lights that lead us blindly

In a videotaped confession, David admitted that he’d participated in the killings.

He claimed that when his mother had come downstairs to his basement bedroom,

which she’d done more than once that night, she was killed, Bryan said to his

brother and cousin, "When she gets down, I'm going to kill her and you guys go

upstairs and get Dad and Erik.” (Heidorn, 1995)

During the trial, 17-year-old Bryan admitted that he stabbed a steak knife five

inches into his mother’s back. The brothers did not receive the death penalty

because they chose to take a deal. David pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

He admitted to bludgeoning his father with a baseball bat. However, neither one

would admit to killing their 11-year old brother, Erik. Their cousin, Nelson

"Ben" Birdwell, was also charged with the murders. He was tried and convicted

of beating Dennis Freeman to death.

Bryan maintained the murders were due to the stress of hostility that festered and

grew between him, his brother and their parents. When he originally pleaded

guilty the judge asked him if he had any reservations about his sentencing and

guilt and he’d said, “No.” The prosecutors purported that Bryan began the

killings by stabbing his mother. Later, David and their cousin attacked the

Freeman’s father and younger brother while they slept.

The Aftermath

Eleven years after the killings, Bryan Freeman returned to court and proclaimed

his innocence in the death of his mother. However, Judge Lawrence J. Brenner

dismissed the appeal, claiming it was too late to challenge the guilty plea. Bryan

claimed to have “new evidence” support his innocence. (Garlicki, 2006)

Bryan argued that, although innocent, he was unlawfully induced to enter his

guilty plea because he was afraid of receiving the death penalty. He claimed that

he didn’t try for an appeal because he was afraid of execution. Charles Banta, his

court-appointed lawyer, explained that although the time frame had passed in

which he could file an appeal that he stilled wanted to try anyway.

Bryan, David, and their cousin are all serving life sentences in different prisons.

Their cousin is also serving time for conspiracy and hindering apprehension of

the brothers.

Joshua Phillips

In a crime that set the country on edge, in 1998 14-year-old Joshua Phillips of

Jacksonville, Florida, bludgeoned his 8-year-old neighbor, Maddie Clifton, to

death. As though that wasn’t shocking enough, he then hid her body under his

waterbed and participated in the search for her.

The Killing

Maddie Clifton disappeared on November 3, 1998. Neighbor Larry Grisham,

who had been arrested twice in sexual battery cases, was the first suspect.

Although he failed a lie detector test, he did have an alibi for the time when she

had disappeared.

Although the police eventually called off the search, more than four-hundred

volunteers continued to search for her. Even Joshua himself helped looked for

the little girl, all the while knowing she was under his bed. A $50,000 and then

$100,000 reward was offered.

One week after Maddie disappeared, Phillip’s mother went into his bedroom to

clean. When it appeared his waterbed was leaking, she had a look to find the

source. That was when she discovered Maddie’s body. It was tucked away inside

the waterbed’s pedestal. At that point, she went across the street and informed

the police.

Police went to Joshua’s school and arrested him that day. The cause of death was

through being stabbed and bludgeoned with a baseball bat. Joshua told

investigators he was playing baseball with Maddie when he accidentally hit her

in the eye. When she screamed, he took her into his bedroom and strangled her

with a phone cord. He also stabbed her eleven times and hit her with the baseball

bat again.

Maddie’s body was nude from the waist down, and although police did find

violent pornography when they searched Joshua’s belongings, Maddies showed

no signs of being subjected to a sexual assault. Joshua also had no history of

violence.

Pictures taken of the crime scene showed air fresheners on his nightstand, he had

also recently burned incense and one of the air freshener bottles was sitting next

to one of Maddie’s disappearance fliers. (NewsforJax, 2011)

The Aftermath

The motivation for the murder appeared to be based on fear; Joshua was afraid

of his abusive father and knew his father would have been angry to discover

Maddie in their home. Joshua was charged with first-degree murder. Since he

wasn’t sixteen, he wasn’t eligible for the death penalty; he was sentenced to life

in prison without the possibility of parole.

When he was 16-years-old, he finally seemed to understand the gravity of his

sentence. He stated that when he left the dining hall in the prison and saw a line

of elderly inmates with walkers and canes receiving their medications he

thought, “Wow, that’s going to be me” and became “real depressed”. (Pinkham,

2008)