He sat next to him. He spoke with him. He remembers every word and every single moment being that close to him.
And it’s like it was yesterday for Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack when he recalls helping escort Bellaire native Nathan Brooks to and from his jail cell to the courthouse for the 17-year-old’s double murder trial. The high school student killed his mother and father as they slept in separate bedrooms late on September 30th, 1995.
The family home was located along State Road 147, and that’s where he stabbed his mother several times, shot his father and decapitated him with a hacksaw, and placed his head in a punch bowl as part of a satanic ritual.
Zusack, the county sheriff since January 6th, was a newbie deputy jailer at the time.
“I do remember the night it happened, and I remember most of the guys going on that call while I was stuck in the (county) jail as a young jailer,” Zusack recalled. “I remember the deputies bringing him into the jail, and then to the Sargus (Juvenile) Center. But then I remember that Sheriff McCort assigned me to be with Nathan every time he was transported somewhere.
“He was a unique individual, and I remember his visitations. He worshipped Satan; that was obvious, but it was new to us around here,” he said. “He had some people from Columbus who came to visit him, and they said they were witches. They were dressed in a gothic style, and because of the position I was in then, I could hear their conversations. I’ve always explained them as weird to me; it was something I had never experienced.”
Zusack had never had his life threatened either. Until meeting Brooks, that is.
“I remember being in the back of the patrol car with him, and I had to be unarmed around him all the time. I remember he would speak English and then he’d speak fluent Latin, then go back to English,” the sheriff remembered. “One time we got Taco Bell, and out of nowhere, he looked at me and he said, ‘You know, I’d really like to kill you.’ He said that straight to my face.
“And I just said, ‘I know. Probably so, Nathan, but you’re not going to kill me,’ Zusack repeated. “Nathan said back, ‘Yeah, you’re bigger than me,’ and I said back, ‘Doesn’t matter. It’s not going to happen, so just calm down.’
“The whole situation was really off the wall. Not only did he kill his parents, but he had a list. Don’t forget about the list. It was a long list of names because he had more plans locally, and even his brother (Ryan) was on that list. That’s why it was a good thing our guys located him as quickly as they did before anything else could happen.”
#A337726
Brooks was arrested near the Mount Zion Cemetery along Riggs Road soon after his brother, then 16-year-old Ryan Brooks, called the police once he discovered his deceased parents in the early morning hours of Sept. 30, 1995. Once it was decided he would be tried as an adult, he was lodged in the former Belmont County Jail and then moved to the former Barnesville City Jail.
That cell has not been occupied since, and his words and artwork have never been removed from the walls.
Brooks, now 47 years old, was convicted in October 1996 of two counts of aggravated murder and he’s been behind bars in the London Correctional Institution for 29 years. A jury of six men and six women found the teenager guilty on two charges of aggravated murder and of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Deliberations in the double murder case took under three hours to complete, and he was then sentenced to a pair of 20-year life sentences plus an additional three years for the use of a firearm while committing the murders.
The life sentences, as per the late Belmont County Judge Charles Knapp, were to run consecutively.
Brooks has lived about 160 miles away from his hometown of Bellaire as Prisoner #A337726 at the London Correctional Institution in London, Ohio, since his arrival on October 27, 1996. He has been one of approximately 2,500 inmates in the facility that rests within Union Township in Madison County, and the double murder has become known through the years as “The Devil of Bellaire” and “Dark Prince of Belmont County”.
According to the website for the Department of Rehabilitation & Correct, though, Brooks is eligible for parole next month (August 2025) for the first time since he’s been incarcerated. According to Ohio Revised Code Section 5149.10, the Parole Board was created as a section within the Adult Parole Authority and can consist of up to 12 members.
The Parole Board, however, currently consists of nine members whose primary statutory duties include conducting release consideration hearings on all parole-eligible inmates and providing clemency recommendations to Gov. Mike DeWine, according to the state’s Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections website.
So, does the sheriff of Belmont County believe Brooks should be paroled?
“Absolutely, positively, no. And that’s a big no,” Zusack said. “I plan to speak with our prosecutor (Kevin Flanagan) about sending a letter to the Parole Board, too. Now, if he is granted parole and he comes back here, that’s his decision and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“I don’t know why he would ever come back here, but who knows,” he said. “This is the first time he’s coming up for parole, so we’ll see what happens. But it would surprise me, I can tell you that.”
Zusack has climbed the law enforcement ladder since initially meeting Brooks, and after serving for nine years as Chief Deputy for former sheriff Dave Lucas, he ran unopposed for Sheriff as a Republican in November 2024. Since his rookie year, Zusack has seen crime scenes now embedded forever in his memory, he’s encountered criminals he was pleased to see go off to prison, and victims he still mourns.
Thankfully, though, there’s been only one Nathan Brooks.
“When you work in law enforcement for so many years like I have, there are those memories you’ll never forget, and having that conversation with Nathan Brooks is definitely one of them,” Zusack said. “I remember sitting next to him that day when he talked about killing me, and I remember every day I sat next to him like it was yesterday.
“There were signs back then, but people didn’t look at worshipping the devil seriously enough because it was considered a stunt so a kid would get the attention they wanted,” he added. “I don’t think we knew we needed to look at things like that because it was so rare and definitely not something that happened around here.
“We didn’t hear a lot about mental health and things like that when I first got into law enforcement, but we know better now and that’s a very good thing for all of us.”
