A convicted axe murderer will be released from prison after serving decades behind bars for killing his family in Rochester.
David Brom killed his parents, brother and sister with an axe at the family's home in Rochester, Minnesota.
In the early evening of February 18, 1988, Olmsted County sheriff's deputies discovered the bodies of Bernard (43), Paulette (42), Diane (13), and Richard (11) Brom.
At the time, David Brom was just 16-years old. Police found the blood-stained axe in the basement. Brom was eventually found after some friends - who Brom had told about the murders - informed police that David himself had committed them.
Now, all these years later, Brom says he's changed and is ready to be released.
"I've kind of spent my time the best that I can to change the things about my life that led me to the despair, and the decisions that I made, and the actions that I took. The crimes that I committed," Brom explained.
He went before the parole board to make his case for supervised releases.
"I'm a good example of what a transformation can look like in a person's life through the Department of Corrections," Brom added. "I think that I've demonstrated consistency in that progress and in that maturing and growth. And and I believe that I'm ready for parole."
After the murders, Brom told authorities he had 'gotten into a fight' with his father and then attacked him, his mother and two siblings. The now 53-year old talked about what he remembered of that time.
"I struggled with depression for some time and it had clouded my thoughts and it clouded my ability to process things," Brom explains. "And I've grown to a short-sighted view that I couldn't - I thought these things were gonna last forever. And I knew I couldn't live that way forever."
On October 16, 1989, Brom was convicted of first degree murder and was given three consecutive and one concurrent life terms with 52 years and 6 months to serve before becoming eligible for parole. In 2023, Brom's minimum term was reduced to make him immediately eligible for parole under a new state law restricting life terms for juveniles in Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Brom is to be given supervised release on July 29.