oh country take me home I love everybody you know like I love you I love you and I've never even met you guys schizophrenia pushes a son to commit the unimaginable and his confession unravels the terrifying truth he hit my shoulder and I stabbed him okay do you remember where you stabbed him a bunch of different times and then right in the heart okay and once I did that it was weird when mental illness warps the mind even a son's love can turn into something horrifying he was feeding me [ __ ] it could have been a seen it could have been some other [ __ ] I don't know I was eating other people or something like that on January 24th 2021 cops were alerted to a shed fire at the family property in Lexington Township Jeffrey Traxler suspects that his 64-year-old brother Bruce was still inside hello is anyone in there oh that's okay brother in here many this kid lived here too and somebody came driving around and out I tried to open the door to get in there earlier while the cops tried to get Bruce out safe they realized the suspicion was falling on none other than Bruce's son Hardy in just about 90 minutes the cops discovered human remains inside the shed around 5 hours later authorities located Hardy's vehicle and initiated a traffic stop he was then taken into custody and transported to the lour County Justice Center come on in hi there you're Hardy yep I'm Mike I'm an agent with the BCA nice to meet you I'd shake your hand but we're trying to be Co right like not so I'm not trying to be unfriendly or anything and this is Jim do you want a mask if you want one I'll give you one these are new ones if you're worried about Co no you want me to wear a mask I'll wear one if you want me to but if you're not worri no you're okay okay just want to ask you know we just want to ask cuz some people are worried about it and that's okay if they are right so I'm with the state and I'm working with with uh Jim he's a investigate with the sheriff's office here we're trying to investigate um incident that happened last night right TR to get all the the facts in the background right and that's that's why you're brought in here right and I just want to tell you right out the the gate you know we're not here to interrogate you or shine blade LS on you or make your life uncomfortable okay we're not here to you're good guys and you've been treating me very well and we're going to continue that I promise you okay I'll tell you one thing it was just him you know it was nobody else and if there's story I want to get that from you right that's what I I want to know and and we're going to continue to treat you well I promise you nobody going to do anything to harm you uh do you need a water or something actually but before we go too far because those guys did bring you in technically I do need to read your rights okay and I love to get this the background and this and I get and get to know you and kind of the the story if that's okay right but I do before I go too far I want to get some information and read your rights okay right off the bat both Hardy and the cops are being super polite which seems like a way to keep things calm the cops probably know he's not mentally well so they're being careful Hardy might just be trying to seem Cooperative or maybe he's too paranoid to act any other way it just got weird to the point where it was just like I don't want to be around this anymore and sure yeah how about your mom what's her name Glen um when I was younger um she tried killing me and my brother your mom did yeah how old were you when that happened uh fourth grade oh that's a tough deal yeah since 9th grade Hardy chose to move in with his dad claiming it was because his dad started attending his games however that reason feels incomplete or unclear before the move he lived with his aunt and Uncle Pat and Kate who run a construction company and live in the countryside sure okay well let's do this can you just tell us about you said it's got weird I just want to hear a little bit more about that or try to understand that can we just go today's Sunday okay can we just go back the last couple days kind of what's been going on and start from there and go through the timeline I don't know he's just been like getting on me about like going into the shower room and taking showers and like weird stuff and I don't know it's just shower room let alone the bathroom and recently I've just been seeing like secure network on our like our internet somebody's connecting to it or whatever and I don't know who that is or whatever but it's kind of I don't know and I just asked him about it and he got all weird and it's I don't know it's like he was possessed or something okay so you and your dad live together just the two of you yeah um and nobody else lives with you no no and you don't have any kids or anything of your own or anything not that you know of anyhow right okay anywhere okay do you have a girlfriend at all currently okay um so you guys been living out there are you working anywhere over in B plan okay and what do you do there I uh I just run the scale house I trucks come in and I'd write out tickets for them and okay yeah how long you been there just uh three years I think okay decent job and everything yeah it's a great time good and when was the last time you were at work um I don't know exactly but uh sometime this summer okay okay so you've been on Unemployment y for a while yeah okay and you talked about some stuff your dad's been getting on you about what has he been getting on you about I mean it sounds like you guys have a relationship like this right kind of some friction yeah is that fair to say I don't want to put words in your mouth but is that fair all right um so I just don't know about it like just kind of like it's one of those things where possibly it's always been going on or not I don't know though I just don't know because yeah okay and then um so something happened last night yeah um can you just tell us a little bit about that what happened we were just talking about life and I asked him about you know his friends and I talked to him about my friends and we just kind of he just kept on looking at me he wouldn't go to bed he wouldn't go to bed he was just staring at me so I started staring at him and I'm like what's you know and he started you know getting weird so I was giving him [ __ ] back like oh you know like don't do it try coming at me if I'm going to stay here I want to make sure I'm safe I want to make sure that I'm safe and I don't know why I think you know Don's Don Kalisto it's I don't even think it's him but my dad's always up there but I don't think it's him you know like but I did what I did and then you know I just decided to burn it get out of there and just move on with my life because sure I so gross like my whole life and like him just him you know like out of all people and mhm our family has money and I just felt like it was I don't think our family think you know I don't think our family was doing it for money or anything but I don't know I just kind of when I did it I said that I'll be honest but it sucks Hardy frequently repeats phrases like I don't know and weird during this conversation such Behavior often hints at potential mental health issues possibly reflecting his inner turmoil or a disorganized thought process I love my family I love everybody you know like I love you I love you and i' never even met you guys and well no I the little bit I heard about your background you're not a bad person no I'm not a very good person Christian Catholic and I think you know there's just some stuff going on at home between you and Dad that was causing some conflict right or it seems that way is that pretty accurate what what was the layout of the building out there did you guys each have your own bedroom no okay and he liked it that way oh really okay so what was the layout out kind of was there one bedroom just like just one room one big room and to the point where you know I went and got like a shade thing just to put on his chair and uh you know when he'd lay down he'd just look at me all the time and then last night he tried to get me to take some sleeping pills okay and then I was just like I'm getting the out of here or whatever and I just sat there talking talking mhm trying to catch up on life and then he was like yeah I got to give it to you or whatever and then I'm not scared of you blah blah blah that's what he was saying yeah and I had a knife in my hand just in case because I was scared sure and all the Xbox gaming and stuff that he put in front of me because I wasn't you know mhm he wanted me to stay there so I'd game and stuff mhm so after that what happened then I ended up you know me and him got in a fight he hit my shoulder and I stabbed him okay do you remember where you stabbed him a bunch of different times and then right in the heart okay and once I did that it was weird [Music] um it was like I don't know how to explain it like my body just felt like whatever was in my heart just kind of went away yeah or something yeah okay so where when you guys were fighting what part of the room was that happening in Do You Remember by the couch by the couch yeah and then it just escalated okay and I'm sorry you know I love him more than anything and it sucks yeah like I never wanted it to be like that yeah he's a great person I'm a great person and I've always loved him and I've always been for him but when you get you know weird not me like that [Music] mhm so after you stabbed him did he did he go unconscious at some point yeah so he wasn't talking or saying anything anymore okay he just gone all right and then what happened and then I just burned the place grab my pillow and put it on the stove and got out of there okay that's how you started the fire was with a pillow yeah on the stove yep did you use any accelerat any gas or anything like that at all I just know that there was other stuff in the room that might have Tak off like some flamable type materials or something like that so when you say the stove you mean like a wood burning stove or like the oven oven the oven is it like a gas oven then I would assume and in that place you know there's there's some weird [ __ ] in there like I'm not going to lie like weird things happen Okay weird things happen like I don't know how to explain it like can you give me an example I mean no judgment from us we're not going to think you're weird or anything for telling us trust me I know weird stuff does happen just we're interested right um just I felt like I was eating other people or something like that like he was feeding me [ __ ] like he was feeding me some weird [ __ ] and I didn't know what it was it could have been a seen it could have been some other [ __ ] I don't know but he'd always want me to eat his food and like weird [ __ ] like that and you hear you'd hear just souls and stuff in those rooms whenever you go out there you're going to you know I think where 4:00 was where we kind of started going at it and whatnot and then it I think it was like 6:30 7 8 something like that and he was like you're going to church in lur blah blah blah and I'm like like why does that matter or whatever and like I was scared the devil was going to kill me mhm so sorry I messed up on the time that's okay you're going off the best that you can remember and I know it's a confusing situation that's you that's okay I'm just trying to try and ENT done and so then you know but did you do you think you started the fire fairly soon after you stabbed him or was it a long time it was a little bit I just got my stuff and then I said [ __ ] it I'm getting out of here okay and so then you put the pillows on the stove yep and then turned the stove on and then you left Y and what did you leave in my car okay and what what is that 2007 Corola TOA Cora okay and so when the officers found you that's what you were driving y okay do you remember where you went first or um not really okay I was just kind of like scared so I drove off and just asking for help and okay did you talk to some people yeah people I don't do you remember anybody where that you talk to medelia Media like Crystal possibly a couple places you know okay and do you remember what you talked him about or what you said do no no but you did talk to some people I was scared okay okay okay but did you have the knife with you still yeah okay and where's that now that's [Music] um it's in between medelia and Lake Crystal okay like you threw it out of the car yeah okay on the highway yeah do you remember what highway that is no just outside of media okay but did you throw that out when you're driving to medelia or driving back from medelia driving past it so like past medelia into Lake Crystal so like you get to medelia and then it's the road kind of going out so okay towards Lake Crystal yep okay I think that's Highway 60 maybe y okay and you just pitched out the window okay you can remember what it looked like um it's long it's a Japanese knife okay around 1:00 p.m. the same day Mana police had received a call from an employee of a snowplow company who reported that Hardy had stopped him while he was plowing snow and made comments that indicated he killed his father shortly after he told a group of snowmobilers about the murder while armed with a knife so okay anything else you can remember Hardy about what happened with you and your dad things he was saying to you or you were saying to him anything at all like that no I just yeah I just yeah I was kind of curious about that too cuz you said it was just kind of you know weird me out some of these things you was saying so I was wondering if specifically like is there something in particular that that he said that really got you you know upset or something well he wanted to have with me he did okay and that's what he said to you or Y just can you tell me more about that I mean was this during the argument or something or throughout the night yeah he said it like whatever so I was just like I'm good okay you didn't want to no is this something that has been brought up between him and you before or is this something new blate recently like last few days or weeks or something different weeks okay two weeks but before that it was just kind of like you could tell something was weird happening like him looking at me and stuff like that and possibly you know when I was in fourth grade I believe he did that to me okay so you believe he were him and your mom married at that time or were they divorced you it was uh right after my mom chased us down the hallway with a knife and they gave me back to her okay and stuff like that so yeah okay have you talked to your mom lately I've gone over there okay how was she doing she was doing pretty well okay did you talk to her yesterday remember no I haven't talked to her at all as of late or any of my family like I just haven't had any MH contact with anybody I'm just kind of just your dad nobody else okay okay I know that I I get the sense that this is you know not comfortable to talk about some of this stuff right we understand we do and no and no you know um don't feel judged by us as far as that goes I totally understand you know we're professionals this is is our job we just need to need to get all the facts and what the reasons cuz most things bad that happen there's usually reasons for it right it doesn't just happen usually usually reasons for it so um so you do you remember about what time you would have left the house this morning uh 8 something okay and do you have a cell phone no oh so you don't like keep track of anything on there didn't call anybody or anything like that me and him were sharing a cell phone at one point okay and is that the number you gave me no I don't remember exactly it's like 32 it's like in the burn pile out there in the garbage out there in the shed so okay yeah when you left was the fire going pretty good already or did did you leave right away um I just left like like I said I packed my bags up and got my [ __ ] and I seen it going and I was like I'm out of here okay sorry I love you you know okay but when you left where was he what part of that he was on his bed his lay laying down like like this on his to his like bottom and then the two mattresses okay so so he's laying on his bed do you remember he like not laying on it but like his back like this okay okay and he was on his back like laying yeah well he was sitting down like this on the ground and then like oh his back was up against his back was against the okay I see what you're saying no that's okay we're just trying to picture it now cuz obviously we weren't there you're doing fine Hardy thank you you guys are great mental illnesses usually distort familial relationships the most that is evident in Hardy's portrayal of his father he describes him as a Tormentor or abuser whether truth or a delusion no so it's fair to say that this has been bugging you for a number of years and it's like why are you doing this like I don't get it mhm stop it and then it's like rehashing some Old Wounds every time he does it it's just like it makes me think of the past or something you know like and that's not my fault and at one point we were doing drugs you know I'll be honest about that and I was going to ask about that I'm going to tell you that right now did drugs but I quit and I might still have THC in my system but I quit smoking like two weeks ago and then the Aderall I was taking that but I just didn't want to take it anymore I felt like I was on it for some you know like just to shut up or something like you know like so you had a prescription for adero okay and is that to help with like ADHD is that what that's for have you been on that for a long time yeah she a kid yeah usually that stuff gets prescribed when somebody's a kid and stays on it you know but you said you quit taking it recently yeah okay when did you quit do you remember uh the last one I took was possibly Thursday okay but before that I mean a while okay and yeah okay you're just feeling like it wasn't something that was working for you or something that you didn't need any longer didn't want it I I felt like just like the sleeping pill you know handing me the sleeping pills and [ __ ] like that like the whatever they're called it's just like I don't need this and by giving me this stuff it's just making it worse and MH if I'm sober at least I can be safe sure sure um but you said you've been smoking some weed too not as of late not as of late again not in the last couple days is that true yeah I haven't smoked at all okay um did you did you get some money lately like to buy drugs with or you didn't have any money or you just chose not to no I just um I'm one of those people that don't like that don't think money makes everything but you got to work hard for what you got and earn it and sure I'm happy happy with the vehicle I drive I'm happy with my life and no matter what you know that's all that matters is I'm happy there's a lot to say for that you know so that's very respectful yeah even though all that stuff's going on I'm still happy and I still love him even though he was doing that but it just got to the point where you know I'm not doing that I'm sorry I'm not doing that and I already told you that mhm Ry has been on layoff from work due to the slow season and the last time they worked was sometime during the summer and when you're talking about that are we talking about the this the seual stuff is that what you're talking about okay yeah and would it be fair to say correct me if I'm wrong would it be fair to say that that's kind of maybe the thing that kind of just pushed it over last night with this argument is that accurate or something different yeah so you guys have kind of been up and talking and then a little bit of arguing back and forth and then he kind of mentioned that he wanted to have with you yeah okay and then did you just say no I don't want to do that or that like upset you so much that it was time to put an end to it no we just kept on talking about it yeah I mean there was points where he was just like are you sleeping yet are you sleeping yet well I'm freaking laying on the couch and then I had to go to the other chair the red chair in there and he's sitting over there are you sleeping yet why aren't you sleeping why aren't you sleeping and I'm like what the like why do you think he was asking you that because he probably wanted to do stuff to me while I was sleeping okay like take advantage of you sleep and that do you think maybe that's why he gave you these sleeping pills or something yeah okay so as that's going on you know what's going through your mind as he's asking you these questions crazy [ __ ] man just thinking like you know what could be happening while I go to sleep every night mhm I don't know okay so you're getting a little bit worried about that what's going to happen if I fall asleep and take me through what what what transpired then after that I mean if you're s you're sitting on like that red chair and he's asking you these questions I had the Bible I had the Bible and I had that that knife mhm um he was getting scared that I had the Bible he was like the Old Testament blah blah blah and some weird like some crazy [ __ ] so I was just like well then huh and did he know you that you had a knife on you too or no you did he did did you say anything about it or just focus on I'm not scared of you okay it's just like neither am I you know like I'm not going to sit here and take this so was he using any drugs last couple days yeah what was possibly I don't know like I didn't see him use any drugs but before you know before I left the first time he was using and like marijuana or something something else or do you know what his drug choice would be um they were both um when I was on it we we smoked dabs so you smoked what dabs what's that you got to help me out concentrated THC okay and that's it like Wax we're talking all right okay and do you just put that on a regular cigarette or how do you do it how do you you got to help me out I don't know much about that stuff as far as how you use it oh it's an iron okay and whatever and you just smoke it okay just get it hot and it smokes and okay but you don't know what he was using the last couple days if he was or anything yeah but I had yeah I left everything there there might be some of my stuff but there's some of his stuff there too and last night I ended up he was he grabbed some like of the dabs or whatever and he put it on his bed and he was like oh use this against you blah blah blah and I was like oh really use it against you how I don't know like turn you in yeah like call the police for some dabs or something yeah just to put it on me and I was just like well really man like yeah so and if you can't tell I was literally like I almost got shot a little bit ago but I didn't thank God thank God you mean by the officers or I I was on the I got out of my car and thank God they didn't you know no and I respect them so much you know like I love them so much because I was in the snow face first crawling my shoulder was now it feels better I don't know must have just popped back into place but I was in the snow for like 3 minutes 2 minutes just sure cold yeah and we'll get you changed here eventually so you get some warm like you got kind of wet laying in the snow right is that why you're wet yeah it's chilly out there so we'll get you some different clothes to put on Hardy okay thank you yeah we can work that out um but what do you remember the officers pull did they pull you over like they turned on the red lights and stopped you and I passed so many other cops too and nobody ever pulled me over until I got there so but you just cooperated and pulled over I pulled over I laid in the snow I did everything and you know yeah yeah that's that's good you did the right you did the right things right you did and you didn't go out and hurt anybody else no I would not hurt anybody else and the fact that I was getting hurt this time and like it's not right man you know all right and when I moved in there he would make me sleep in the bed with him okay which I just remembered you know think about it when I moved in there from Pat and C you know and that's how I knew and then I went from that bed to the other couch that we you know I was sitting on talking to him last night before you moved to the chair yeah no there's his bed there's that couch right there there's my couch that I used to sleep on and then the chair was right there so this was the first couch that I moved to after you want to just make a drawing and you don't have be perfect artist type you know I have the worst handwriting man oh I I do honestly if it's a rough sketch of what the inside of the yeah just kind of draw got I can't I so so bad if you guys could sketch for me I can't I'm not well let's just do this can I just my right hand's messed up the thing is mostly just a square right yeah just a square so let's go like that that's just a square right that's just put the door right there there's a door here couch um couch which way is it run this way this way okay so here's a couch chair chair chair here yeah like yeah okay and then other couch and it goes this way yeah okay sorry I'm bed right there okay so the bed's over here and his his chair like his computer chair was right there computer chair is over here yeah so I'm just going to make like Closer Closer like this all right so this is computer and then this is the bed there bed this is a couch that's the first couch that I moved to and second couch another couch and then this was a chair that was a red chair yes I'm going put red by that okay and the the door to come in is over here yeah okay so do you know which way is Northeast anything like that no uh how about which way to the house that's nearby out there that way that'd be over here like kind of where Jim is sitting that direction yeah okay no just you know and if you need to take a minute and just kind of think that's okay too we're not we're not trying to push right just take take your time we we got as much time as you need yeah right can I continue at some other point yeah absolutely we want to take pause right now and take a break take some more water or a pop or something just a water yeah we can take a break another one no okay no we can take a break how long do you think like what are you thinking like can I get warm like can I get some clothes on that are not Freez the investigators while focused on getting answers and building a case show genuine empathy once they realize Hardy's mental illness understanding his condition they carefully address his need after Hardy's given new clothes to wear he is interrogated once again all right good how's the shoulder feeling a little better yeah yeah good did they take some x-rays or something or what yeah didn't and it R treated you good right these guys we told you they'd be good to you yep even though I had a little freak attack I'll be honest I was freaking the out I don't know why it was just postmatic stress but I love those guys okay good well we'd like to talk to you a little bit more you're doing okay is that all right and and one thing is I wanted you know I read your rights earlier you remember those and you understand you don't have to talk to us if you don't want or answer any question you don't want to right do you understand that yet okay you're good to talk to me and Jim okay there's more like I said earlier I didn't tell you everything obviously right I told you I'd be back yep absolutely and yeah I just I don't want to die what's that I don't want to die you don't want to die I don't want to die like I'll do anything I will do anything I mean well we're not going to do anything to harm you so you're not going to die here okay I guarantee you that we're not not by our hands or anything we're going to do right so we're we're we're not going to harm you we're not going to have anything bad happen to you okay um we just like we said before we just want to talk some more right and I know it's some not comfortable sometimes to talk about right this whole thing is confusing and traumatic and right but I'm asking you to do your best right and just and if you can just in your own words kind of take us through again pick back up where we left off so we can kind of get squired away as to what all that you remember happening when Hardy says he's scared to die it reflects a common human fear but is also closely linked to his schizophrenia people with schizophrenia often experience intense fear or confusion sometimes because of delusion or hallucinations that distort their understanding of reality in the context of his schizophrenia this fear might not just be about death in a general sense but also the distorted thoughts or scenarios he envisions due to his illness kind of how did your evening go were you guys watching TV were you playing video games what were you doing I was on Netflix for a while okay what did you watch on the computer um chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and I think Trailer Park Boys I don't know what other ones okay just those two in particular we were just talking and the Sabrina the Teenage Witch there was a part where it was like I don't know just some like demon stuff and then it started but I don't I don't believe it I don't believe it okay like maybe I'm just losing my mind I don't know okay okay like to be honest overall but have you guys ever seen anything like that no um not that I know of I i' have to think about it a little bit but I mean nothing that would vividly you know jump out to me or anything like that but maybe it's just me man I don't know will you guys have one TV we have one TV two computers okay and it was a good night up until like yeah I just okay was your dad watching TV with you this is your water by the way we left it in here if you need that so was your dad watching TV with you why is there two different kinds of waters uh one came from here and one came from my cooler I keep in my car so so you guys don't keep two no honestly when we needed to get that second water for you we ran out we have cop here but he keeps water I always keep water my cooler in my car just in case I need one for myself or whatever or anybody so I don't know is that water like tripping on about it I don't know why well you don't have to drink it it's just if you want you can have it otherwise you know we can get you something else to drink or a pop or something or whatever this reaction directly reflects his difficulty trusting those around him and his tendency to overanalyze situations so was your dad watching TV with you for a while there okay and you said it was going on waking up and passing out waking up and then he blamed me and then the angry you know and then it just festered into that but yeah okay can you tell us are you able to tell us a little bit more about the fight the physical fight how it went down where did it start he got up out of bed and then like came at me like oh yeah you and I had the knife in my hand you know just waiting because I was scared and once he swung at me he grabbed my shoulder right away that's what my shoulder right away once he did that I stabbed him okay do you remember where I I missed his heart you know I stabbed him right there and then he was grabbing me and like you know it was either he kills me or I kill him in that situation like and so I just did what I had to do I mean life or death mhm so whereabouts in the in the house did right around the couch so he got up out of bed and then that couch that's next to the bed okay walked around and and he was angry cuz he thought you were waking him up or keeping him awake yeah I don't know okay but he was angry you said okay and so then did he punch you or hit you at all he screwed my shoulder up but it was like a literal like he was trying to grab the knife and make me stab myself with it like okay but that didn't happen so okay and I know he's older but still he's a strong man like in his days man like Hardy's speech appears incoherent and tangental making it hard for officers to extract a linear explanation for example he keeps jumping between unrelated topics and contradicting himself he's never fully completing one sentence you said before you You' mentioned that you stabbed him multiple times do you know how many I guess even more than I should have okay but he was still yeah 10 20 30 10 probably 10 times you think somewhere around that R and and where all like in the hands arm on the chest okay and I guess this some of these questions may seem redundant but I just want to make sure I really understand okay and why did you start the fire afterwards what was the reason for that I mean was that to cover up evidence was it was what I felt in that room that's why I burned that okay because whatever that presence in that room or out there you know it needed to get gone nobody else needs to go out there and feel whatever I felt nobody needs to know that's between mhm so you could feel a presence yeah but you and your dad were the only people there yeah but you could feel this presence there yeah it was and was was it part of you was it in you what did it seem like to you yeah yeah with him too he was the full I was the half okay questions okay after you left do you remember talking to other people in places did you go some places and talk to some people did you seek help I did okay can you tell me about that at all I just said my dad and I killed him okay and they wanted to turn me in and I was just like I can't I'm scared just because I watched my mom get beat up by the police twice and okay that's pretty hard on a person mhm and you know I once the cop pulled me over I pulled over before he even turned on his lights so that's the thing I knew yeah I'm not going to sit there and try to go on a highspeed chase like I knew two I got out I laid in the snow for 3 minutes like I wasn't trying to hide anything I just straight up like you you kind of knew what this was about probably right yeah you kind of knew that law enforcement would be looking to speak with you about this whole thing I felt bad like my family like and I honestly Hardy I can tell that you feel bad you're a very genuine person you you've been very open with us this whole time I'm sure you were with the the other deputies and such that you were with before and you know I get it you you know that what happened you know that this is wrong right that you know it's not right because I loved it right I know himself I know I know that this is tough it sucks it sucks so bad and I'm I'm sorry for all this Hardy I really am like this I wouldn't wish this on anybody but you know but that's but that's why you're cooperating right that's why you pulled over you you knew it was time to talk to law en ment that the fact I seen him and I'm like I'm going to just pull over you know I'm not going to sit there and try to but I wasn't hiding anything when I burned that I was saving his soul from the what was ever in there Hardy insists on a delusional narrative such as believing his father was plotting against him and that external forces compelled him to act schizophrenia can cause rapid emotional changes as you may have already noticed Hardy switches between fear confusion sorrow and even relief throughout the interrogation yeah so please understand that and if you guys ever go out there you know I love them it was just time to get out of a bad situation obviously right bad place right the fact he told me to do it to say that I asked him what's that I asked him earlier in the night we were talking about I'm like if I could save you from this thing would you he said yes so earlier in the night you were kind of thinking about this is probably something I'm going to have to do in order to save dad right and then he just comes on get angri and angri and bringing it up just lay down sleep take this pill okay like that's making sense it it's making more sense to me now and I apologize it's taken a while and you know you've had to kind of explain it a number of times but you were already thinking earlier in the night that there's been a lot of weird stuff going on with dad right and you you told him that you could save him and he told you that well you wanted be he asked me like we just talked I left for 4 days and came back and was decent until he just got angry like MH about this is what it sounds like you're arguing about this you know you brought up saving him and and all this stuff and it sounds like that's probably what the argument was was revolving around quite a bit and that's why he wanted you to to go to bed take some pills and lay down and just you know relax maybe yeah okay paranoia often leads to irrational beliefs Hardy claims the murder was necessary to prevent an imagined threat which is clearly reflecting his distorted worldview but you had already kind of known what you had to do right to to help Dad and to save him well he told me so yeah he told me to do it it's yeah so yeah I get it now I understand you know you're trying to save dad by I drove him while he had a heart attack four and a half years ago and he lived through it I prayed through it I cried using the hospital was pretty crazy you know he's having a heart attack right in front of me and my friend is there knocking on the door blah blah blah he's knocking on the like bathroom door like I'm having a heart attack I'm having a heart attack and I go in there and he hits his head on the floor gets back up blood coming down his head like let's go to the hospital and I drove him all the way to the hospital I would never kill somebody you know like unless I had to yeah mhm and that's that's what I'm saying that's why I'm I'm understanding you now you you felt like you had to save him and and by Saving Dad this is what you had to do right you had to kill him to get rid of that demon that was inside of him right that he was and and you telling me to yes and he told you he told you that he wanted to be saved you kind of stayed up all night arguing about it or talking about it he wanted you to take some pills to go to bed and relax but you knew what you had to do right is that what you're that's what you're telling me but you you so you knew you had to save dad well it's a fact he told me and then he just kept on getting angrier and angrier and angrier until like he got up and just said [ __ ] this like go to bed or I want I should have se you know whatever like and I just told him no that's just not going to happen I'm sorry and I'm not letting that happen again so get out of here with that and he grabbed my shoulder and freaking did what he did right away and somehow I was able to be able to stab him yeah and then at that point it was time to finish us time to save dad right I told him I'm going to save you and once I did it we were both saved when that happened when he first grabbed your shoulder again where where were you in the house and where was he so he was at his bed he gets up and there's that couch that's right next to his bed and he walked up to the like I was on so there's his bed there's that couch and then like right there I just grabbed my shoulder and then I and then we kept on fighting through the room over to the other side where his body was okay and that's where you know he fell down and I was like I'm sorry once he got up at me like I'm going to kill you grab my shoulder you know what am I going to let him strangle me and kill me or am I going to be so what else what else is important for us to know already this is this is your opportunity to make sure you know help us understand you just tell us what's [Applause] important that I think that it happened I'm sorry he told me to do it it happens and just scared I mean what else can a person do in a situation where it's so like Justified it's life or death who's going to live who's going to die just scared to die you're scared to die I know I mean I just know he's happier overall I mean he told me you know earlier in the night if I could be saved I want to be saved from this whatever was going on and that's why I knew when he got angrier and angrier and angrier like there's no control mhm I was going to go down to like one of the bars down there and just try to sing I have a great voice you do I can freestyle I really I love music man music and you know my dad thank God he's taught me a lot about music there's a lot of good music out there man and I love music more than anything it's the best therapy mhm who needs therapist when you got music yeah I'm I'm with your music therapy for me too I'm with you really old country Little John Denver yeah oh yeah take me home I'm not going to take out handouts you know like never taken out handouts and like living out there and whatever you know I got great family I got family that has money but I'm grateful still I'm not I've never ever been jealous of them no matter what I've always loved them with unconditional love Bruce Traxler was identified the next day and the Ramsey County Medical Examiner confirmed the cause of death as multiple stab wounds to confirm Hardy's claims the investigators interviewed the family members but found no evidence to support any signs of abuse by his father at 27 Hardy Robert Wills Traxler confessed to Second deegree murder earning a 25-year sentence charges of arson were dismissed in a plea bargain he service sentence at St Cloud prison with 664 days of Prior custody counted toward his and that's where we end this video if you like today's video then drop a line and if you want to support the channel even further you can check out my patreon link in the description below thanks for watching I'll see you in the next one