"He drank a lot, and they should not have let him out of prison the first time," stated Kasey Brogdan.
On Sept 18 2014, police received a chilling call on 911 at approximately 4:00 pm. The voice on the other end of the call stated that he had killed his family and planned on taking his own life when law enforcement arrived at the scene. The police who did arrive at the residence were able to talk to the caller for a brief time before he shot himself in the head. A .45 caliber handgun was found near the man who was outside of the residence. The police found another adult's body outside of the residence as well as the bodies of six children within the home. All of the victims were shot with the handgun and none had survived.
Don Spirit, 51 had shot his daughter and her six children........ his grandchildren, whose ages ranged from 3 months old to 11 years old. The police found Spirit outside of his home as well as the body of his daughter, Sarah Spirit, 28. The bodies of her six children: Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11, Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Destiny Stewart, 5, Brandon Stewart, 4 and Alana Stewart, 3 months old were all found within the home.
The small town of Bell FL, with a population of about 350 did not expect anything like the killings but there are many who have stated that they knew that Spirit had problems. The police stated that they had visited the home on several occasions in the past for various issues. Teachers for the children stated that they had not noticed anything that would lead them to believe that there was trouble at the home located near the intersection of Northwest 30th St and Northwest 39th Terrace.
It has been reported that numerous people knew about Spirit's troubled past and lengthy criminal history. In the 1990's he was living in the Tampa FL area and was convicted of battery, leaving the scene of a serious accident and depriving a child of food or shelter. The specific details about the case have not been made available yet. In 1998 he was convicted of felony marijuana possession and lost his right to own firearms. He never sought to have that right restored but he did manage to get a Florida hunting license in 2007 and 2011.
On November 14 2001, Spirit accidentally shot his Kyle, 8, during a hunting trip to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area near Kenasville FL. He was on the trip with Sarah's brother's Kyle and Josh. On a walk through the woods with both sons, Spirit pointed out some rust that was on the muzzle of his Browning rifle.
For some reason, the high powered rifle fired and Kyle was struck in the head. He put Kyle in the back of his pick up truck and drove out of the remote location looking for help. Authorities stated that Kyle had died instantly and that they felt it had been an accidental shooting. Spirit did plead guilty in 2003 to the charge of a felon possessing a gun and was sentenced to three years in prison.
He received the minimum sentence for the plea bargain and he stated that he knew he was guilty and wished to avoid the pain of a trial. His wife, Christine Spirit had pleaded with the judge to waive the sentence because she feared that he may hurt himself if left alone. She added that he blamed himself for his son's death and was punishing himself more than any prison could. Christine stated that she would constantly worry that each time the phone rang, it could be the prison calling to tell her that he had killed himself. She also told the judge that Spirit would miss important milestones in his children's lives such as a son turning thirteen and their daughter Sarah giving birth to her first child.
Spirit had moved his family from the Tampa area to Bell after the death of Kyle and he and Christine divorced in 2005. Property records show that Spirit had lived at the mobile home where the murders occurred since 2006. He was released from prison in 2006 and moved to the two acre property after that. His record also shows that in 2002, he smashed his wife's car with a sledgehammer and threatened to kill her. When police asked Christine for a formal statement of the incident though, she refused.
In 2007 he was arrested on a domestic violence charge that was later dropped and in 2008, he was found guilty of battery. That charge came from a call Sarah made to the police on August 27 2008 when she reported that he had beat her in front of her three year old child. She stated that he had become enraged when she told him that she would be unable to pay the property tax bill for their residence. When the police arrived the next day to arrest him, he stated that the only way he would come out is if they broke down the door and tossed tear gas inside. He eventually did give up and was arrested at that time
