Brian Nelson, 34, and Brittney Nelson, 32, had been struggling with “a mountain of debts” and the father’s head injury when the tragedy occurred.
Family members allege the parents accused of killing their six children in an apparent murder-suicide may have been facing mounting financial pressures prior to their deaths. The evening they were killed, Danny and Marilyn, Brian’s parents, said they had plans to babysit the kids. Brian and Brittney were supposed to drop them off at 5 PM. But the time for their arrival came and went and they didn’t show up.
That’s when they started to worry. Danny says, “I turned on the 6 o’clock news, and they said there had been a fire near Hickory and Galveston in Broken Arrow. That’s where my son lives.”
Firefighters allegedly discovered the bodies of Brian and Brittney in the front of their blazing Broken Arrow, Oklahoma home, while the bodies of their six children were discovered in a rear bedroom, where most of the fire was contained, authorities said.
Speaking with Tulsa World, Brian’s parents, Danny and Marilyn Nelson, confirmed their grandchildren — Brian II, 13; Brantley, 9; Vegeta, 7; Ragnar, 5; Kurgan, 2; and Britannica, 1 — were the six juvenile victims in Thursday’s incident.
Danny suspects the family of eight’s mountain of money troubles and a head injury Brian reportedly sustained in the workplace may have been motivation for him and his wife to kill their family.
Brian and Brittney reportedly filed for bankruptcy in December 2020. The pair listed $138,000 in liabilities and nearly $9,000 in assets, including nine guns, according to records obtained by the paper. The couple was unemployed at the time of the filing and receiving financial assistance from the government.
“I think the stress was what got to them — trying to figure out how to make it from one month, to one month, to one month,” Danny told the outlet. “Then, every time one of those headaches came around, he just would lose it because it was so excruciating,” Marilyn added.
Authorities said the causes of death for the family members are still pending, however they do not believe their deaths were related to the fire. Firearms were also recovered from the scene.
The investigation remains ongoing.
