Minnesota Axe Murderer David Brom Approved For Work Release

UPDATE: The Minnesota Department of Corrections has indicated that David Brom's next appearance before the Supervised Release Board is scheduled for January 2026. The meetings are open to the public.

The department also stated that when individuals are released from prison, they usually return to the county where they were convicted. In Brom's case it was decided that he will not return to the vicinity of Olmsted County for work release or any potential future parole release.

It was also noted that the halfway house facility where he will reside while participating in the work release program includes case management, supervision services, and GPS monitoring.

Lino Lakes, MN (KROC-AM News) - A former Rochester man who was a teenager when he committed one of the most notorious crimes in recent state history is set to soon begin living outside of prison walls for the first time in 35 years.

David Brom, now 53, was 16 when he went on a murderous rampage inside his family's suburban northwest Rochester home in the early morning hours of February 18, 1988. According to a witness at his trial the following year, the Lourdes High School student described how he had gotten into an argument with his father hours earlier and then murdered his parents and two of his siblings with an axe.

Olmsted County Sheriff's Dept photo

Responding to a rumor circulating among Lourdes High School students later that day, school officials notified law enforcement, and the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office sent then-deputy—and now Olmsted County Sheriff—Kevin Torgerson and his partner, Mike Braley, to the Brom residence, where they found the bodies of 43-year-old Bernard, 42-year-old Paulette, 13-year-old Diane, and 11-year-old Richard Brom.

Olmsted County Sheriff's Office

The gruesome discovery led to a massive manhunt in the Rochester area, with law enforcement officers and citizens put on alert for a van that David Brom was believed to be driving. The teenage mass murderer was finally arrested on the morning of February 19, 1988, after he was spotted using a pay phone at the Rochester Post Office. Investigators later learned that he had spent most of the previous night sleeping in a culvert at a nearby concrete plant.

concrete culvert David brom slept in- Olmsted County Sheriff's Office photo

David Brom was convicted of multiple first-degree murder charges during a trial held in October 1989. He was ordered to serve three consecutive life prison sentences, which, under state law at the time, would have made him eligible for parole beginning in 2041.

A new state law approved in 2023 has changed that timeline. The law eliminated sentences of life in prison without parole for juvenile offenders and authorized the review of offenders previously given lengthy prison terms for crimes committed when they were juveniles. In cases where a juvenile was given a life sentence, the law states that they could become eligible for parole after serving 15 years behind bars.

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In David Brom's case, he has not yet been granted a parole hearing, but a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections confirmed that he has been approved for a work release program. The spokesperson also confirmed that Brom’s involvement in the program will include a transfer from his prison cell at the Lino Lakes State Prison to a halfway house facility located in the Twin Cities area.