Newly released police body camera video shows an Ohio dad accused of executing his three young children being booked into the county jail for multiple murder charges.
Chad Christopher Doerman, 32, has been indicted on murder charges for the deaths of his sons Clayton, Hunter and Chase and is being held without bail.
While waiting to be taken into the Clermont County Jail, Doerman talks with the officer standing with him. He tells the officer he believes he had been at the jail once before over a fight.
Much of the conversations between the officers and Doerman appear to be redacted as part of the investigation.
However, at one point Doerman walks over to a wall and appears to bang his head hard against it, leading the officer to tell him, “don’t be doing that, don’t be beating your head on the wall ok.”
Doerman answers “no” when asked if he has any weapons or drugs on him. The officer quickly pats him down and then takes him into the central area of the jail to start the booking process.
He is then escorted into a cell and asked to remove his clothes. Doerman asks about making a phone call and is told he can do so after the booking process is completed.
After changing clothes, Doerman is taken to another area for what appears to be a full body scan. The video concludes shortly after.
‘Goal is to have this man executed’
Prosecutors last week indicated they will seek the death penalty against Doerman for the fatal shootings.
Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve has declined to go into specific details so as not to jeopardize the capital case, but called the family murders “an unspeakable tragedy,” and said that prosecutors would seek to punish the defendant to the fullest extent the law allows.
“I can’t go into a whole lot of facts because this is a death penalty case, and my goal is to have this man executed for slaughtering these three little boys,” Tekulve said. “It is an incomprehensible act of horror that he perpetrated on this family.”
Doerman allegedly lined up his sons, ages 3, 4, and 7, and executed them with a rifle — even hunting one of the boys down at the Laurel Lindale Road property, prosecutors said.
In court earlier this month, Tekulve reportedly said that Doerman “gunned down” the 7-year-old “from behind” while the boy tried to escape and then executed the victim when he fell. He allegedly “ripped” the 3-year-old from his mother’s arms and “put a bullet in his head.”
Prosecutors said in court that Doerman confessed to the horrific crimes.
“There has been a full admission in this case,” prosecutor David Gast said.“The case is still new. We’re still discovering facts. But the evil horror of what we know is impossible to process. In an act of incomprehensible cruelty, the father that stands before you lined up his three young boys and executed them in his own home with a rifle. In an act of desperation, the mother at some point grabbed the gun the father was wielding to attempt to protect them.”
The prosecutor also said Doerman “confessed to what I believe is the worst crime, at least I hope, that I see in my lifetime.”
‘I ain’t gonna hurt you’
Body camera video showed that the defendant was alarmingly calm as Clermont County sheriff’s deputies swarmed the scene on the afternoon of June 15, a Thursday, just days before Father’s Day. Doerman was sitting on the front step of the residence with a rifle next to him as the victims lay dead.
Chad Doerman, the Clermont County man accused of murdering his 3 sons, pleads not guilty to all charges including kidnapping and aggravated murder. More later today on @LawCrimeNetwork @lawcrimenews pic.twitter.com/ROLenOoA6b
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) June 23, 2023
“Can I stand up?” Doerman asked the arresting authorities at the scene, insisting he wouldn’t hurt them. “It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
The victims’ wounded mother, on the other hand, cried out on a 911 call that “her babies had been shot.” She was heard on body camera shouting that Doerman “took my life from me! My life!”
A sister of the boys’ mother, a family friend, and the New Richmond Youth Sports Association are collecting donations to support the family. The victims’ older sister Alexis was the only child to escape alive.
“My sister lost her three amazing babies yesterday. Nothing will make this better, it will never be okay. But please if you can find it in your heart to help relieve the financial burden of this tragedy, please donate. No one should have to go through this,” Rachel Brown wrote.
Doerman was indicted on nine counts of aggravated murder, eight counts of kidnapping, and four counts of felonious assault. Read the indictment here.
A pretrial hearing is set for July 5.
Law & Crime’s Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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