PAWLET, Vt. — Police on Friday arrested a 23-year-old man with a history of mental health issues in the shooting deaths of his father, stepmother, and stepbrother, a crime that has badly shaken this small town in western Vermont.
Brian Crossman Jr., who lives in nearby Granville, N.Y., but was staying with his father and stepmother for the weekend, was charged with aggravated murder in the killing of Brian Crossman Sr., 46; Erica Crossman, 41; and her 13-year-old son, Colin Taft, in what police described as the tragic end to a growing rift between father and son over the son’s mental health struggles.
Relatives and others who knew him told police that Brian Crossman Jr. had for years shown unsettling signs of mental instability, including torturing animals, and that during an outing several years ago he had pointed a gun at his father and said, “One of these days I’m going to kill him.”
Brian Crossman Jr., described by police as 6 feet 4 inches and 300 pounds, was taken into custody without incident in New York, which borders this small town of 1,400 in southwestern Vermont. He had been a patient at a mental health facility in New York since he was questioned and released by police after the bodies were found early Sunday morning.
The arrest was greeted here with relief and sadness, as residents said they were glad that someone was in custody, but grief-stricken over for the extended Crossman family.
“It’s horribly sad,” said Mandy Hulett, whose husband, Rich Hulett, served on the Pawlet Select Board with Brian Crossman Sr. and was one of his closest friends.
The arrest did not come as a surprise to many locals, who were aware that the younger Crossman was the person of interest who police found, his clothing covered in blood, at a school in Wells, Vt., about 10 miles from the farmhouse where the bodies of the three victims were found.
A law enforcement source said police did not charge him immediately because he denied any involvement in the murders, claiming he had gone for a walk late that night and returned to the home to find the three family members dead. He told police the blood on his clothes came from initially moving his father’s body in a futile attempt to load him into a vehicle and drive for help.
But police said his story didn’t add up, and investigators spent the next six days conducting interviews and analyzing forensic evidence while building their case. Vermont State Police and New York State Police said they knew Brian Crossman Jr. was at the hospital the entire time.
In an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Rutland, Vt., State Police Detective Sergeant Tyson Kinney said the son used a pair of shotguns taken from his father’s collection of hunting rifles to shoot his father, stepmother, and stepbrother in the early morning hours of Sunday.
The father and son had hunted regularly when the boy was younger, but they had stopped as the son’s mental health deteriorated, straining their relationship, police said.
According to the affidavit, Robert Taylor told police that three years ago Brian Crossman Jr. had taken Taylor’s gun from Taylor’s pickup truck and pointed it at his father. After Taylor chastised him, he said the son initially claimed he was merely looking down the gun’s scope, then cryptically added, “One of these days I’m going to kill him.”
Taylor, a friend of the older Crossman, asked him, “Kill who?” and said the younger Crossman replied, “My father.”
Brian Crossman Jr. lived with his mother, Crystal Bassett, and her husband, Ernie Bassett, but was staying at his father’s house while the Bassetts spent the weekend in Buffalo.
Crystal Bassett told police she received a text from her son at 4:35 a.m. on Sunday saying “something bad had happened, that he loved her, that she would eventually hear about what happened later,” according to the affidavit.
Bassett also told police her son “has mental health disabilities.” She said that during a trip to Atlantic City the previous month, he “had a mental breakdown” and was “yelling at himself.”
Bassett told police her son has sought treatment from “multiple psychiatric doctors over the years,” had received in-patient treatment, and had been diagnosed with possible schizophrenia. She told police her son’s behavioral issues began around the age of 3 and had escalated in the past two years. She said he was not taking medication because “he did not like how medication made him feel.”
Bassett told police her son’s mental health challenges strained the relationship between father and son, and that her son had not stayed at his father’s home in the past couple of years. She told police she believed her son had a good relationship with his stepmother, but a friend of Brian Crossman Sr. told police Erica Crossman was afraid of her stepson.
Police believe Brian Crossman Sr. was shot when he arrived home from work as a lineman for Green Mountain Power early Sunday morning. They found Erica Crossman, who also worked for the utility, and her son dead in separate bedrooms.
Rachael Crossman, Brian Crossman Jr.’s sister, told police that her brother texted “I love you,” at 4:19 a.m. on Sunday. When she reached her brother on the phone and asked what was going on, she said he replied, “Dad died.”
She said her brother “has expressed extreme forms of aggression toward others in the past and throughout his life,” the affidavit said. She recalled that her brother sat on the porch of his home in Granville and made “a gun gesture with his hand, point at passing cars, and yell ‘Bang!’ while pretending to shoot the passing cars.”
She also told police that her brother “has always shown an interest in death” and tortured frogs and kittens in the past.
Taylor, the older Crossman’s friend, told police that he was at Crossman’s home on Friday when the son arrived for the weekend. He said Erica Crossman confided in him “that she didn’t feel safe with Crossman Jr. at the residence.” She was worried because her husband was on-call that weekend and could be called away at any moment, leaving her alone with his son.
Brian Crossman Jr.’s aunt, Julie Appler, told police she received a Facebook message from her nephew at 4:19 a.m. on Sunday saying “I love you.” She later drove to the Wells Village School, where police had found him. Surrounded by police officers, she said, Brian Crossman Jr. insisted he had a great weekend and denied having an argument with his father.
“Appler stated Crossman Jr. does not do well in a social environment,” according to the State Police affidavit. “Appler advised that Crossman Sr. and Crossman Jr. had an on and off again relationship and does not believe that Crossman Sr. put a lot of effort into a relationship with Crossman Jr.”
Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at kevin.cullen@globe.com.