Halloween Horror: The Liske Family Murders

The Liske Family Murders: A Halloween Tragedy in Martin, Ohio

“This was the most disturbing murder scene I’d seen over the course of my career,” a state prosecutor would later describe the case he had just been a part of. “I can still see it to this day.”

The Morning When Everything Changed

The case in question was one that would shake the small, close-knit community of Martin, Ohio, and would spread unprecedented fear through hearts and homes on a day that is supposed to be filled with tricks and treats. It all started when a couple named William and Susan Liske married back in 2001. This wasn’t the first time down the aisle for either of them, and both of them were bringing their own children from previous marriages into this new blended family. Susan had two sons: Devon and Derek, and William had one, whose name was William Jr, although he usually went by his nickname BJ. Devon and Derek seemed to adapt well to this new life and to having William Sr in their lives, but, unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for William’s son BJ. BJ didn’t take well to having a stepmother, and continuous fights between him and Susan would often leave William Sr having to pick between his new wife and his son. All of this tension would come to a head on Sunday, October 31st, 2010, when one member of the Liske family would make a gruesome and earth-shattering discovery. William’s sister, Laurie Morse, and her husband had asked twenty-three-year-old Derek to come around that morning and do some work for them. Derek had agreed, but when he didn’t show up, Laurie called Derek. When Derek didn’t answer, she called Susan, and when Susan didn’t answer, she called Devon. When Devon answered, Laurie had finally managed to get through to someone in the Liske household, but, unfortunately, Devon didn’t have much information to give her. Devon had spent the night before at his father’s house and had only come home on Sunday morning to grab his choir robes and head straight back out to perform in a concert at the local church. When he returned from that concert, he headed straight to his room. The house was unusually quiet for a Sunday, but Devon didn’t think much of it at the time. He actually welcomed the opportunity to sit in his room and play video games undisturbed for a few hours. But as the day drew on and no one else seemed to come home, or to even start getting ready for the trick or treaters that were sure to come around later that evening, Devon began to feel uneasy. He went into William and Susan’s room and found them in bed sleeping, the covers pulled up over their heads. He put a hand out to Susan and gave her a shake, but Susan didn’t wake up. Concerned, Devon then pulled the covers down, only to find something that no child should ever have to see. Immediately, Devon started screaming. Then, still screaming and crying, he ran straight out of the house and took off down the street. It took him a good few minutes just to calm down enough to think about what he should do next, and then, still completely panicked, he called his aunt and told her everything he’d just seen. Shocked and concerned about her nephew, his aunt then called the police on Devon’s behalf and told him to sit tight and wait for first responders to arrive. Within minutes, law enforcement had secured the scene, and they began the long and gruesome task of piecing everything together.

Family Tensions That Reached a Breaking Point

At some point either the night before or during that very morning, while Devon was either with his father or at church, someone had attacked the Liske family. William Sr had been shot in the head and face multiple times, leaving blood splatter on the walls and soaking the bed beneath his body. Susan’s fate had been even worse. Susan had first been sexually assaulted before she’d been shot in the head, too. Both victims would be found side-by-side in their bed. The question then turned to Devon’s older brother, Derek. He’d also been in the home the night before, and it was very unlikely that he wouldn’t have heard the gunshots from William and Susan’s room.

A Horrifying Discovery in a Quiet Suburban Home

The investigators then approached Derek’s room and found the door locked. It had been locked from the inside, suggesting that Derek had locked himself in. Maybe he’d done so to hide from William and Susan’s killer. Maybe he was actually the one who’d attacked them, and now he was hiding from the police. Law enforcement broke down the door and forced their way into Derek’s room, but instead of finding the person who’d killed William and Susan, they found that Derek was actually another victim. He was on his bed, curled up almost like he’d been trying to protect himself, and he had been murdered too. This time, the killer had struck with a blunt object, leaving a sizable wound on Derek’s head that had ended up killing him. In one fell swoop, Devon had lost his mother, his older brother and his stepfather. Distraught and still visibly shaken, Devon then was brought into the station to give an interview. This talk with the investigators had many motives behind it. The first was that Devon had actually been the one to discover the bodies, and was therefore the closest thing the investigators had at that moment to a witness. But Devon was also a suspect. Yes, he’d been at his father’s house the night before, but the Liske family home had given the investigators more than one reason for them to believe that the killings had been an inside job. The home itself showed no signs of forced entry, meaning that the killer more than likely had their own way of getting into the house or had already been inside it. There were no signs of a struggle or that the home had been burgled, suggesting that the killer had known their way around and had come there for the sole purpose of killing the Liskes. Another discovery was quickly made that seemed to support that theory. Despite the fact that one of the murder weapons had been a gun, no bullet cases were found at the scene. Whoever had killed William, Susan and Derek had cleaned up after themselves, suggesting that they had at the very least put some degree of thought or planning behind the killings themselves.

The Evidence Points Inward

The investigators first turned to Devon and tried to figure out if he was capable of killing his own family, but Devon’s version of events and his alibi remained consistent. He’d been at his father’s the night before and had only come home Sunday morning to pick up his choir robes and head straight back out to a concert. He had, however, seen one more person at the house that morning and he was quite the unexpected houseguest.

BJ Liske: Troubled Past, Violent Present

William’s son BJ had spent the night at the Liske’s. In fact, he and William had just come back from a week-long hunting trip together at the family cabin out in the woods. When he and William came home that Saturday night, William and Susan invited BJ to stay after a get-together they’d hosted that night turned into a bit of a party and had led to some drinking. BJ himself was not actually a member of the Liske household anymore. He had been at first, but the relationship between him and Susan had deteriorated to the point where BJ had been asked to leave the house. The paper trail to prove that started back in 2004, when a police report indicated that BJ had hit his stepmother with a coffee mug. Two months after that, he’d punched her in the chest. A short while after that, he’d then stolen her car keys and attacked her with them. After one of these violent outbursts, the local police had come in and then physically removed BJ from the house. He was then sent to a mental facility, where he stayed until William Sr came in and agreed to be BJ’s guardian. After that, BJ wasn’t allowed back into the house, but William was doing his best to rebuild his relationship with his son and to keep their blended family together. That was actually why he and BJ had gone out on that hunting trip, and that was another reason why William offered for BJ to sleep on the sofa after they’d all enjoyed themselves at the party afterward.

A Manhunt That Led to a Cabin in the Woods

The following morning, while Devon was at the house picking up his robe, he saw BJ out the front of the house putting something into his white truck. Devon explained that he was on his way to church and told BJ that he would be back soon, but when he came home afterward, BJ had already left. This piece of information and the long and difficult relationship that BJ had had between his father and stepmother led to a county-wide manhunt. While the investigators back at the scene were busy finding the claw hammer that had been used to kill Derek, law enforcement were at the Liske family cabin, arresting the man who had used it. BJ didn’t put up a fight and around him was only more physical evidence to prove that he had actually been the one to kill his father, stepmother and stepbrother. All of their DNA was found on BJ and in his truck, and so was the .22 caliber rifle that had been used to kill both William and Susan.

A Tragic Ending for a Tragic Story

BJ accepted a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. In exchange for pleading guilty to the three murders, he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Though his life was technically spared, he ended up serving only a year behind bars. In 2011, perhaps consumed by guilt over his actions, BJ died by suicide in his prison cell.