Criminology - The Broken Arrow Murders

Episode Date: March 6, 2022

On July 22nd, 2015, dispatchers in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma received a 911 call. The call itself is chilling and it led authorities to the murders of five members of the Bever family. The scene inside the Bever home was shocking. The news that the murders had been committed by two of the Bever boys was also shocking. Two of their sisters survived the attack and one sister was able to tell authorities just who had committed the murders. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murders in Broken Arrow of the Bever family. 18-year-old Robert Bever and 16-year-old Michael Bever had a very close bond. They discovered over time that they both shared some very dark fantasies. And they made the decision to make those dark fantasies a reality. The question that many ask is how two children could murder most of their family and were there signs leading up to the massacre that went unaddressed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 197 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Mike Morford, what's going on with you, buddy? I'm doing good, but I was the victim of a break in this week. Someone got into our vehicles, which in the grand scheme of true crime isn't a big deal. but, you know, it had me on the case.

I was investigating for the day and trying to figure out who did this and not to make light of the serious crime that happens. But, and that's sort of overshadowed by what's going on over in the Ukraine right now. And that's all over the news, obviously. And my heart goes out to the people that are there and what they're going through. And I hope this is over quickly. Yeah, I mean, that's something that I've been watching. I've probably watched more news in the last week.

week than I've watched in a very long time. I've been glued to the television, you know, watching what's going on over there. I'll echo what you said. My heart breaks, you know, for these people, but there are a lot of acts of heroism coming out. You know, you've got the guys on Snake Island telling this Russian warship to go F themselves. Grandmas, you know, standing up to troops. I mean, they're outnumbered. There's no doubt about it. But it's the resilience of the Ukrainians is what has really, you know, kind of enthralled me. It's just amazing. Yeah, and that country is the size of Texas, I think, I've heard.

So, you know, that stuff we're seeing all over TV, that awful stuff is going on in such a small area, you know, relative to the size. And, you know, I just hope it ends soon and things can get back to normal as positive. Yeah, well, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it. I think the world will be too. I mean, it's pretty amazing also to see, you know, pretty much everyone come together and stand in unity against something. Because let's face it, we've been pretty divided on a lot of different things over the years. With the exception of, you know, a handful of countries, everyone's coming out and saying this is wrong. But now we have to transition. Before we jump into the episode, let's give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Carrie DeSormo, Alyssa Marie, Jen King, Nick, K, Anna Mullinax,

and Ann Minor Slothauer. So that's a lot of great new support and more if we really appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Every week we give those shoutouts. It's amazing how many people are willing to support the show. We can't thank you enough. And anyone that's interested can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. Yeah, we really appreciate that support. All right, buddy, let's dive right into this episode. And like most cases we discuss, this is a very sad one. You know, what's tough about this case is that you can look back at a lot of awful things that eventually led up to a violent conclusion. But you're powerless to change the outcome. I think this is a case when, you know, you look back at some troubling things. You wonder why no one said anything, why no one noticed

that something terrible was possibly going to happen. We're talking about the Beaver family murders in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. David and April Beaver got married in 1987 when April was just 15 and David was 23. They went on to have seven children, four sons, and three daughters together. They were from oldest youngest, Robert, Michael, Daniel, Christopher, Victoria, Crystal, and Autumn. The Beaver family kept to themselves, mostly staying at their large $245,000 house, located at 709 Magnolia Court in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. April stayed home and homeschooled all the children, and David was a technology consultant with HP, working from home. They seemed like a pretty normal family, but perhaps not overly friendly, choosing to keep them themselves. At around 1130 p.m. on July 22nd,

2015, dispatchers and Broken Air received a 911 call. Broken Air 9-1-1. Broken Air 9-1-1. Hello? Hi, where are you at? They open out Oklahoma 7 411. What address? Seven. Seven.

Okay. Are you the only one there? No. My dad is attacking my family. Your dad is attacking your family? No, my dog will. No. I have a day.

Oh, I can you have millions. People now. Okay. Who is attacking your family? What? Who's attacking your family? attacking your family? Yes.

Who is it? Do they hear? I'll call them. Are you there? Hello? Hi. What's going on there? What's going on there?

Hello? Hello? Now, that audio wasn't the clearest, but as you can hear, a voice that sounded like a young boy, cried out almost in a whisper. my brother's attacking my family. The dispatcher thought the caller said, Father at first. After a moment of clarification between the caller and dispatcher,

an older male voice got on the phone and said hello before apparently stepping away from the phone. It's then that you can hear a scream in the background, as well as some other words and then the call disconnects. Authorities were able to call the number back. The phone was registered to the bevers. 709 Magnolia Court and Brokenwood, but when the call center operator called back, they got no answer, so they dispatched police to the address.

Officers arrived just a few minutes later, and they found blood in the yard and a puddle of it on the porch and threshold of the front door. They heard faint cries coming from inside the home. They immediately decided to break down the locked front door, and that's where they found 13-year-old Crystal Beaver, suffering from severe stab wounds, including a slit throat. She was still alive, but barely. Her wounds were very serious. She hadn't moved from where she had been apparently dragged back inside the house, based on the trail of blood.

She was able to tell police that her brother, Robert, had attacked her. Police radioed for an ambulance, and EMTs raced crystals to the hospital, and they didn't think she would survive, because her internal organs were actually sticking out of the gashes on her body, and she had lost a lot of blood. So, I mean, right off the bat here, Morp, we have a grisly scene and it's going to get worse. We're going to talk about that in a minute. But I want to take a step back and talk about 911 operators and EMTs.

I mean, what a tough job. You know, you think about a 911 operator. Okay, I get it. Maybe some of the calls are routine, but quite a. few are not. And you know, you've got a call like this one and you heard the audio. It wasn't all that clear, right? What was going on? So as a 911 operator, what do you do? When you can't really talk to the person on the other end, then when you try to call back, they don't answer. Well, obviously you get emergency personnel out there. But, you know, I do want to recognize what a tough job

that is. And then, you know, talk about EMTs. They get to the home. They find a 13 year old crystal with unimaginable wounds. I mean, you mentioned it. Her internal organs were sticking out of, you know, some of the wounds on her body. How do you, you know, kind of see things like this day in, day out? number one, process it quickly and be able to react. But then to me, the bigger question, you know, how do you go home at night or go home to your family and kind of shut that part down and just be, you know, a wife, a husband, a mother, a father, you really got to give it up for some of these people. Yeah, this whole situation just started out badly right from the beginning from the call

disconnecting, as you mentioned, the stress that goes along with the operator trying to keep someone on the line. And when the call gets connected and they've got a call back, you have to, you know, just imagine the adrenaline they have. And then they're trying to relay the information to EMTs, to police, whoever's going out there. And the police, you know, we've talked about a lot of case where they arrive at a scene and things are quiet and everything looks normal. Maybe they not. They don't get an answer here. It's the opposite. They arrive and they're seeing signs of blood all over the place. They're hearing screams, cries

from inside the house. So they know right away that this is not one of those calls where things seem normal. They know that something bad happened here. As authorities moved carefully searching the rest of the house, they found two-year-old Autumn Beather,

sleeping completely unharmed, in an upstairs bedroom. Tragically, though, 52-year-old David and 44-year-old April Beaver as well as three of their five children, 12-year-old Daniel, 10-year-old Christopher, and 5-year-old Victoria were all dead. This was a very bloody crime scene. Based on Crystal statement, she made to police when they arrived, authorities knew they were looking for

18-year-old Robert Beaver as a suspect. Officers used canine units to search the area behind the home, that's when they saw a young man fleeing and one of the dogs bit this young man. But it turned out it wasn't Robert Beaver. It was his younger brother, 16-year-old Michael Beaver. Police immediately noticed that he had blood and dirt all over him. At first, officers thought Michael may have escaped from the attack since Crystal had said Robert stabbed her. But before they could figure out what happened, Robert, who was hiding in the woods with a knife,

when K-9 officers approached, quickly surrendered and implicated himself and his brother Michael in the killings. One of them told authorities, unprompted by police, that plans for their killing spree could be found on a USB drive inside the home. The blood on Michael's clothing was later tested and found to be April's. Forensic testing on one knife found Michael's blood on the handle, and the blade had blood from either his father, David, or one of his brothers, Christopher or Daniel. None of them could be ruled out from the DNA. It was clear from the evidence that Michael is not simply a victim here. It was shockingly clear to police that Michael and Robert had worked together and had murdered five of their family members. They were each charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Bale was denied for both boys. Crystal Beaver underwent surgery and despite the grim prime prime, prognosis, she recovered from her injuries. Bravely, she was the one to identify the bodies of her siblings for the corner. Detectives were able to identify David in April using IDs that they found. News of the gruesome attack on the Beaver family at the hands of two of their own, shocked, broken error, a city of just over 100,000 people. And a lot of the episodes we talk about, there's always someone that's sort of brave, someone that's a hero, someone that stands out. And this little girl to survive that horrible attack at the hands of her own brothers and then

have to be the one that goes through, survives her surgery, is able to recover, and is also the one that has to identify her own siblings. You just have to give her credit for being that strong to do all that. Yeah, I mean, it really is amazing for a 13 year old to, number one, have to go through what she went through. But then to make it through and to have the fortitude to identify the bodies had to be extremely tough on her. But when we talk about crimes that shock cities, I mean, just think about this more. If this happened where you lived, obviously it would be all over the news. And this case didn't happen all that long ago.

So obviously, there was a lot of news to cover it. Think about the conversations as parents that you would be having, both between, you know, yourself and with your own kids. Some of those conversations could be really tough to have. Yeah, a community trying to make sense of this kind of tragedy, you know, it doesn't make sense. So people are struggling to, to put some kind of blame. someplace. And then you've got just curious people that probably are going by the house and looking

and that's where this happened. You could just see it being a real big thing in that area. The legal system wasted no time moving things along in an effort to bring justice for the Bevers. Robert Bever pleaded guilty to all five murder charges against him without much of a fight. He was sentenced to six life sentences, essentially life in prison without the possibility of parole. while in prison he got tattoos on his hands. On one hand, the word five, and on the other hand, L-W-O-P times five. It seemed that he was proud of what he had done to his family. His brother Michael, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty, and his defense team tried to have his case heard in juvenile court since he was only 16 at the time of the murders. But a jury found him

guilty of all charges. He was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences for the murders of his parents and siblings, as well as 28 years for assault and battery with intent to kill for the attack on Crystal. It was at Michael's trial that the shocking details of what happened in the better of our home that awful night were revealed. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision for the brothers to kill their family. It wasn't some argument that quickly got out of hand, but rather it was part of a much bigger and long-held plan, a pact between the two brothers. The plan was actually set in motion on June 30, 2015. According to Michael, over 30 days prior to the murders, but Michael said that his brother Robert

actually had fantasies about murdering his family for much longer. According to Michael, he and his siblings never really went outside. They didn't have any friends, but each other. Michael and Robert became very close. During one late night talk, they discovered that they both shared a dark fantasy. Robert was known to collect knives and was said to have been obsessed with dark things like serial killers and gory movies. His favorite movie was even about a young man who went on a killing spree, but Michael admitted that he too had similar interests. Robert Beaver had ordered 2,000 rounds of ammunition, guns, and knives online.

Some of the order, including the ammunition, was scheduled to be shipped to the house, directly. on July 23rd, while the guns would have been picked up from a local gun store by someone over the age of 21, but neither boy was old enough to pick up the guns that Robert had ordered. It's unclear whether they were aware of that fact, though. When he was younger, Robert would spend all the money he made working on things like knives and armor, but when he turned 18, he realized he could purchase guns. These guns would be the weapons that the brothers would use to kill their family, but when they realized that they couldn't pick them up due to their ages, they switched tactics. Around 11 p.m. on the night of the murders, most of the family had already gone to bed,

but Crystal went to tell Robert and Michael that their mom wanted them to do some dishes. When she walked in to tell them, Crystal found her two brothers, putting on body armor, and they had multiple knives laid out on a bed. Though it was strange, this wasn't exactly new to her. she had seen them in body armor before. And their collection of knives was not a secret. What was new this time and what immediately caught Crystal's attention was when she heard Michael ask Robert, should we do it right now?

Michael then told Crystal to look at the computer. They had something they wanted to show her. When she did, Robert covered her mouth with his hand and slit her throat from behind. At first, Crystal said she didn't even realize what had happened. She only tasted metal in her mouth. The boys had planned for the cut to Crystal's throat to be fatal quickly. They were going to shove her body in the closet and move on to attacking another family member. But Crystal didn't die.

She fought for her life. Robert stabbed her multiple times as she screamed and ran out of their bedroom and first toward her room, where her cell phone was. She warned her younger sister to lock her door before to see her. deciding to head for the front door of the house where she could scream for help. She only made it as far as the driveway before she passed out from blood loss. Michael dragged Crystal up onto the porch. He also disabled the alarm system in the home. And I think this first attack, this is where fantasy or whatever kind of warped things they had been thinking became reality, and they crossed over that line.

There's no coming back. and their whole thing about dressing up and acting out and being interested in serial killers and crazy movies, that's a lot of that is maybe normal behavior for many teenage boys. But there's some kind of line that you don't ever cross. And here, that line was definitely crossed and well over. Well, I mean, think about our audience, Morve. I mean, we are fascinated and maybe fascinating. and maybe fascinated is not the right word, maybe it is, by killers, serial killers.

We don't admire them. We don't think what they have done is a good thing. I mean, to me, the fascination comes from how could they do what they do? You know, what was the mindset? What was the wiring that maybe was crossed up that allowed them to make that decision. Yes, this is a good idea. This is what I want to do. And I really think when you boil down the fascination with true crime, it comes for most people to that. And we just can't figure out. And we continually try to figure out how people can do some of the really horrible things that they do.

but there's no doubt that Robert and Michael had been planning this for some time. They obviously at some point, you discovered that they shared the same type of fantasies, dark fantasies. And they made the decision that they were going to act out on them. And to me, when someone does this to their own family, especially,

I mean, doing this kind of stuff to any person is, terrible. But to do it to your own family is very, there's a whole other level for me of just disturbing aspect to it because these are the people that brought you into the world and raised you and you were there with them your whole lives. And when that happens that someone decides to do this to the people that love them that they supposedly love, it's hard to wrap my head around it. The boy's mother April was attacked next by Robert White. while Michael was dragging Crystal back inside the home,

April screamed as she was stabbed around 48 times in total, mostly to her upper body, including her arms, neck, face, chest, and abdomen. Crystal testified for the prosecution at Michael's trial and stated that she remembered hearing her mother screaming while Robert was attacking and chasing her, leading authorities to believe that both boys had stabbed her. Robert later claimed that his mother, April, prayed for him out loud while he

killed her. For some reason, April received the most injuries out of anyone in the family, but authorities figured out that she didn't fight back all that much. She didn't seem to be that way. She had some defensive wounds, but she wasn't able to run outside like Crystal was able to. you know, maybe she was in such shock at what was happening to her at the hands of her own sons that, you know, she couldn't process it. And, you know, at a certain point, she couldn't even try to flee. And I could see that morph as a possibility, you know, a mother who realizes that, you know, she's being attacked. She's being stabbed by, you know, her own. own sons. Was she able to process what was really going on quickly enough to even defend herself?

And defending herself might mean injuring or harming her own kids to save herself. And that's got to be for a mother to have to make that decision. Do I fight back and try and harm the person that's trying to harm me? But that's my child. So that must have been an impossible situation in that moment for her. Yeah, and I think that's part of what I was trying to get out, as I was saying, you know, how do you process it? You realize you're being attacked, but you also realize that it's coming at the hands of your kids. So as a mother, are you able to get it through your mind that to try to save your own life, you have to hurt the ones you love, your own children? By this time, the other children in the home had woken up and were hiding after. after hearing the awful screaming.

Ten-year-old Christopher and five-year-old Victoria were hiding in a locked bathroom. Michael knocked on the door and pleaded with his younger brother, saying, let me in. He's going to kill me. Trying to save their brother, they opened the door. And Christopher and Victoria were both brutally killed. Christopher was stabbed 21 times in the upper body, and Victoria was stabbed in her neck, back, chest, face, and abdomen, at least 23 times. from there Michael and Robert headed to their father's home office together. 12-year-old Daniel was locked inside, hiding from the chaos.

Daniel used Michael's cell phone to call 911, the call that we listened to earlier. Some people that have listened repeatedly to that audio say that you can hear very faintly Daniel Pleat. Please don't murder me and call Michael specifically by his name. name. Once again, Michael pleaded with his little brother to help him. You know, this is the ruse that he had used earlier. He begged to be let in because Robert was going to kill him. And again, it worked. Daniel opened the door in an effort to try to help his brother. But once the door was open, Michael grabbed the phone from him. He said, hello, before smashing the phone down. This was

recorded on the 911 call. He then said to his older brother, Robert, he's all yours. Daniel was stabbed 21 times in the stomach, chest, head, neck, and back. It was at this point that David Beaver, their father, came out of the master bedroom to see what was happening. And without warning, Robert attacked him, stabbing him 28 times in the back, chest, neck, and abdomen. Just minutes after the 911 call was placed, officers arrived on the scene and Michael and Robert fled to the woods in the creek behind the home in an attempt to get away. But Morphi, I want to go back and talk about this, you know, kind of ruse that Michael used two different times during the attack to gain entry into a room where his siblings were hiding.

You know, this ruse of saying, help me, let me in. Robert is going to kill me. Well, obviously, we know that's not true because Robert and Michael were in this thing together. But as a younger brother, a younger sister, you know something terrible is going on in the house. and you have one of your siblings saying, please help me. How could you not let that person in? You know, just very devious on the part of Michael to use that, to use his own siblings love for him to gain entry to then just turn around and murder them.

Yeah, it's very disturbing. I just, I want to go back in time somehow and intervene. It gives me that kind of feeling that I want to be there to help protect these kids who were probably horrified and scared beyond belief but still chose to open the door in an effort to save their brother. And to be slain at the hands of their brothers is just awful. I can't stop thinking about it. It was clear that neither Robert nor Michael expected the family to fight back. And they definitely hadn't planned on what to do if any of the victims called for help. They didn't plan on surrendering in the woods behind their house.

just minutes after their murder sprued began. What they had envisioned was apparently systematically killing each family member and when they were done dismembering their bodies and storing them in plastic bins in their attic. This included their youngest sister, Autumn, who they planned to decapitate using an axe. Thankfully, their plan to harm Autumn was interrupted when police arrived at the home, which they obviously didn't factor in. If there was any way to make this grotesque and horrible case any worse, hacking and dismembering, remembering their own two-year-old sister would have done that. But the brothers were not content to murder just their family.

They had planned to then move on to the public at large. Random victims. Really, anyone in their path. They wanted to kill at least 100 people. Mostly by killing small groups of people at gas stations and restaurants. Robert had apparently told Michael that killing people would make him godlike. something that echoes things that we heard from the Columbine shooters. Robert also apparently believed that during a murder spree,

he would eventually kill someone who was not contributing to society, which was in his warped mind something positive. It was almost as if he thought he was doing a good deed. So obviously, Morp, these two brothers, had a lot going on in their minds. Most of it seems to be very dark, very warped. You know, their thinking was just really, really out there. But the one thing that I will say is that they had done quite a bit of planning. I mean, I think that is somewhat obvious, right? This wasn't a spur of the moment type thing. They had thought about this. They had

purchased things. They had made a plan. Now, the plan didn't go exactly the way that they thought it would, but there was a plan nonetheless. And it's a very scary thing to think about two brothers sitting around, sharing their dark fantasies, coming up with a plan not only to murder their entire family, but then to move on. And, you know, begin kind of indiscriminately murdering people at random. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer.

For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, Moms and Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy.

And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to who-done-it. were your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries wherever you get your podcast. Crystal testified that Robert and Michael had both been talking about murdering their family and taking off with their parents' money for at least a year,

and that they wished that more mass shooters had gotten away with their murders. She also recalled them saying that there were too many people in the world. Crystal had told her mom about these things that her brother said, but April apparently and tragically responded by saying, that boys will be boys. David Beaver, their father, only seemed to care that Robert was spending money on knives and things like body armor. It was frivolous spending in his mind.

He wasn't as concerned about the disturbing things that his sons were actually saying. Well, we know more, you know, nowadays these types of thoughts and verbalizations are taken very seriously. Anything that has to do with, you know, school shootings,

anything like that. But, you know, as a parent, when you hear that your kids are saying some very strange, very kind of what we would think of as is off the wall type of things, you have a real decision to make. And I don't know that it's always cut and dry for everyone. You know, you said that it was later relayed that April said, well, boys will be boys. and they will sometimes, right? Boys do certain things. They're rambunctious. But talking about mass shooters, school shooters and saying that they wished more had gotten away with their murders. And then specifically talk about murdering the family and taking off with their money. That to me is not boys will be boys type stuff. And I'm not trying to be

too critical of April here because obviously that's very tough. But I will say this seems to go way beyond the typical boys will be boys type of things. Now, having said that, the question then becomes, well, what do you do? You know, what help do you try to get for your child, for your children when these type of things come out? And again, I'll say, I think, think these are tough questions or, you know, very tough things for parents to deal with at times. Yeah, we definitely don't want to sound like we're victim blaming here, blaming the parents. They're not here to defend themselves or to tell us what they were thinking. But this seemed to definitely be something beyond they're wearing strange clothes or listening to

strange music, they're watching these creepy movies. Again, I think, as thinking back to my teenage years, I did a lot of that stuff. But, you know, this crossed the line of, in my mind, to talking about killing the family. That's not normal. And my kids are still young, but if, God forbid, I ever hear any language like this coming from my kids, I would, I would do something where I would go seek help, try and get to the bottom of why they're making these statements. Again, I don't want to second guess the parents. I wasn't there. We don't know all the conversations and what they plan to do.

But it's just tragic that some of these disturbing things that were mentioned weren't acted on, apparently. Well, and that's why I said it's tough because, let's face it, no parent wants to think that there's something wrong with their child in that way, but at a certain point. Some parents have to make the decision to seek out professional help when they hear or they see things that their children are doing that raise concern. As brave as Crystal was, recounting the tragic details, she testified from a different courtroom, which could be seen and heard via a television screen that Michael was sitting behind so that he could not see his sister.

He cried during her testimony. Robert also testified during Michael's trial at one point breaking down in tears and having to be taken out of the courtroom after crying, I'm sorry. And I don't know what I was thinking. Michael cried during his testimony as well. This display of emotion from Robert even brought jurors to tears. He tried to claim full responsibility for the killings, claiming that. that though Michael was in the room, when he slit Crystal's throat, he wasn't looking and said, Robert, what are you doing? Robert also claimed that the only thing Michael did during the killings

was convinced their younger siblings to open the locked doors they were hiding behind. He also claimed that he was lying when he told police that Michael had stabbed two of their siblings, saying he wanted Michael to be able to share in the credit if they got famous. He also clarified that Michael shouldn't get any credit because he didn't kill anyone. So, I mean, more of there's a lot to unpack here. You know, these boys are crying in the courtroom as they're testifying. Okay, we weren't there. You got to make a determination of whether that was real, whether that was a show.

but then you have Robert stepping up and trying to shield his brother Michael saying, well, he really didn't stab anyone. Now, what he did do was convince his younger siblings to open their doors, which allowed them to be killed. So, you know, even if the first part is true, that in and of itself is pretty horrible. But Robert's saying the part about, okay, he wanted his brother to share in the credit if they got famous. I think that tells you a lot about the mindset. And unfortunately, this is something that we've heard in other cases that involved young kids,

this kind of mindset of, you know, we're going to do something so memorable that that we're going to be famous. I just don't get it, man. Yeah, I think it just clearly demonstrates how warped his mind was that he's, you know, trying to excuse his brother's actions and say, oh, it's my fault. He only helped me get in the room to do the killing, which is if that's any less terrible.

But I think it just goes to show that he's not all there as far as understanding the reality. It seems like. So, you know, one of the questions I had was, is he trying to help his brother or does he want all the credit? And credit is not the right word, but I think it's a word that he used, right? So does he want to be known as the person who committed all the murders to become famous, infamous, whatever you want to say? Or is he doing it out of a love for his brother? brother and trying to protect him. I don't know.

No, and if that part's true, if he is doing it because he generally cares about him, how does he care so much that he would try and take the full brunt of this instead of Michael, yet he was willing to kill his other family members. It's just, you know, trying to get in this guy's mind. It's not easy to do. Well, and I think you said it earlier very well. Trying to make sense out of things that just don't make any sense. It's very, hard to do. To many spectators, the disturbing detail sounded cut and dry. Two troubled boys coldly and callously murdered five members of their family in cold blood. But testimony that would complicate emotions at trial hinted that the boys may have had a different reason to kill their parents.

Crystal admitted during her testimony that she had seen her father throw her mother, which resulted in her hitting her head on the wall, and he had also thrown the kids across the room during fits of anger. Robert also testified about their upbringing, calling his parents paranoid, and claiming that his father would watch the family on surveillance cameras installed throughout the home. He claimed that their father would yell at Michael because of his speech impediment, telling him stop and don't talk until you can speak clearly. Robert also talked about how the environment they grew up and was harsh, claiming that their parents never thought they were good enough and wanted the children to be better.

He said they were self-educated because both of their parents basically stayed in their offices most of the time and that their mom didn't actually homeschool them. Robert also described a home full of deprivation for the children, claiming that they mostly ate peanut butter sandwiches and instant noodles. He claimed their mother April would eat TV dinners and their father David would eat grilled cheese, chicken, chips and olives. and kept food on high shelves where the kids couldn't get to it. But I think a lot of people found, you know, some of this to be dubious. I mean, Michael and Robert never mentioned any of this alleged abuse during their interrogations with detectives. And I think the other thing that people point to is even if they were telling the truth about their parents, why would they brutally kill their three siblings and try to, you know,

to kill two others. I think what is important to note here is that all of the Beaver children were homeschooled. They really didn't go anywhere. They didn't really have friends. If they had gone out of the house or talk to friends, maybe more details of what went on inside the home would have been known. But even if the Beaver children had gone to school and shared details of their lives with schoolmates or even school staff, it doesn't always prevent tragedy, as we have seen

recently in the shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan. In that case, the 15-year-old shooter's parents had just received a call from the school about concerning drawings they found. It was recommended that they pick up their son and get him some mental health treatment, but reportedly his parents said they couldn't take him home because they were at work. His journal had multiple passages begging for help and forgiveness, including the chilling statement. my parents won't listen to me about help or a therapist. In the Oxford shooting, even the killers seemed to know the signs were there and wanted help, but couldn't seem to get it.

And I said earlier more if I think it's tough for some parents to know, okay, when is it time to take their kids to see a professional? What I don't understand at all is if your child comes to you and says, I need help. I need to see a therapist. And you don't do that? I think that's inexcusable. I'm not saying that's exactly what happened in this situation because I don't know. I think it's been suggested.

I'm not saying it happened. I'm saying if that did happen in a certain situation, I just don't see how any parent could let that go. Your child is crying out for help. You need to get it for them. Yeah, especially because I think with most kids, they say, oh, I'm fine, nothing's wrong, everything's okay. So for someone to say, I need help, I want help, and you don't get it for them,

then that's, that's inexcusable in my mind. Yeah, I agree with you. Despite the fact that the beavers were homeschooled, they still knew about multiple mass shooters and the kind of glorification they received in the media. They said things that were literally ripped from the manifestos of other mass murderers, such as believing they would be godlike after they took enough lives. This is something said by one of the Columbine murderers in their homemade recordings. They called the basement tapes.

The two Columbine killers discussed their upcoming fame with one of them saying, I know we're going to have followers because we're so fucking godlike before going on to decide between Tarantino or Spielberg as a potential. director for the future film that would be made about them. These recordings in the actual Columbine shootings took place in 1999. When Robert Beaver was just two years old and the same year that Michael Bever was born, it's very unlikely that they remembered the shootings taking place or were very affected by them since they never went to a public school.

While Michael and Robert Beaver didn't go to school, they did have. the internet, though. And as we all know, if you have access to Google, you have access to all of history, including manifestos, beliefs, and plans made by mass shooters. When Michael Beaver was interviewed after his arrest about why they wanted to kill people, he referenced the person who killed 12 people and injured dozens more in a movie theater, what's now known as the 2012 Aurora Colorado shooting. But he didn't just mention the shooting, or the perpetrator's last name, like we might for Bundy or Ramirez. He said the Aurora shooter's first, middle, and last names.

There's a special kind of reverence, and he had to get both the information and the notion that these mass shootings were somehow cool from someplace. So, Morph, I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but my wife and I were in Aurora, Colorado. In 2012, I was there for work. I brought my wife along. That very night, we were going to go. see that movie Batman, the newest Batman movie, at that exact same theater. But we later changed

our mind and did something else. And I'll never forget it. We could have been in that very same theater. That's very frightening to know that just one little change of plans can can spare you from being in that situation. Yeah, it is. And it was shocking to wake up the next morning in our hotel room and turn on the news and see what happened. It's a scary feeling. Robert and Michael Beaver aren't the only murderers who the Columbine school shooting seems to have influenced. The Virginia Tech shooter was nine years old at the time of the Columbine massacre and

was fixated with the coverage on the news. He went on to write an essay about wanting to repeat Columbine. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter. had downloaded videos about the Columbine massacre and was obsessed with the shooting, as well as the Virginia Tech shooting. One odd thing is that Columbine perhaps is one of the most glorified mass shootings to future mass shooters. But it wasn't the most deadly or destructive.

Eight years before Columbine in Colleen, Texas, 24 people were killed and 27 were injured in the Luby's restaurant shooting. I think maybe perhaps Columbine and other mass shootings committed by younger people draw the attention of other young would-be mass shooters because of the similarity in age as opposed to some other mass shooters who are older. One thing I noticed when we were doing research for this, looking at some of the photos of these different shooters, the Beaver brothers, the Sandy Hook shooter.

I mean, there's just, there's something about them that looks off in all other photos. I can't put my finger on it, at least in my opinion. It looks like there's just something there. They don't look happy. They look sort of soulless, motionless, something. And I notice that it's in my eyes when I look at it. It seems as if it's a common trait among many of these shooters. I don't know if you've ever looked at it.

looked at that and thought the same thing. Yeah, almost like, like hollow. That's probably not the right word. Fake, wooden. Yeah, like, like there's, there's something going on, obviously, but, you know, in the face and in the eyes, I know what you're saying. I just can't put my, my finger on it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not getting the words out correctly, but I definitely know what

you're saying. A closer look into the Beaver Brothers lies revealed. that Robert Beaver had a YouTube channel called Colt Empire, which still exists today, and has four very short videos posted. Tour vlog style, fast-paced, stream-of-consciousness type of things, where he talks about video games like Minecraft and Windows updates. There's one video he calls a skit where Michael Beaver is sitting at the computer, looking at the screen, when Robert comes up behind him and does a slashing motion to the back of his head.

Michael grabs the back of his head like he's been hit, but it looked more like Robert was playing out of stabbing, except he wasn't holding a knife. This is eerily reminiscent of what he actually did to his younger sister, Crystal, telling her to look at that very computer in their bedroom, before he walked up behind her and slur her throat. That video was uploaded on March 29, 2013, over two years before the murders.

Why the videos are still up today is anyone's guess, but curious people have definitely viewed the videos a lot. as they have over 100,000 views. April Beaver used the internet a lot, just like most of us do, just like Robert and Michael did as well. Robert testified that April would find the children educational websites

where they could teach themselves things and April was a Redditor. Her post and comments still exist today. With many fellow Redditors offering condolences under her threads, she spoke openly. of her family on different subreddits and some of her comments are heartbreaking. Most of them are about her kids.

Whether it was realizing that if she got a curing, her kids could also use it for their cups of instant noodles, which they ate a lot of, or sharing memories about how her son Robert hated when she would tell him that he loved to have his nails painted when he was three years old. She also talked about how her sons had gotten her into watching the shows, The Walking Dead, and Sons of Anarchy. You know, some people say, okay, maybe this was a mis-sign that at least one of her sons was obsessed with violence. You know, I don't know more if I love both of those shows. And I think a lot of people watch those shows, maybe even some children. I mean, I don't think small children should be watching.

watching those shows, but should be watching those shows. But some children probably do, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old. And they go on to never be violent. So, you know, that question comes up a lot, right? You and I have talked about it. Violent video games, violent movies, violent TV shows. Does it cause people to become violent? And I think back to my teenage years, I watched a lot of, horror movies. I wasn't in a video game so much, but if someone saw the way that I dressed and saw the movies that I watched, they'd be like, oh, this kid's kind of creepy. But again, I sort of compared myself to a lot of

other teenage boys, my own age, and a lot of us were the same way, but most of us didn't go on to do horrible stuff to people. So I think at some point, in some people, for whatever reason, they're just more prone to be shaped by violence or head towards acts of violence where the majority of people don't. Well, my thought is, and this is just my opinion, that violence on the screen or violence in a video game or whatever it is, on its own, I don't think is going to necessarily make anyone become violent. It seems to me, in these cases, there are a number of people.

factors that play into what some of these individuals ultimately do. Perhaps the most heartbreaking comment posted by April Beaver has to be the joy she felt when her kids were happy, as evidenced by her statement. I look forward all year just to see my kids' faces on Christmas morning. One of the most puzzling comments is about how the children are together literally all the time due to homeschooling. And as she put it, they still really do not fight with each other. In the same comment, April talks about how thrilled Crystal was that Ottoman Victoria were girls after so many brothers

and mentions that she thinks Crystal would like to strangle a couple of them sometimes. Something very unfortunate to read with the benefit of hindsight. The post read like a million other ones. Nothing to indicate that something shocking would one day happen to April's family, let alone at the hands of her own children. In March 2017, the House on Magnolia, which had stood in, empty since the murders took place was destroyed by a fire. Mike Case, the founder of Case and Associates Properties Incorporated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, vowed to match up to $20,000 in donations in order to assist Broken Arrow in buying and maintaining the property. The damaged house was torn down

and a park was built and dedicated to the Beaver family. It's called Reflection Park. Hopefully happy memories will be made there and the park won't be overshadowed by what happened in that location. On July 15, 2019, Robert Beaver, by then in his 20s, attacked a psychological clinician and a social work in the day room of Joseph Harp Correctional Center. He tried to stab them with a sharpened instrument, but one of the people he attacked was able to overpower Robert and disarm him. Neither of the staff members was seriously injured in that attack. Although those intended victims were not badly injured, a judge took no pity on Robert Beaver, handing him additional life sentences that were run concurrent with the life sentences he already had. But really, it was just a formality, and any way you look at it, Robert Beaver will die in prison.

Apparently, his younger brother Michael has behaved himself because there's been no news about him behind bars. Crystal and Autumn, who survived the attack that night, were both adopted by the same family. There hasn't been any recent news about them, probably to give them privacy since they were so young, and also time to heal since what they went through is unimaginable. Crystal showed tremendous strength surviving against the odds and finding the courage to tell a jury what happened to her that night. And Autumn seems to have been spared any physical injuries, and due to her age, she won't remember anything from that terrible night. But sadly, she also may not have memories of her own parents either.

So, Morf, we've brought up a number of topics in this episode, school shootings, media, child abuse, mental health, child rearing, isolation. There's really no easy answer to any of the problems that exist in any of these areas. And we can't even begin to understand how all of this mixes together. And in some instances, creates killers. and in most other instances does not. I think we can only hope to learn from these types of tragedies that have happened to help us prevent further similar things from happening.

You know, I do believe there are some nagging questions that remain. The first one for me is how was Michael so taken with Robert and his ideas? We talked about it. At a certain point, others figured out that they shared some of the same dark fantasies. Okay, fantasies are one thing. We've talked about that before. But at a certain point, they made the decision to turn those fantasies into reality. Robert being the older of the two boys was most likely the leader. How did he get Michael to go along with it? You know, was Michael simply a kid that idolized his

older brother. And I think there's a question of why some of the other brothers weren't brought in. Why weren't they part of the plan? Maybe Robert and Michael felt as though they wouldn't go along with it. And then I think we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about or at least asked this question. How is it that David and April apparently knew of some of the troubling things that their sons had talked about, including murdering the entire family, but they didn't take any action. And again, we always have to be careful. These are victims. But I think it's fair to consider the question, to talk about it. That's a very troubling thing. If they did hear and know that the boys were talking about murdering the family, that's a tough one to blow. You know, that's a tough one to

off, in my opinion. Yeah, I think it brings to mind a lot of hard questions. Is there a way to discern between a teenagers sort of being edgy and another one that's on the brink of a real mental health crisis? And when is nice and quiet, actually not okay. I think these are things that we may never know and there are crimes we may never be able to prevent. But as long as there are strong survivors like Crystal Beaver, we'll never stop

telling their stories. And to try and stop the culture of glorification of mass shooters, we've chosen not to use the names of any of them that we talked about in this episode. So morph as we wrap up this episode, you know, obviously it's a horrible, tragic case. There was a lot going on inside that family. I think that much is clear, you know, even Crystal confirmed some of the things that were going on. But I think you, mentioned it. And I think this is true for a lot of cases. We may never know everything, right? Not everything comes out. And there are some things that are said that can't be corroborated. Are they true? Are they lies? You just never know. What we do know is that five people were killed.

Two children survived. But it all happened at the hands of two of the other. their children. And, you know, it's just a shocking type of case. I think, you know, this is a case where parents kind of stop in their tracks and they think, how could this happen? But I also don't believe that David and April would have thought that their sons would have ever done something like this. No parent wants to think that their child could be capable of anything close to them. this. My takeaway from this episode is just how depraved and awful the things that were done to members of their own family, or anyone doing this to anyone, whether they're related or not, is terrible. But when you add the element of them being family, the people that were, grew up

together and loved each other and cared for each other and lived in the same home to just do that to someone that is part of your life. There's an extra level of depravity in my view. Yeah. And I do want to, you know, kind of talk about the fact that, okay, they had this plan to murder members of their family, but they weren't going to stop there, right? We talked about it. There was a plan to kill random people trying to get up into numbers as high as 100.

it because why they felt as though that would really give them the fame and i'm saying them because they were both involved i do think robert was the instigator but michael went along with his plane that's that's my true belief thanks goes out the sunny land for help with writing and research in this episode as always if you love the show but you haven't done so yet go out give us a five-star rating, keep telling your friends. That word of mouth about the criminology podcast is amazing. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at criminology pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for criminology podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast, discussion and fans. So, Morph, that is it for another

episode of criminology. But we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with an all-new episode. So until then for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone. Work is in trouble. We've outsourced most of our manufacturing to other countries. And with that, we sent away good jobs

and our capability to make things. American Giant is a clothing company that's pushing back against this tide. They make all kinds of high-quality clothing and active wear, like sweatshirts, jeans, dresses, jackets, and so much more, right here in the USA. So when you buy American Giant,

you create jobs in towns in cities across the country, and jobs bring pride. Purpose. They stitch people together. If all that sounds good to you, visit American-dash-giant.com and get 20% off your first order when you use code staple 20 at checkout. That's 20% off your first order at American-dash-giant.com with promo code staple 20.