Robert Bryant

Background

Robert Bryant lived in California before moving to Oregon. He was described as mild-mannered and deeply religious, and neighbors and acquaintances described his family as “a perfect family.” Friends and acquaintances later asked why Bryant killed his wife, their four children, and himself.

A former California neighbor, Albert Clary, said the Bryants and their relatives were Jehovah's Witnesses. Clary said Robert Bryant got into an argument with a church leader over the Bible while he and his family were still living in California. Clary said the family was reportedly shunned by both other Jehovah's witnesses and their own relatives following the incident. An elder church member said the Bryants were essentially kicked out of the church three years earlier, and that Robert Bryant was expelled from the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses for conduct that was not in harmony with Bible principles. The congregation elder, Mark Messier Sr., said Bryant “was expelled from the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses for conduct that was not in harmony with Bible principles, and chose to move his family from the area away from friends and family.” Messier also said the Bryants were concerned that relatives may seek custody of their four children, and that relatives had already filed documents in an effort to seek custody.

The offence

Police believed Robert Bryant killed his wife and four children, and then took his own life. The deaths were listed as murder-suicide. The Yamhill County District Attorney, Bradley C. Berry, said evidence indicated that “Mr. Robert Bryant killed his wife and children and then took his own life,” and he said a motive was not yet known. Berry said all seven deaths resulted from shotgun blasts.

The AP report listed the deaths as murder-suicide and said they probably took place about Feb. 23. Berry said investigators believed the shootings occurred on the following day after the children last attended school on Feb. 22.

The dead were identified as Robert Arlie Bryant, 37, and his 37-year-old wife, Janet Ellen Bryant, along with their children Clayton Keith Bryant, 15; Ethan Lance Bryant, 12; Ashley Rose Bryant, 10; and Alyssa Megan Bryant, 9.

Investigators believed Bryant killed the other five with one shotgun blast each, then turned the gun on himself. Berry said four weapons were found in the house, including two shotguns that Berry said were used in the crime. Berry said each family member died from a single blast at close range, and he said “One shotgun shell casing was accounted for and recovered at the scene for each victim.”

Investigation

Two Yamhill County sheriff's deputies were in the vicinity of the Bryants' McMinnville home Thursday night when neighbors approached them to express concern about the family. Deputies spotted what appeared to be a body inside the home. They obtained a search warrant and found all six bodies inside. On Friday, deputies roped off the area around the Bryants' manufactured home on a hillside outside McMinnville. Detectives searched the grounds for clues but found nothing.

Neighbors told investigators the Bryants were planning to build a larger house on the site. Family acquaintance Colin Armstrong told KATU News: “It was our understanding that they planned to build a bigger home and then sell it...so he had a lot of ideas of what he was going to do in the future, so this really surprised us.”

Arrest

No arrest was described.

Trial

No trial was described.

Sentencing

No sentencing was described.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Robert Bryant died by suicide by shooting himself the same day after killing his wife and children. Yamhill County District Attorney Bradley C. Berry described the case as an apparent murder-suicide.

Berry said investigators may never learn why a man described as mild-mannered and deeply religious would murder a wife and children described as doting and devoted.

Aftermath

The community of McMinnville was visibly shaken after investigators discovered a family of six shot to death in their home in an apparent murder-suicide.

School officials had attempted to contact the Bryants. Karen Richey, assistant superintendent for the McMinnville School District, said teachers noticed the children's absence from school and several attempts were made to contact the Bryants. Richey said: “We had people knocking on the door several times,” and she said no one ever answered the door. She said at first school officials weren't alarmed because it is not uncommon for students to be absent during the flu season, and she said “School officials say that a 10-day absence is not unheard of, and there were no real warning signs to alert them that anything may have been wrong at home.”

In a phone interview, Jeanna Wright told katu.com that her daughter Jaden was friends with Ashley Bryant at Memorial Elementary School. Wright said her daughter had not seen Ashley in Mrs. Mecker's class for two weeks and was concerned.

Bryants enrolled the children in McMinnville public schools. Ashley's younger sister Alissa was a second grade student at Memorial Elementary. Ethan was a sixth grader at Patton Middle School, and Clayton, the oldest, attended McMinnville High School. The children had virtually perfect attendance records through Friday, Feb. 22, but they had not been seen in class since.

McMinnville and district schools placed extra counselors on site to help students and staff cope with their grief. McMinnville Superintendent Elaine Taylor told the media: “the Memorial staff is understandably very grief-stricken, the two teachers of the children...are having a difficult time...” She was clear that Taylor was struggling to maintain composure.

Assistant Principal of Patton Middle School, Mark Hyder, said: “Ethan Bryant was a very nice young man, he had many friends. We are very saddened by this tragedy,” and he said “Ethan was new to our district this year...he was a very popular sixth-grader,” and he said “We're just trying to get through this day supporting students and their families.”

Memorial Elementary staff described Alissa and Ashley Bryant as “bright students who showed an interest in school.”

Timeline

• Thursday night — Neighbors approached two Yamhill County sheriff's deputies with concern about the family; deputies spotted what appeared to be a body inside the home and obtained a search warrant.
• Friday — Deputies roped off the area around the Bryants' manufactured home and detectives searched the grounds for clues; the children were said to have last attended school on Feb. 22, and shootings were believed to have occurred the following day; the DA said the deaths were believed to have occurred about Feb. 23.

Other details

The AP report said Robert Bryant moved his family to Oregon from California last year after becoming estranged from his parents and siblings over church issues and going into bankruptcy. It said things started getting better when the family arrived in McMinnville, but friends later asked why Bryant would kill his wife Janet, their four children, and himself.

RV park owner Howard Angell said Robert confided the family had left a “big problem” in California, fleeing out of fear in the middle of the night, as reported by the McMinnville News-Register. Hermina Sampson of McMinnville met Robert Bryant soon after he came to town last summer and was going door to door drumming up work for his landscaping business. Sampson said: “He told me he had to get away from the grandparents,” and she said “The grandparents were kind of trying to brainwash the children.”

Jehovah's Witnesses in Shingle Springs had banned Robert Bryant from the congregation there, an act that members called “disfellowship.” Church elder Mark Messier said the action was taken for Bryant's “unrepentant behavior” that violated church beliefs.

Dennis Goecks sold the Bryants the two-acre lot west of McMinnville. He said: “They were just as nice a couple as you'd ever want to meet,” and he said “It's one of those things that just doesn't compute.”

Brenda Maranville rented the Bryants a house for four years and then sold it to them. Maranville said: “They were wonderful renters, they were immaculate caretakers, their kids were always so well behaved - it's like the perfect family.”

Peggy Ojeda, office manager of the Dayton park where the family stayed for a short time, said the family arrived June 11. Ojeda said Robert Bryant created Bryant's Landscape & Maintenance and that it was registered with the state at the RV park address. She said: “They were an extremely nice, very quiet family,” and she said “They did everything together.” Ojeda also said: “The children positively drooled over their dad. They never seemed afraid of him.”

Ojeda said the business aggressively advertised in the newspaper and with leaflets, and the business took off. Robert presented a proposal to RV park owner Angell to re-landscape the entire park, but called back in November to say he had taken on too much other work.

Vern Skoog of Homes America had many dealings with the family in connection with the double-wide home's purchase. He remembered Robert as a “really pleasant guy.” Skoog said: “He had gone through some difficulties in California, including a business bankruptcy. He was looking to make a fresh start.” Skoog said he discounted financial pressures as a reason for the murder-suicide. The Bryant's California bankruptcy attorney agreed that the bankruptcy took care of their financial problems, saying: “The bankruptcy took care of their financial problems,” and “They probably should have been fine,” as reported by the attorney, Julia Gibbs.

The family installed a double-wide mobile home on a two-acre lot west of town in December. The AP report said the Bryants moved into the home just before Christmas. The AP report said the Bryants filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Jan. 13, 2000. It said they had unsecured debts of $57,000, mostly on credit cards, and it said they had a home valued at $175,000 but had little equity in it. The bankruptcy freed the Bryants from the credit card debt and some of the other debt. By June, the Bryants had a fresh start, set out to rebuild businesses and finances, and continued to pay off more than $11,000 that they legally didn't have to pay Steve and Brenda Maranville.

A study of California bankruptcy records indicated that the family moved to McMinnville from Shingle Springs California, where the father had a landscaping business called Bryant's Landscape Maintenance. It said the Bryants came to Oregon last summer to make a fresh start, a former neighbor told KATU News. Two Jehovah's Witnesses who were at the McMinnville church on Friday said they had never heard of the Bryants. A former neighbor said the family was described as fleeing and being shunned following the church dispute.

Berry said the home sat on about two acres of a rural subdivision west of McMinnville, on a hillside at the foot of Oregon's Coast Range and about 20 miles south of Portland. Investigators found no clues on the grounds.