[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Six children and their two parents died in a house fire in Oklahoma last week — and now police believe the tragedy wasn’t an accident at all…
According to Tulsa World, on Thursday morning grandparents Danny and Marilyn Nelson received a call from their son Brian Nelson and his wife Brittney. The 34-year-old asked his parents if they would babysit their grandkids — Brian II, 13, Brantley, 9, Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, Kurgan, 2, and Britannica, 1. At 3 p.m. The grandparents happily agreed as long as the children could come over to their place due to Marilyn’s health issues — they wouldn’t be able to travel to their son’s home to wrangle all six kids.
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Everything seemed to be perfectly planned when Brian agreed and said:
“Okay. But we’ll bring them over at 5.”
Danny and Marilyn’s family never would arrive. After an hour, the grandfather got a real reason to worry on the local news:
“Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them — no responses. 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.”
He told the outlet something inside pushed him to make the trip and check on his family:
“I’ve had almost psychic feelings before, and dreams.”
The 74-year-old made the 5-mile drive to his son’s home only to find it in shambles. When he moved past the caution tape, he heard something from first responders which is any parent or grandparent’s worst nightmare — six children and two adults found dead.
Nelson’s son, daughter-in-law, and six grandchildren were gone. Just gut-wrenching…
Upon gathering more details from the scene, the Broken Arrow Police Department concluded the causes of death were, shockingly, not because of fire or smoke inhalation. While no official cause of death has been released, officers say the six children were found in the back room of the small home while the two adults were found in the front room.
Investigators believe the parents killed their children before dying by suicide around 3 p.m. — exactly the time Danny and Marilyn were asked to come babysit. Just awful.
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But the biggest question the surviving family has: Why? Why would this happen? What could drive Brian and Brittney to this point?
Well, they speculate it may have something to do with the parents’ financial and health problems. The couple were thousands of dollars in debt — and between a head injury Brian sustained years before that his family say he was “never the same” after, and Brittney’s gallstones and seizures which kept her in doctors’ offices frequently — the debt was only getting deeper. The father had very little income before losing his job and his wife brought in no income at all, which put a strain on them as they lived “month to month” according to Brian’s parents.
Danny told the outlet on Monday he and his wife tried to help their son and his family as much as they could, but it all just became too much:
“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.”
Marilyn agreed, saying the deceased couple would “lose it” under the stress of their issues:
“Then every time one of those headaches came around, he just would lose it because it was so excruciating.”
So sad…
Danny said he hopes this situation will be a lesson learned for others to not put off taking care of themselves and their mental health:
“A lot of people say well, we’ll check into it tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow — and sometimes, tomorrow don’t ever come.”
So heartbreaking. Our hearts are with Danny, Marilyn, and all of their loved ones right now.
R.I.P.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
[Image via KOCO 5 News/YouTube]
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