Robert Bever, 18, is accused, along with his 16-year-old brother, in the fatal stabbings of his parents and three siblings. (Broken Arrow Police)
An 18-year-old from Oklahoma is accused along with his 16-year-old brother in the fatal stabbings of their parents and three siblings.
Robert Bever, and his brother, whose name hasn’t been released, were arrested after the stabbings Wednesday night at a home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, police said. They are accused in the killings of their parents, David and April Bever, and three siblings, ages 12, 7 and 5, who have also not yet been identified.
Bever’s 13-year-old sister was also stabbed by her brothers, but survived with serious injuries. A 2-year-old sister was found unharmed in the home.
Police have not yet said if they have found a motive for the stabbings.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Brothers Were Caught After Running From the Home, Police Say
Bever in an undated photo. Facebook
Police say a K-9 tracked down Robert Bever and his brother after about an hour-long search in a wooded area near the Bever’s home.
“It appears that the two suspects fled out the door sometime during our arrival. We had a canine track and they were apprehended,” police Sergeant Thomas Cooper told the Associated Press.
Robert Bever was smiling in his mugshot and seemed “smug and not remorseful,” Broken Arrow Police spokesman Leon Calhoun said.
Bever’s brother will be identified if he is charged with murder, per state law.
2. Police Went to the Home After a 911 Call & Found the Victims
The Bever children in a photo posted by their mother. One of the family’s seven children is not in the photo. (Facebook)
Someone, likely the 13-year-old girl, called 911 from the home during the stabbings, police said, sending officers there. Police found the 13-year-old girl alive and the five dead victims inside the home.
The 13-year-old girl was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery. She was in stable condition Thursday night.
3. His Father Worked at HP & His Mother Started a Charity Website
April Bever, left, and her husband, David Bever. (Facebook/LinkedIn)
David Bever, 52, worked at HP as a technology consultant and attended Oral Roberts University, according to his LinkedIn profile. His wife, April Sharpe Bever, 44, recently started a charity website to help mothers of premature babies. The couple’s youngest daughter was born premature, according to Facebook posts.
April Bever also ran a company called A Sign of Surprise, which placed flags and a personalized sign on the lawns of returning soldiers.
The family of nine have lived at their home in the quiet Indian Springs neighborhood of Broken Arrow since they purchased it in 2007 for $245,000.
4. The Children Were Homeschooled & Didn’t Interact With Others in the Neighborhood
Three of the Bever siblings. (Facebook)
Neighbors told The Associated Press that two adults and several children lived at the home, one of the larger and more expensive homes on the block. The children were homeschooled, neighbors said.
The family was “reclusive,” neighbor Julie Wallis told the Tulsa Frontier.
“I know they weren’t members of the country club,” Wallis said, referencing the country club and golf course that surrounds the Bever’s neighborhood. “I know they weren’t allowed to play with other kids … There’s probably only two people who know the full story right now.”
Not much is known about Robert Bever and his siblings. In 2012, he served as a student judge at a “youth court” in Tulsa, according to the Tulsa World.
“My son never had an opportunity to play with him because their parents wouldn’t allow them to play with the other kids,” another neighbor, Bill Whitworth told the AP.
He said he only saw them when, “I saw the Suburban backing out of the driveway.”
Austin Mahan told News on 6, “All the kids are homeschooled, and they all stay in the house. So they don’t get their social needs met. I’m just not surprised.”
5. Police Said the Scene Was ‘Gruesome’
BA Police Sgt. Thomas Cooper details Wednesday night homicide pic.twitter.com/u2aj2zuEwo
— Kendrick Marshall (@KD_Marshall) July 23, 2015
Police spokesman Sergeant Thomas Cooper told NBC News that the crime is almost “unprecedented” in the community of 100,000, which he called a “relatively safe community, smaller than Tulsa,” that could be called a “bedroom community.”
The Bever home in a photo from county records. (Tulsa County)
“The crime scene has taken a pretty heavy toll on officers who have come out here,” Cooper said. “It hits close to home, especially when the victims are adults and juveniles. Our officers have a lot to take in.”
Mother, father, three children died- one child survive stabbing, baby unharmed. “brutal inside there”
Broken Arrow Corporal Leon Calhoun told the Associated Press, “I’ve been here 19 years and I don’t know if we’ve had more than three homicides in a year. I don’t think we’ve had a single incident of this magnitude.”