More than three years after three young Ohio brothers lost their lives in a devastating family tragedy, newly released police interview footage is providing a closer look at what their father told investigators in the hours afterward.
Chad Doerman, who was convicted after pleading guilty in 2024, is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The newly released footage from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office offers new insight into the explanation he gave detectives at the time — including his claim that he believed he was acting “for God.”
The video was released in August 2026 and comes more than three years after the June 2023 incident involving Doerman’s three sons: Chase, 3, Hunter, 4, and Clayton, 7.
A new look at the hours after the incident
According to investigators, Doerman returned home from work earlier than usual on June 15, 2023.
Authorities said he picked up a Bible and walked around the home while repeatedly saying, “Chad knows what’s right.”
The situation soon escalated when he retrieved a rifle from a gun safe.
When deputies arrived at the family’s Monroe Township property, they found the three boys outside and Doerman sitting nearby with the rifle, according to body-camera footage described by FOX19.
Two other family members were also injured during the incident, and Doerman later pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault in connection with them.
The newly released interview begins after authorities had taken Doerman into custody.
At first, detectives struggled to get clear answers from him.
He repeatedly told investigators that he did not know what they were asking about. As the questioning continued, however, he began talking about his beliefs, the Bible and what he thought was happening around him.
At one point, Doerman asked investigators whether he was in Hell.
He repeatedly described believing that the world was coming to an end and said he had been frightened by thoughts that he and his family were in danger.
“I was scared because we are all in Hell,” he told detectives, according to the newly released footage.
His explanation involving the Bible
One of the most significant portions of the interview involved a story from the Bible that Doerman said he remembered after attending a church service in Amelia.
He told investigators that his father had previously read him a biblical story about making a sacrifice to God.
Although Doerman did not identify the passage by name, investigators and reporters noted similarities to the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22.
In that biblical account, Abraham is tested when he is instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, but an angel ultimately stops him.
Doerman told detectives that he believed the story represented a test that had to be followed.
“He tests you and you have to do it,” Doerman said during the interview, according to FOX19’s report.
A detective then asked him about what he had done.
“For God,” Doerman replied.
The footage provides an unusual window into the explanation Doerman gave investigators, but it does not establish that his beliefs were medically accurate or provide a justification for his actions.
His statements are part of the investigative record surrounding a case that has already gone through the criminal court system.
Doerman described believing the world was ending
Throughout the interview, Doerman appeared focused on ideas about Hell, the end of the world and what he believed would happen to his family.
He told detectives that he had been searching for help because he continued experiencing troubling thoughts.
He also described seeing what he interpreted as signs that something catastrophic was approaching.
“There were signs all over the place,” he said, according to the released interview.
Investigators also asked him about an alleged sequence he had planned.
Doerman said he believed there was a specific order in which his family members were supposed to be targeted. He told detectives that he would not harm himself because he believed doing so would prevent him from reaching Heaven.
The comments added another layer to the account investigators were attempting to understand.
Toxicology provided another piece of the picture
The newly reported investigation also includes toxicology findings from the day of the incident.
According to FOX19, Doerman’s toxicology results did not show drugs in his system at the time, although alcohol was detected.
That information does not by itself explain his behavior, but it became another piece of evidence investigators considered when reconstructing what happened that day.
The case was resolved in court in 2024
Although the newly released footage is drawing renewed attention, the criminal case itself is not awaiting a trial.
In August 2024, Doerman pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and two counts of felonious assault.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty.
He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
That means the newly released footage does not change his sentence.
Instead, it gives the public a more detailed look at what investigators heard directly from Doerman after the incident and helps explain some of the questions that remained surrounding his motive.
Remembering Chase, Hunter and Clayton
While the newly released video has focused attention on their father’s statements, the three boys remain at the center of the story.
Chase was 3.
Hunter was 4.
Clayton was 7.
Their family and community had previously remembered them as active, playful children who enjoyed spending time together.
At the time of Doerman’s sentencing, their mother emphasized that she wanted people to remember her sons for who they were rather than allowing the circumstances surrounding their final moments to define their lives.
She described them as brothers who loved fishing, swimming, riding go-karts and being together.
That message remains important as the case receives renewed attention more than three years later.
The newly released footage may answer some questions about what Doerman was thinking and what he told investigators, but it cannot change the loss experienced by the boys’ family.
Why the video matters now
The release of the interview comes years after the original investigation and after the criminal case has already reached its conclusion.
For investigators and the public, however, the footage provides additional context around a case that initially left many people asking the same question:
Why did this happen?
Doerman’s explanation centered on his interpretation of religious teachings, fears about Hell and the end of the world, and what he described as a perceived obligation to follow what he believed was a divine test.
Those statements offer insight into his claimed thinking at the time, but they remain his account of events rather than an independent explanation of what caused his behavior.
The legal record is already settled: Doerman pleaded guilty, was convicted and received a sentence of life without parole.
What is new is the opportunity to hear more directly from the man at the center of the case and to examine the words he gave investigators shortly after the events of June 15, 2023.
For the families and communities who continue to remember Chase, Hunter and Clayton, however, the most important part of their story is not the newly released interrogation.
It is the lives they had already begun to build — three brothers who were known and loved by their family, and whose names continue to be remembered years later.