The Village of Bellaire Canceled Halloween in 1995
It wasn’t until the very last minute that Nathan Brooks finally asked a question to the deputy in charge of guarding him.
He wanted to know what to expect when the bars closed for good.
“He didn’t seem scared the entire time we had him during the trial, but when we drove up to the prison, I think he was scared to death. I think that’s when it all hit him,” recalled Deputy Stan Galownia. “I think that’s when it hit him … what he did to his parents that night.”
Brooks was 17-years-old old when he killed both his father and mother during the early morning hours of July 30, 1995. He used a hacksaw, a rifle, a large kitchen knife, and an axe, and the crime scene was like no other. Investigators found signs the murders were connected to Satanic worship, Brooks was arrested near a cemetery, and his jailers reported he was a pleasant prisoner except when his defense attorneys reviewed with him the nature of his horrific crimes.
“Those meetings made him numb,” Galownia insisted. “It took some time before he would interact with anyone again.”
To this day, the public remains in the dark as far as his reasons for killing his parents and for making a detailed listing of names and his preferred methods of murder.
“No one really knows why it all stopped with his mother and his father, but when deputies arrived to that scene, it was the first time anyone saw what they saw inside that house,” he said. “I know (retired) Sheriff (Tom) McCort was trying to keep a lot of the details quiet, but word got out about the nature of the murders and about things like the punch bowl and all the satanic symbols. That’s why Bellaire canceled their Halloween that year.”
Brooks was incarcerated at the Sargus Juvenile Center, then in the Barnesville Jail until he was finally convicted of two counts of aggravated murder with gun specifications. That is when he posed the question to Deputy Stan Galownia.
“No one really knows why it all stopped with his mother and his father, but when deputies arrived to that scene, it was the first time anyone saw what they saw inside that house,” he said. “I know (retired) Sheriff (Tom) McCort was trying to keep a lot of the details quiet, but word got out about the nature of the murders and about things like the punch bowl and all the satanic symbols. That’s why Bellaire canceled their Halloween that year.”
So, according to the online records posted by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Prisoner #A337726 at the London Correctional Institution will meet with the members of the Ohio Parole Board in August 2025.
“I have no idea what the parole board may decide, but I can tell you there are still a lot of people who have been on edge since those murders took place,” Galownia said. “There were a lot of rumors flying around back then, and then the trial proved a lot of the rumors to be true, and I think one thing that really shook people up was the fact Nathan did have a list of people he was going to kill that night.
If the parole board members deem Brooks to be rehabilitated, according to the online information, the Bellaire native could be released as soon as October 1, 2025.
“And here we are now, 27 years later, and Nathan will be eligible in a few years,” Galownia added. “I’m real sure a lot of people are going to be paying attention to that hearing.”
