So based on the report of Ryan, this is of course Ryan Brooks, the younger brother, and

15:29Eric 9-1-1 was summoned at 3 a.m. for a report of a possible homicide at the Brooks House. Nathan had taken the family car and was apprehended near the Winding Hill Cemetery. This is a local cemetery, and it's very like, I don't know, it looks like an old, creepy cemetery for sure with a really beautiful sign. It looks old. I mean, put a picture up. Pretty creepy that after literally murdering two people, you find him at a cemetery, and that's where you arrest him. He's like my second home. Well, could you imagine being one of the police officers on duty that night, and you're tasked with finding somebody who just brutally murdered and mutilated their parents, and then you're like, I wonder where we should look for this kid at, you know, and then- At the cemetery. At the fucking cemetery. It's so, I mean, so disturbing and so eerie. Anybody who had to work on this case like my heart goes out to them. Yeah. Well, Nathan was arrested in the early morning hours of Sunday, October 1st, 1995, and

16:30broke down and admitted to the crime immediately. Like wasn't even trying to get away with it. Like we were saying he left the scene behind at the house and he was like, okay, I did it. Well, he, you know, and the thing about this is like, he took the family car, but it's not like he was trying to flee the state or anything. He just went to the cemetery. He just drove to the cemetery. Well, he was unarmed at the time of his arrest, and he had changed his clothes so that there was no evidence of blood on him. Well, the horror still awaited detectives back at the Brooks home because, along with the pictures and documents about Satanism that he'd hung up in the room, or sorry, hung up in the home, and in his room, I guess. Nathan also had a book about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and a Satanic Bible. You know, the one he would carry around school. He was reportedly also learning Latin in order to commune with demonic spirits like fully diving into the Satanism holy shit. Yeah, he's really embracing it. Sheriff James Zusak recalled quote, he would speak English and he would speak flu in Latin, then go back to English.

17:32That was really weird to me that he would do that. I didn't know if he was making sense, but that's something. He worshiped Satan, of course. I wasn't at the crime scene. Thank goodness. I feel bad for the guys that were there. Feel bad for his brother who had defined his parents like that. Also, among Nathan's personal effects was a list of people whom he supposedly was ready to kill next, including their Catholic priest, and a list of girls that he felt had rejected him or wronged him. Nathan. Classic. Alasic. Well, you know, what's really interesting, one quick point that I wanted to make is that this was kind of before that trend that was happening that we were seeing all across the United States of school shootings taking place. Right before, yeah. And so, you know, just the fact that he had that list and he also had guns in the home, you know, I'm, I'm thankful, but surprise that he didn't go there. Well, that's what's so shocking about the fact that he admitted to it is like he had

18:33a list who's ready to do this to more people. And it makes me wonder if he killed his parents and then maybe didn't enjoy it as much as he thought he would or didn't feel like he could do that again. I mean, I know this is so morbid to say, but decapitating your father and everything that he did to both of them was probably a really hefty job. Like, yeah, it was a lot of work. And this is really reminding me of the Kip Kinko case from Springfield, Oregon. I remember when that happened. I was in middle school. He killed his parents and then he did go to school and shoot up the school, which was, I mean, horrifying for everybody that lived in the community. And also the same for the prom night murders. I think we covered that last year or earlier this year, I can't remember which, but very similar. Well, one of the notes that he had because again, he had all these like writings and lists and such, he apparently wrote, this is really disgusting. I hope you're not eating that he wanted to cook his victims and eat them on hot dog buns in a local fast food restaurant.

19:33Buck. Also written on that list were what he hoped to do to his parents and his brother, Ryan, which were the first three names indicated on the list. You know, his parents and Ryan, but of course, he hadn't gotten a chance to kill Ryan yet since he hadn't been home. So we must remember that he called Ryan at his friends house and was urging him to come home, went out physically looking for him because he wanted to murder him. Yeah, that call was a ploy to get Ryan to go home so that Nathan could kill him. That just freaks me out to my core. Well, by Ryan's names were the words decapitate dismember. Next to mother, he wrote quote, eviscerate crucify. Next to father, he wrote decapitate, which of course he did. He did these things. I mean, and then he was going, this is what leads us to believe as well other than the nails that he wanted to crucify his mother. So freaky. And ten additional first names believed to be fellow Belier high students.

20:36Or scrawled beneath the names of his three family members. Well, it gets even more fucked up because next to a handful of the names, he had written quote, molest sum. What? Like what the fuck? Just so it's just so sick and twisted. Oh, I know the way you're about to say as well. Yeah. Then after a few others, he had written skin. So he wanted to skin people. Two of the female names had dismember eviscerate written after them. Two of the other names had been crossed out as if he kind of maybe decided against going after these two people. What was that thought process like? Yeah. And then a few of the names were also grouped together in twos or threes as if he was planning to attack multiple people at once. Stan Galovnia, who worked as the chief deputy of jail administration for the Belmont County Sheriff's Office at the time, you know, of course, of Nathan's arrest, remembered quote, when I first met him, he seemed very dark and distant. I had never seen someone with dark eyes like Nathan had.

21:37He was numb. We never had very involved conversations, but those meetings put Nathan in a very different place, a very dark, different place. While Nathan was being transported to the sheriff's office for questioning, he actually heard the reports of the search of the Brooks's home on the police radio while he was in the back of the car with Stan. And this made him apparently agitated. I don't know why this is giving me like Dr. Loomis for some reason. It's kind of giving me like, like, Stan is giving me Dr. Loomis. Oh, sure, of course. And in a way, I see that. And then Nathan is Michael Myers. Yeah. Well, in the police interview after his arrest, Nathan even admitted that he had been seeking Ryan out left behind at Eric's house was a note affixed to the wall with a knife that read on the envelope for Ryan. If anyone else touches, I will kill you. And he will. Yeah, and he'll do it. There was also cash found inside as well as a handwritten note that read quote, this

22:38is Nathan. I murdered two people and I'm going to turn myself in. So interesting. Also, two people, you mean mom and dad, and then be cash. Why? Just to be like, here's a little something for you. But by the way, I really wanted to murder and dismember you like 10 minutes ago and then I changed my mind. And now I'm going to press. Well, he actually made a really interesting point later on where he essentially explained that the only reason why I wanted to kill Ryan is to spare Ryan of having to see his see their parents like that, mutilated and murdered. And so he's like, I want Ryan to go with mom and dad. But I mean, just the fact that he wrote, sorry, let me go. Let me look at what it was. So I know exactly what he said. Next to Ryan's name, to capitate dismember. So it's like, if you want, first of all, like not your choice of how Ryan is going to take this news, I'm sure he'd rather live. Yeah. I mean, you're still going to do something like horrific to his body. I don't know. Yeah, I think after he killed his parents, he kind of had like a change of heart, if you

23:41will. It appears so. And decided, here's some cash. I'm going to give it to Ryan. I'm going to prison for the rest of my life. I already know it. I'm going to turn myself in. Didn't end up killing Ryan because I couldn't find him. So here's somebody. Have a nice life. So strange. Well, in the recorded interview that he gave in the aftermath of the crime, Nathan said candidly, quote, then I took a walk. I was deciding something. I was deciding if I wanted to kill more people. I drove around looking for him. Of course, you know, talking about Ryan. Now, initially, Ryan went to stay with James, but within weeks, he actually went back to school and even continued to play football despite this horrific ordeal that he went through. And I think that was part of maybe, you know, the coping mechanism is like, if I can just get back to normal life and do the things that I love to do, maybe this won't hurt me as much. I mean, poor kid, like 16 years old, not only, not only were your parents murdered and is your brother a murderer, but you had to walk in and find him.

24:43You saw your mother. You saw your father's decapitated head. These images, I am sure, have never left him. And again, also the fact that now you don't have your two parents. And that you're, you know, and you have to live with the fact that your brother is the one who did it. And now you lost your brother too. Exactly. Which it seems like, you know, they weren't the best of friends if this is how things were going to unravel anyway, but show so disturbing. Well, of course, Nathan was quick to blame his communing with Satan for the reason that the murders had taken place. When the interviewer wondered, quote, you talk to Satan? Nathan responded, yeah, the officer then asked, does he talk back to you? Which Nathan answered, quote, yeah, just like you talk to the Lord. Sometimes he just answers back. He apparently also told Sheriff Tom McCork, quote, I can't stop this. I tried. I need help. It keeps coming. Nathan was taken to a juvenile detention center for psychiatric evaluation.

25:46And on October 3rd, 1995, he entered a plea of not guilty, despite admitting to committing the crime. We'll get into why. While on October 6th, a judge ruled that 17-year-old Nathan should be tried as an adult. You know, obviously, he's very close to adulthood. And what he did was so horrific, so gruesome, so this led to two charges of aggravated murder. However, the death penalty was off the table because of his age. So they wouldn't do that, but, you know, they're considering still trying him as an adult. Strangely. On October 8th, so a few days later, a fire broke out at the home of the police. The knife thatег the sentence and the assault was a lie. You see it. It wasn't, it wasn't. But it killers took and the jury was a tough." It got in a room. From the UN, Louis Vuitton, on October 20, deserve to be released on October 15th. Here describes Mr. Robinson, quote,ется,

26:52like is that house is fucking haunted and Scott demons in it. Let's burn it to the ground. Right. Truly. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean fully. Well, as you guys can imagine, the community was locked in a full blown panic that this was the first of many incidents of its kind. Of course, as we all know, the time period was primed for this kind of crime because in 1995, the satanic panic of the 1980s and the early 1990s was very much still lingering. Yeah. And I don't know. I always feel like the satanic panic is also in the 70s, but I guess it is more of the 80s. But it's been, you know, we've been worried about this for a while. Yeah. I mean, when we go back and we talk about satanic panic, a lot of that kind of revolved around metal music. I remember like some metal musicians from like, you know, 80s, hair metal and stuff actually had to go to court to defend their music. It's crazy. We didn't talk about that. Yeah, because kids were like, you know, listening to their music and, and, you know, people thought that kids were using those lyrics

27:54to do these bad things to kill people and commit other crimes and shit. So strange. Yeah, it's very, very 80s. Well, as fear still gripped the town, rumor swirled, adding to hysteria surrounding the case and everybody feared that they had been a target. So it really, like I said earlier, put this small town on the map. It was actually so disturbing to the residents that they wound up canceling the main Halloween festivities that year. And it was also suggested in the press that no one should dress up as a witch, a demon or a vampire for Halloween. Yeah, they were not taking any chances. They were not going there because in their minds, they're probably thinking this is so horrific that one kid did this. Could there be more kids out there that were associated with Nathan? Who could do more of this? Like, you know, Nathan master of death, basically canceled Halloween for that town. Yeah, I mean, they're going full, Laurie Strode. They're waiting, they're waiting for an November first. You know, they were probably really scared on Halloween. I would imagine that somebody else was going to do something.

28:54Well, despite the fact that the suspect, of course, was in custody, residents of the town reportedly feared that copycats would come onto the scene and be in town and try to mimic what Nathan did. And they wondered also if he was a part of a larger network of Sataness in the Bel Air area. There you go. So that's why they were really afraid. So starting that year, the town put on an event called Buet the Park. And this was staged in the park near Bel Air High. And it was started with the express motivation of keeping the kids in the community safe. And the event is actually still held today. A councilwoman for Bel Air, Lew and Bennett maintains that many residents who are around at the time of the murders cannot forget the Brooks murders, no matter how much time has passed. Saying, quote, the police officers and firefighters have kept a close eye on trick or treat. Because well, I think everyone is still shocked with the details of those murders. I think it taught everyone a lesson we

29:54unfortunately needed to learn. There were a lot of community meetings after those murders because no one knew about Satanic worshiping. And what we all learned was that it's possible anywhere and at any time. Parents never used to go trick or treating with their kids in Bel Air. The kids used to just go off by themselves, not anymore, not since those murders. From the year after up until today, every kid is accompanied by one or both parents. But I hear about it every year around this time. And people still wonder about the list and about the reasons why he did what he did. The way he went about those murders was so brutal. Like something you would only see in a movie or hear about from a much bigger city somewhere. But not in Bel Air. Not then, not now. Lily Reinhardt and Tom Bateman start in the love hypothesis, a smart, swoony romcom about a fake relationship that sparks very real chemistry.

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31:56Banking services and chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Qualifying direct deposits required, terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com slash disclosures for details. Well, back in 1995, the community was so afraid after Marilyn and Terry's horrific murders that a reverend of the local method his church, Mick Foster, told the press quote, I've never seen fear overcome a community like this. We've got teenagers sleeping with their parents, adults, who won't go out after dark, and parents who never leave their children. I wonder how Nathan felt about his legacy. You know, I hate to call it that, but the fact that he like literally terrorized a town for decades, I know a lot of parents out there are probably like, yeah, I trick or treat with my kids too, because the world is scary, but I think the fact that everybody is really cementing that like, he did this to us. Yeah, and I think the reason why it's so much more,

33:00or talked about is because it's a small town, you know? There's not very many people there, so it's like, if something like that were to happen in Junction City, Oregon, nobody would forget that either. You know, yeah, and his murder's happened in every city. And Junction City is where he, this from, is like four times bigger than this. So, you know, with like 12,000 residents, still very small, but this is even smaller. So, I mean, sorry to keep making the Halloween references and tacking on to what you said, heath about that, but like, this really is like, hadn't field. Like, he really is the Michael Myers, except for, you know, he's not gonna get out. We help, but, yeah, but you know, it's, it's, he really terrorized this town. Well, one resident interviewed for a local paper, her name was Glenda Guthrie, claimed quote, we don't want to ruin kids as fun, but parents are afraid to send them out on the street. We don't know who's out there and what's going on. Everybody's scared to death. Mayor Tino Espicito suggested to the community that despite the fact that Nathan had already been arrested,

34:00again, the community should skip trick or treating and instead organize a costume parade to prioritize the safety of their residents. So, yeah, I mean, and this is just, it's kind of crazy because decades later, Stan Galaveena remembered quote, I can tell you there's still a lot of people who've been on edge since those murders took place. There were a lot of rumors flying around back then and then the trial proved a lot of the rumors to be true. And I think one thing that really shook people up was the fact that Nathan did have a list of people that he was gonna kill that night. No one really knows why it all stopped with his mother and father, but when deputies arrived at that scene, it was the first time anyone saw what they saw inside that house. I know Sheriff McCourt was trying to keep a lot of the details quiet, but word got out about the nature of the murders and about things like the punch bowl and all the Satanic symbols. That's why Belair canceled their Halloween that year. For the most part, Nathan's classmates and family

35:01were shocked. Even though, like we mentioned earlier, his behavior had been somewhat disturbing of late. But Eric's mom, Pat Barotti, as well as an unnamed student of Belair High School who described herself as a friend of Nathan's, both said that they actually kind of saw this coming. Pat recalled Nathan's fixation with devil worship and his friend claimed that she remembered Nathan's frequent fights with his mom. She also alleged that he was deeply envious of his younger brother Ryan, who was popular and well liked in school, unlike Nathan, but that none of his behavior was alarming enough to have predicted what he did. The friend recalled, quote, he was normal. I still can't believe he did this. I knew he had fights with his parents, but so did I, everybody does. Well, after his arrest, a teacher of Nathan's named Bruce Young, as well as the principal of the school, cleared out Nathan's locker and found another potential hit list with multiple names on it, leading police to believe that he planned on killing those people as well.

36:03Reportedly on the list was the priest of the family's Catholic church. This was the church was St. John Catholic church and this was for father Yance. Father Yance later officiated the funeral actually for Marilyn and Terry. Nathan's fellow students admitted that he could be eccentric and even strange, but that his actions never seemed to be particularly threatening. Fellow student John claimed, quote, he sort of did some crazy stuff, but a lot of people do weird things when they're young. Well, the police tried to run damage control on the panic that was spreading throughout this community with rampant concern that, of course, more satanic sacrifices were gonna follow. Belair's police chief, Bob Wallace, maintained that many elements of the case were being exaggerated by the community and as well as in the media stating, quote, there's no indication that this is a hit list. Okay, then what kind of fucking list is it? It's a hit list. It's a hit list. I think he's trying to calm the flames. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's trying to make sure that people aren't scared.

37:06Well, he said, there's no confirmation that this is a coven. We are trying to separate the fact from fiction. And again, like you mentioned, I think he's just trying to calm everybody down, make sure everybody knows that nothing. It feels like a scene from a movie. Everybody be calm. Like Josh? Pretty much. I don't know if that's the real thing, but also the fact that he said, there's no confirmation that this is a coven. He's trying to make sure that people aren't worried. There's no other people out there, which is funny that he said coven because he's not claiming to be like a witch. But like, I don't know. I think he's definitely just trying to chill people out. Yeah, and like, you know, Lewand Bennett said earlier, she said that, you know, nobody really knew about like Satan worship in this town because that just wasn't there. That's not their identity. They don't, nobody knows about this stuff. Right. Estimates ranged from between 16 to 30 names of possible victims on the list. But Sheriff Tom McCourt maintained quotes,

38:07I didn't count them, but there is nowhere near 30 on it. This is nothing more than the workings of a troubled mind. I mean, yeah, like, yeah, okay. There's at least 15 that appears. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think he's like, there's nowhere near 30, but it's like there's 15. Yeah, I mean, yeah, and there's still a lot. You don't need to downplay it. Like, you know, just it is what it is and it's horrible. Yeah, it's horrible, but it is what it is. Well, the judge placed a gag order on the case, meaning that nobody involved could speak publicly about it. And the press was also forbidden from taking pictures of Nathan passing to and from the courthouse or the juvenile detention center where he was being held. Because they're like, we really just don't want to keep pushing this out in the public. We don't want any copycats, which is interesting. This is probably why there are so few photos of this case, by the way, even of Marilyn and Terry. Yeah, and really only like one picture of Nathan around that age. So, so yeah, I mean, tell us what they even did

39:09to prevent them from taking that picture of him going into the court. Yeah, so actually for added security, Nathan wore a towel over his head when heading to and from his court appearances. Wow. I wonder if they were kind of trying to bury this whole story. Many witnesses who were interviewed reported that he was suffering abuse at the home and that that may have been the bigger trigger that led to him snapping and seeking revenge on his parents. Marilyn and Terry were reportedly super strict and very hard on their middle son, of course, Nathan, with Terry in particular, acting as a harsh disciplinarian. He reportedly suffered erratic mood swings and also had a drinking problem, which he refused to address. And it seemed to have taken its toll on Nathan. Marilyn's sister and Nathan's aunt, Marla, even affirmed allegations of abuse taking place in the home, saying that Nathan was always a sensitive child, but that Terry was physically rough and verbally cruel to him in hopes of just toughening him up. Starting as far back as when he was a toddler.

40:10It says a lot that even Marla is like, yeah, he didn't have it easy at home. It's coming from an inside source, somebody that's, you know, not Nathan saying it. Well, this is why I pointed out earlier as well, the fact that his parents had apparently said, oh, just ignore him. He'll get out of this phase. It really, it really seemed not that at all justifies what he did, but it could partially explain why he acted out because maybe he was ignored quite a bit. Yeah, and I think this is kind of a motive for his hatred towards his mother because Marilyn reportedly abstained from getting in between them, like Terry and Nathan, or becoming involved in their disputes for fear that Terry would retaliate against her. So she kind of potentially let it happen? Yes, so it's possible that Nathan, you know, was kind of like, you're enabling my father to do this. And so therefore, you're also on my shit list.

41:12Very sad situation all around. Yeah. Well, Councilwoman Luan Bennett remembered, quote, his father, Terry, was my mailman at the time, and he and I would talk sometimes because he said that he was concerned about his kids and how they were doing in school. I got the impression that he put a lot of pressure on those boys where their grades were concerned. But I have no idea if that was one of the reasons why Nathan did what he did. Luan was especially surprised at what it transpired because her teenage daughter, Bobby Joe, had been a friend and classmate of Nathan's. Small town? Yeah. Talking to her daughter in the aftermath and being stunned at what it transpired, saying, quote, she was shocked because he had never mentioned anything about it and he didn't try to recruit her. They would sit together at the library and talk about school and talk about their classmates. But she says he never mentioned wanting to kill anyone. But there are differing reports about his parents' personalities and sensibilities and the amount of alleged abuse that was taking place in the home.

42:13Obviously, as you can imagine, both Ryan and Eric were deeply disturbed by what they had seen that night. I mean, again, I can't even imagine. So Eric went to therapy for years to work through this trauma. And Ryan ultimately decided to change his name and even his social security number in order to create distance between himself and the case and his brother. Nathan's trial began in October of 1996. He and his legal team attempted to build a case for his insanity plea. And psychologist Jay Daniel Barna took to the stand to proclaim that he was, quote, very, very, very dangerous. He even went as far as to label Nathan a psychopath. A second psychologist named John Mason, who also spoke extensively with Nathan, alleged that he was, quote, constantly plagued by these desires to kill. He called it a compulsion, which Nathan had been grappling with since he was just five years old.

43:13However, a third psychologist named Howard Beasel testified that, well, he may have had a severe personality disorder. He did not have a mental disorder. It seems like every, this is what's kind of tough about psychologists is they all are professionals. But they all seemingly have different opinions. Right, right, exactly. They diagnosed people differently. But when his defense team had a recess for psychiatric aberrations, it was announced in the press that his behavior was consistent with paranoid schizophrenia, delusions of grandeur, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Now, it's unclear if this fixation on demonic spirits and on killing his parents was revenge for what he felt was unfair treatment, or if it was truly motivated by psychiatric problems. Nathan later told Psychiatrist that he saw his father as a devil-like figure and blamed his mom, like he said, for not stepping in and stopping the physical abuse that he suffered at the hands of his father as a result of his father's alcoholism.

44:17Yeah, I mean, when you said that people don't know if it was because of this unfair treatment, or if it was psychiatric problems, it was probably a mixture of both. Fully agree with you. Nathan's defense also revolved around the idea that he was suffering abnormal blood flow in his brain, perhaps as a result of hallucinogenic drug use, and that this may have been to blame for the crime, so it could be a third factor, honestly. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he was literally huffing fucking butane. Yeah, every day one to two cans. Yeah. Well, like Heath said earlier, Nathan actually told the court that he had only hope to kill his brother in order to spare him, saying, quote, I didn't want him to see what I did. I wanted him to be with my mom and dad, which again, you're saying, my father's the devil and my mother's an enabler. But you want Ryan to suffer when he's done nothing to you. And also, well, he did walk in on what you did, because you did that to his parents too. Yeah, that happened. On October 21, 1996, Nathan was convicted

45:19of two counts of aggravated first degree murder and was sentenced to two 20-year sentences, plus three years for the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Right, because remember, he did shoot his father in the back of the head. Yes. Nathan declined to make a statement. His aunt, Marla Smith, told the press, quote, we want everyone to know that we love him and we will stand by him. Wow. Which is pretty crazy. And then she went on to say, we hope he does not fall through the cracks in the system. Following his sentencing, stand, drove him to the prison, and remember that he was silent and emotionless throughout the announcement of the verdict and his subsequent transport. Stan recalled, quote, he asked me what prison was going to be like or something along those lines. What's it going to be like when I get there or something like that? I don't know. Maybe that's when it all became real for this young man. I don't know. Of their interactions, Stan remembered, quote, I don't want to say he scared me because that's not what this was.

46:21But it was eerie if that makes sense. I think I feared what he might do and I'm telling you, I'll never forget his eyes. They are quite dark. Yeah. I learned during my career that when I've looked into somebody's eyes and they're nothing but black and empty, there's something very wrong. There were two parents dead, and we knew that he was hunting down his younger brother before he was arrested. So yes, something was very wrong. But then we learned about this hit list of names of the others that he wanted to kill. I wasn't scared of him. OK, that's the second time you've said, you're not scared of him. I think it's real. It's OK if you're a little scared. It's OK. Yeah, it's very creepy. He says, I wasn't scared of him, but he was a very empty young man who had those empty eyes in that blank stare. So yes, he was very eerie to me. Well, Nathan was eligible for parole in November of 2025, but it was denied. For now, he remains in prison. When asked to speak with the producers of a series

47:22that's called The Devil in Belair, Nathan declined via email, ironically, citing that the true crime genre has equaled perverse desire for violence. I think you do, too. Are you dead? At least. Kettle. Black. Kettle, pot. Kettle, pot. Black. You know? It's like, OK, Nathan. He maintained that he had been keeping busy and doing work on himself, including reading and taking up drawing and painting, and that he enjoyed listening to heavy metal music. So still listening to the metal music. Which is totally fine. By the way, just a strange that Nathan is doing, you know, anyway, Nathan Brooks is now 48 years old. He'll be up for parole again in 2035. However, prosecutors remain hopeful that he will not see release. According to Belmont County prosecutor Kevin Flanagan, quote, setting a date now is necessary under the statute.

48:26The parole authority has no choice but to do so. And 10 years, the process will start over with the board reviewing evidence, letters, and institutional records before rendering a decision. Which I hope that decision is no. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. As Daphne mentioned, there's not a ton of photos that are associated with today's case. But if you would like to see them, you can watch us on YouTube or you can head to our socials. We're on Instagram at Going West Podcast. We're also on Facebook as well as TikTok. Yes, so on YouTube or on our socials, please give us a follow, subscribe on YouTube comment as well on any of the above. Yeah. Because we really want to know what you guys think of this case in every case we cover. We love talking about these stories with you guys. I mean, this one was so truly deserving and unhinged. Thank you, Kelly.

49:27Yes, thank you, Kelly. And I can't believe that to this day, the town of Bel Air still talks about this. They're still scared. They still think that what happened back then could happen again. And it's like, he really, Nathan really put a strain or a scar, what am I trying to say here? He's a scar. Put a scar on the city of Bel Air. Yeah, he made an impression for sure. Yes, a bad one. A very bad one. I mean, it's wild to think that people are still afraid that somebody could, I mean, there's some messed up people out there like somebody might, I hope not. So let's knock on the old table. Yeah, and they still do boo in the park, as you mentioned. So it's like, you know, that's still a, it's, there's a fresh reminder every year, really, that this happened and I understand why it lives on in these households because this story is truly so disgusting. Yes. Well, thank you guys again for listening or watching.

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