An Ohio father who murdered his three young sons told investigators he carried out the killings “for God,” according to newly released footage of his police confession.
Chad Doerman gathered his boys — Chase, 3, Hunter, 4, and Clayton, 7 — outside their home in June 2023 after reading Bible passages to them and telling the children they were “the best boys ever.”
He then retrieved a firearm from his safe, loaded it and shot the children one after another, authorities said. One of the boys briefly got away before Doerman chased him down.
Doerman also shot and wounded his ex-wife, who called 911 while screaming that “her babies had been shot.” His 14-year-old stepdaughter fled down the road, yelling that her “father was killing everyone.”
The newly surfaced video shows Doerman, now serving a life sentence after admitting to the killings, being questioned by detectives shortly after the massacre while still wearing blood-stained clothing. In the two-hour interrogation obtained by Fox 19, he appears confused at times and repeatedly talks about the Bible.
“[God] tests you and you have to do it. You can’t deny it. You have to do it. You can’t stop,” Doerman told detectives as he spoke about sacrifices to God and following what he described as divine will.
“And you did?” an investigator asked.
“For God. And now I’m in Hell. And he’s gonna come down and it’s gonna be a mess,” Doerman replied.
Doerman said he had been seeking help because he believed he was living in hell.
The father claimed he “knew what he had to do,” after attending a church service the day of the murders.
“There were signs all over the f—king place,” he bizarrely ranted. “They were walking like zombies. It’s gonna be a nightmare down here. It’s gonna be a mess. And I’m not gonna have my family anywhere near harm,” he said.
“I was going to go to hell, let them go to heaven,” he said at another point in the interview — while also lamenting that he killed his kids in the wrong order.
Doerman pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and two counts of felonious assault in August 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The day of the shooting, he had come home from work earlier than usual, grabbed a Bible and paced his house mumbling, “Chad knows what’s right.”
He then grabbed a rifle, lined up his sons and began firing. One of the boy tried to flee into a nearby field before being “hunted” down by his father, hauled back to the home and then shot dead, prosecutors said.
He also shot his ex-wife, Laura, in the hand as his stepdaughter, Alexis, fled the scene.
The boys were discovered by deputies outside the home after two 911 callers alerted them to the terror.
The first call came from the mother screaming “her babies had been shot” and the second from a passing motorist who said a little girl was running down the street yelling that her “father was killing everyone.”
When police arrived at the home, Doerman was calmly sitting on his stoop barefoot.
At his sentencing, the boys’ mom said she would “remember them as the three little boys who loved fishing, go-carting and swimming.”
“Remember them as the boys who love to have fun and were inseparable from one another. Their lives are not only about what happened to them — they are so much more than that. I love you Clayton, Hunter and Chase.”
