David Freeman Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

David Freeman is the younger brother of Bryan Freeman. The two brothers are serving life sentences for killing their parents and younger brother.

Background

David Freeman was born in 1979 in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Dennis Freeman and Brenda. David was the second son in the family, just one year younger than his brother Bryan. The third son was called Erik born in 1981. David was raised in Lehigh with his brothers. Their parents were Jehovah Witness Christians.

He was a good student in class academics. He detested the strict rules and religious living off his parents. Gradually, he began rebelling against the rules and regulations of his parents. His elder brother Bryan joined him. They started experimenting with smoking, alcohol, and other intoxicants. They were apprehended by the police a few times.

They grew bolder in their rebellion after their cousin Ben Birdwell came to visit. David Freeman became interested in the white supremacist ideology. He started reading and collecting white, supremacy materials. With his elder brother and cousin, David became a Neo-Nazi member.

David Freeman shaved his head to bald. He changed his attire to camouflage military apparel. Eventually, he tattooed his body with Nazi symbols. He proudly displayed the Berserker tattoo on his head. Berserker was the white supremacist group in Lehigh County.

David, Bryan, and Birdwell turned to violence. They bullied their peers at school and the neighborhood. They often threatened their parents with violent repercussion for their stringent morality rules. Despite frantic calls to the authority for help, Dennis and Brenda got minimal response.

The Freeman Killings

On February 26, 1995, Dennis Freeman, his wife and their son Erik were killed inside their house. Valerie Freeman, Dennis’ younger sister, discovered their bodies the next day. She alerted the police of her findings. David, his brother, and their cousin became profiled suspects by the police.

The police arrested the three suspects on March 1, 1995, in the house of another skinhead member in Michigan. After a lengthy investigation, the police opened a prosecution case against the three. On December 7, 1995, Bryan Freeman confessed his guilt of killing his mother. David Freeman entered a guilty plea on December 15, 1995. He admitted to killing their father on a material day.

David Freeman and his elder brother Bryan were convicted of their crimes. They were sentenced to lifetimes in prison without any possibility of parole. The brothers never pleaded to the killing of their younger brother Erik.

Ben Birdwell pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. He stood for trial for over a year. On July 18, 1996, a panel in their case found him guilty of murder. He was convicted for abetting the killing of Dennis Freeman on February 26, 1995. Birdwell got a life jail term in a maximum security facility. Ironically, no one was ever convicted for the killing of young Erik Freeman.

Later Confessions

On February 28, 2015, twenty years after the murders, the two brothers spoke about the fateful day. They detailed the events to their maternal aunt, Sandy Lettich. On the day, the three skinheads waited for the return of their parents to return home.

When the parents came back, the three executed their plan. Dennis Freeman and Erik went upstairs to sleep. Bryan met his mother in the house corridor downstairs and stuffed a piece of shorts in her mouth. He stabbed her severally until she died.

After she died, David and Birdwell went upstairs to their father’s bedroom. David Freeman carried an aluminum baseball bat, and Birdwell was armed with a metal bar. David led his cousin in clobbering his father’s head to death.

Birdwell then went into Erik’s room. He found the young boy in his sleep. He hit him on the head severally using an ax handle. Erik subsequently died. The three escaped using their mother’s car to their friend in Michigan

David Freeman and his elder bother Bryan expressed remorse for their crimes. David maintained good behavior in prison. Bryan reformed his ways embraced the Jehovah Witness faith and got baptized.

Spiral Murders

The killing of the Freeman couple and their son sparked a wave of other skinhead induced killings in the county. On February 27, 1995, the police discovered another horrific murder by a member of the skinheads. Jeffrey Howorth short and killed his parents in their home using his father’s hunting rifle. George and Susan Howorth entered the statistics of those killed by their skinhead children.

Howorth was arrested, tried, and acquitted on insanity grounds. The police recorded fourteen similar murders within Lehigh County within the next five months.

Conclusion

After several meetings of blaming each other, the parents and police formed a vigil group to monitor white supremacy behaviors. School administrations became vigilant in their institutions for any strange characters.

The police tracked and arrested Mark Thomas during a bank robbery attempt. Thomas was the leader of the white paramilitary supremacist formation Aryan Republican Army.