Man ‘admitted killing brother and pregnant sister-in-law to police chief during Christmas card exchange’

Details of the attack and alleged confession have been revealed in police reports filed to court

An investigation by South Dakota police led to the arrest of 57-year-old Brent Hanson of Milbank on three charges of first degree murder and also three counts of second degree murder (South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation )

A man accused of murdering his brother and sister-in-law allegedly confessed to the crimes during a Christmas card exchange with the local police chief.

Brent Hanson, from South Dakota, is now facing murder charges after he reportedly told the police officer that he “snapped” and attacked the couple with a baseball bat and a machete.

Hanson came to the police department’s offices to meet with Milbank police chief Boyd VanVooren on the morning of 15 December. Mr VanVooren had arranged the meeting on Facebook the day before in order to exchange “a Christmas card from a church”, according to court papers seen by the local television station KELO-TV.

During the meeting, Mr VanVooren reportedly asked Hanson about “any further issues” with Hanson’s brother Clyde and his wife Jessica.

Hanson is said to have replied that “they no longer live here”. Only minutes later, Mr VanVooren heard a police radio call for a welfare check at Clyde and Jessica’s address after a food delivery worker had reported seeing what looked like blood on the door.

When asked about this new information by the police chief, Hanson allegedly replied: “I snapped” and made a “motion with his thumb across his neck indicating a ‘slashing motion’”, the court documents said.

When pressed on what he meant, Hanson reportedly repeated “I snapped” and said: “I killed them on Sunday.”

The police report said that Hanson and his brother had been home alone when “he went up there with a baseball bat and whacked [his brother] in the head enough times so [he] was gone.”

Family members of Jessica Hanson Hernandez, Clyde Hanson, and their child Ty have set up a Go Fund Me account to pay for funeral and travel expenses (Veronica Torres)

The document reportedly said that when Clyde’s wife Jessica, who was nine months pregnant, returned to the home on Monday morning Hanson “whacked [her] in the head with a machete, and that was the end of her”. Brent Hanson took the couple’s three-year-old child and kept the child “safe and he fed the child”, the papers said.

The Hanson brothers jointly owned the house and both lived in separate parts of it, Aberdeen American News reported.

A GoFundMe account for funeral and travel expenses has been set up by the cousin of Jessica Hanson Hernandez, Veronica Torres. She described Jessica and Clyde as “kind, modest people, and devout Christians”, and added: “Jessica leaves behind her lovely innocent son Ty, her parents Manuel & Helen, along with her two older siblings Jamie & Jasmine. Shocked and utterly distraught do not begin to describe the condition my family is in.”

In a statement on their Facebook page South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation wrote: “On the morning of December 15, 2021, the Milibank Police Department requested assistance from the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation after their agency was dispatched to a welfare check at a Milbank residence.

“Simultaneous to the welfare check request, local law enforcement learned from a separate source that there may be two deceased individuals inside the residence.

“Upon arriving at the residence, law enforcement officials discovered two deceased individuals inside with injuries consistent with homicidal violence. One of the victims was later determined to have been pregnant.

“DCI Special Agents responded to the scene where, in cooperation with the Milbank Police Department and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, they began a comprehensive investigation. The investigation led to the arrest of 57-year-old Brent Hanson of Milbank on three charges of first degree murder and also three counts of second degree murder.”