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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Freeman brothers resentenced to 60 years to life

Two brothers who reportedly killed their parents and brother in 1995 will remain in prison.

A Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson announced by email Bryan Robert Freeman and David Jonathan Freeman, formerly of Salisbury Township, were resentenced to 60 years to life by Judge Douglas G. Reichley Feb. 21.

Bryan Robert Freeman, now 46 and David Jonathan Freeman, now 45, were 17 and 16 when they and their cousin Nelson “Ben” Birdwell III, 18, killed the Freemans’ parents, Brenda and Dennis and younger brother, Erik, Feb. 26, 1995.

The parents and their youngest son were killed at the family home.

The Freemans were students at Salisbury High School.

They and Birdwell fled the area after the crime and were found in Michigan on March 1, 1995.

All three were sentenced to life in prison without parole later that year. In 2014, when the United States Supreme Court ruled life-without-parole sentences for juveniles unconstitutional, the sentences for the Freemans and Birdwell were upheld.

According to court documents available through the Lehigh County Court Of Common Pleas, Bryan Freeman entered a guilty plea for criminal homicide in December 1995.

David Freeman entered a guilty plea for criminal homicide in November 1995.

According to First Assistant District Attorney Eric Dowdle, the Freemans will be eligible for parole after serving 60 years of their sentences.