American Monster is investigating the murder of Brian Hartman and his wife, Cheri Hartman, who were killed at their home in Randolph County, Indiana, by their son Brian “Scott” Hartman.
On February 13, 2010, Scott killed his mom, 52-year-old Cheri, by giving her an overdose of prescription drugs.
Cheri had been on medication for cancer and emphysema, but the authorities initially failed to connect her death to Scott.
A few days later, at Cheri’s funeral, friends and family asked Scott why his father, Cheri’s husband, Brian, was not present, and he gave conflicting stories about his father leaving home.
Later that day, Scott was arrested for trying to rob a neighbor’s house. At the police station, he filled out a questionnaire stating both his parents were deceased.
On February 23, the cops searched the Hartman home and found the body of 53-year-old Brian stuffed into a plastic container. He had been blasted with a shotgun, most likely on the same day his wife was killed.
Scott Hartman said his parents Cheri and Brian Hartman wanted to die
Scott Hartman admitted to the killings but claimed that he had just been acting on his mother’s wishes. He said Cheri told him to shoot his father to spare him the grief of losing his wife to cancer. She then supposedly told her son to help her commit suicide.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelAt the time, Sheriff Jay Harris explained, “He’s alleging his mother and him and his father had a conversation that when it was mother’s time to go, he would assist her, and his father did not want to live without her, so he was going to go also.”
The authorities weren’t buying it and charged him with homicide. The police blamed Scott’s violent behavior on a drug addiction. He had broken into the neighbor’s home to look for drugs and admitted to the cops that he had been taking Oxycontin.
The killer had also filed a prescription for his mother a few days after her death, and his daughter reported seeing him taking drugs.
Scott Hartman put on trial for murdering Brian and Cheri Hartman
In the run-up to Scott’s trial, the prosecution upgraded a charge of assisting the suicide of Cheri to murder, so he now faced a double homicide charge. His defense team tried to get the charge dismissed but was overruled by the judge.
Scott was found guilty in 2013 on both murder charges and was sentenced to 120 years in prison, 60 years for each murder. He is currently incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, IN.
American Monster airs Sundays at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.