The family that died last week in a house fire in Oklahoma, which is being investigated as a murder–suicide, was facing mounting financial problems.
The couple who died in the fire, identified by the Broken Arrow Police Department as Brian and Brittney Nelson, filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Brian was also suffering from severe headaches following a concussion he sustained at his previous job, his parents told Tulsa World.
“I want people to know that at one time he had all his brain together,” his mother, Marilyn Nelson, told the outlet. “I just don’t understand why they did what they did. I just don’t understand why he ended up in that situation. I talk to God all the time — and I just don’t understand.”
Marilyn and Brian’s father, Danny, told Tulsa World they were supposed to babysit their grandchildren on the day of the fire, but at the designated time, they hadn’t heard from their son.
“Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them — no responses,” Danny told Tulsa World. “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.”
Danny said he drove to his son’s home, finding crime scene tape outside. Inside, Brian and Brittney’s six children were found dead in a bedroom while their parents were in the front of the house, The Daily Wire previously reported. Though a fire had been set, it doesn’t appear to be the cause of any of the eight deaths.
“All night last night, I kept saying: ‘It’s not real! It’s not real! It’s not real!’ And I couldn’t stop. But today, I know it’s real — too real,” Marilyn told Tulsa World. “I never dreamed this would happen.”
According to bankruptcy filings reviewed by Tulsa World, Brian and Brittney listed $8,803 in assets and $138,000 in liabilities, mostly unpaid student loans. Both adults were unemployed at the time they filed for bankruptcy and were receiving welfare. The couple also listed nine firearms as assets.
Years ago, Brian stocked dairy refrigerators for a large retail chain, his parents said.
“One night when he got there, the guy who had just gotten off work before him had spilled something and did not mop the floor and Brian fell, and he hit his head really hard. The doctor said that it was a very rare concussion and told Brian that either it would go away or it would stay — and it stayed,” Marilyn told the outlet. “The headaches were horrible, and he never knew when he was going to get them.”
Brian and Brittney are the “primary suspects” in what is being investigated as a murder-suicide, though police still aren’t sure whether both parents were involved in the deaths.
