Pair of Skinhead Siblings Arrested in Slayings of Parents, Brother

A pair of skinhead brothers jailed without bond Thursday in the murder of their parents had threatened for years to kill them as revenge for their trying to impose the strict way of life of Jehovah’s Witnesses, police say.

Bryan Freeman, 17, and David Freeman, 15, were arrested Wednesday evening at a home near Hope, Mich., along with a cousin.

The brothers and the cousin, 18-year-old Nelson Birdwell III, were led into court Thursday with their hands and feet shackled and their arms chained to their waists.

The brothers are charged with three counts each of homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in the slayings of their parents and their younger brother.

The bodies of Dennis Freeman, 54, his wife, Brenda, 48, and their son, Eric, 11, were found Monday in the family home in Salisbury Township, near Allentown, Pa.

Birdwell is charged in Pennsylvania with car theft and probation violation.

The three asked for an extradition hearing. Judge James E. Wilson ordered the brothers jailed without bond pending the hearing, which will be held in the next 90 days. He ordered Birdwell jailed on $150,000 bond.

The three, all of whom had shaven heads, came into court in blue slippers and green jail uniforms. David has a Nazi salute, “ Sieg Heil! “, etched above his eyebrows, while Bryan and Nelson have “Berzerker” tattooed on their foreheads, an apparent reference to a Norse warrior renowned for ferocity in battle.

State police raided a house in Hope, about 15 miles northwest of Midland Wednesday evening and arrested the trio along with a 24-year-old Hope man, August Hesse. Police said they traced a call to the home from a motel in Ohio where the brothers had stayed.

Hesse, 24, who was released a few hours after his arrest, faces unrelated charges in Midland County of ethnic intimidation and obstructing a police officer.