On February 26, 1995, Bryan and David Freeman murdered their parents, Brenda and Dennis, and their younger brother, Erik, at their family home with the help of their cousin, Ben Birdwell, in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
For several years, Bryan and David had been embracing neo-Nazi culture, which escalated in the months leading up to the killings, including tattooing Nazi slogans on their foreheads.
Both brothers and their cousin were given life sentences without the possibility of parole, though none of the three were convicted in the murder of Erik Freeman.
She managed to convince Bryan and David to attend "anti-skinhead" education sessions run by the police, but ultimately her efforts to deter them from neo-Nazism failed.
[7] Bryan had been admitted to hospital for mental illness and David had been placed in several juvenile facilities as well as receiving treatment for substance abuse.
[8] Just days before the murders, Bryan had been suspended from Salisbury High School for drawing racist pictures in a book.
[14] Lehigh County district attorney Bob Steinberg also described the murders as brutal, claiming the faces of both Dennis and Erik had been beaten and bludgeoned so badly that they were nearly beyond recognition.
[9] The Freeman brothers and Birdwell fled to Hope, Michigan to the home of Frank Hesse, who was a skinhead associate.
[21][failed verification] Bryan Freeman made a statement in which he admitted to doing a terrible thing and that he deserved to be punished.
Howorth waited at his Lower Macungie Township family home for his parents to return and then murdered them separately.
At his trial, it was learned that Howorth had been inspired to commit the crime from hearing about the Freeman family murders.
[24] On December 14, 2015, WatchMojo released a video called Top 10 Most Evil Kids in History and Bryan and David Freeman were ranked sixth on the list.
[25] In 2014, the stories of both the Freeman family murders and the Howorth killings were featured in the same episode of the documentary series Killer Kids.