Bond for a father who is accused of -- and allegedly admitted to -- murdering three of his sons was set at $20 million in a court room on Friday.
Chad Doerman of Monroe Township, Ohio was arrested on Thursday, June 15 after police responded to a pair of 911 calls to his home. One of them, according to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, was from a woman screaming that "her babies had been shot"; the second came from a driver who said a girl was running down the street saying "her father was killing everyone."
Three boys, Doerman's sons aged 3, 4 and 7, were unresponsive when deputies and EMS arrived. All three succumbed to gunshot wounds on the scene. The children's mother was also shot in the hand; learning the boys died while at the hospital being treated for her wound.
Doerman was charged with three counts of aggravated murder.
On Friday, Doerman appeared in court for a bond hearing. While the attorney representing him asked the judge for $75,000 bond, the Clermont County Prosecutor's Office pushed for $20 million -- reportedly the highest bond in county history -- and got their wish.
During the hearing, criminal division chief David Gast revealed additional details about the horrific crime, saying Doerman had given them a "full admission" of guilt.
"The trauma that this man has inflicted on his family, the community, law enforcement, first responders and the rest of us is unspeakable," he said to the judge, before revealing what allegedly went down the prior day.
"In an act of just incomprehensible cruelty, the father before you lined up his three young boys and he executed them in his own home with a rifle. They were ages 3, 4 and 7," said Gast. "In an act of desperation to save her children, the mother at some point grabbed the gun the father was wielding in an attempt to protect them."
He said one of the three boys "was able to flee" to a nearby field but, according to Doerman's own admission, the child's father "hunted that boy down, drug him back to the property and executed him in front of witnesses." Gast said the boys' mother was shot "in her attempt to protect her children."
