This was... fine. I thought the author's decision to focus on the aftermath of the murder was interesting, but it ultimately fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

I found this book to be very interesting, and really a bit different than the normal true crime that I read. It starts out talking about the Bechtold family, the way it started with each of the parents, who became the murder victims, and how the family changed with each child and the family resources. I was sad to hear of the mental illness that ran through the entire family, including outside of this family unit. I must admit, the parents were not very sympathetic victims in my opinion. Their treatment of the children was horrible and abusive. My heart went out to each child, including Brian, who is the one who killed the parents. He suffered horrible abuse and mental illness through his entire life. The story and the events afterwards were quite interesting. I did like the book, even all of the issues in the story. I think the author did a great job in bringing out all of the relevant facts. I really liked the way she talked about the mental illness issues and all of the facts about that. I do recommend this book.

I am a bit of a true crime buff- podcasts and all. But I don’t believe I had ever heard the story of Brian Bechtold and his family. Mikita Brottman does an excellent job with Brian’s story, but more importantly she portrays the mental health system in a true light.

I first learned about this book just by going to the True Crime section and once I read the description I knew it was one I had to read. Growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland this case was actually pretty new to me. I had heard about it a few times when I'd go back to visit friends and family but never realized it was the same case. I couldn't put this book down and I finished it up over the weekend. Holy Smokes! To only realize that after moving away from Montgomery County to Howard County, Brian was just a few minutes from where I lived. This book is a must read especially if you love true crime. I am sure this is a book that will be going into my collection of books when it's released.

This is not your normal true crime book, and unfortunately for me this just didn’t work. I do get. and appreciate the author’s intentions with this book, it just didn’t keep my interest well.

Did not finish. The documentary style writing was not my forte and I could not get into it. The story had a good premise but it was not for me.

Couple Found Slain explores what happens after a murder and the long last consequences of a person who is thereafter assigned a mental disorder and the stigma it carries thereafter.
Brian bechtold walked into a police station in Port St. Joe and confesses to killing his mother and father in a parricide murder a few days prior, his explanation: he was possessed by the devil. After being labeled schizophrenic he was deemed not "criminally responsible" on grounds of insanity.

The story that follows sheds light on the long and arduous years Brian endured while institutionalized and getting accustomed to the many rules that are imposed within the confines of being treated" by a rotating group of psychiatrists and the many hurdles he must go through to even begin to get proper treatment.

In a world where mental health is often a hushed issue and widely has huge margins of opportunity this book did an amazing job at showing exactly how hard it is for people to overcome their label and move on to lead "normal" functioning lives. As someone who has seen and dealt with mental health experiences first hand this read was both close to my heart as well as incredibly informative. This read like a documentary to me and had a good pace and never got too clinical.

If you liked "Hidden Valley Road'" You'll definitely enjoy this read. For fans of true crime, mental health and resilient characters this is the book for you.

Couple Found Slain is an interesting and unique true crime novel in that there is no mystery to solve or much discussion of the crime itself. Brottman instead focuses her book on the aftermath of a murder and we get a look inside what it is like to be incarcerated inside a maximum security psychiatric hospital in Maryland. I wasn’t blown away by this book and I think that may be due in part to the writing style and just my mood at the time of reading. Brottman brings many issues to light in terms of how those who are deemed “not criminally responsible” are treated: there is a lot of abuse, improper medicating, and a complete lack of resources. Very thought provoking and disturbing when I think about how the justice system deals with mentally ill criminals.

Fans of psychology may get more out of this than those who enjoy more investigative true crime.

Couple Found Slain is a true crime story about Brian Brottman who murdered his parents and later turned himself in. Brian’s story starts at his troubled childhood to his time spent at Perkins Hospital.

Couple Found Slain is different than a lot of True Crime books because it takes you past the sentencing and gives you a glimpse of life afterwards. Also, it gives background information on criminally insane defenses and how those people spend their time after the trial ends

I would have liked to see the captions with the pictures at the start of each chapter vs the end of the book. And sometimes stories seemed to on forever and became repetitive.

Definitely recommend this book for any True Crime lover or someone wanting to gain more insight on mental illness.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for the e-arc of this book.

This was a fantastic book. I have been interested in true crime from a young age, so when I first saw the title, I expected a true crime story. And while a crime does take place, and this is a non-fiction book, it focuses on an entirely different topic than one would expect, based on the title alone. Couple Found Slain actually tells the story of Brian Bechtold, who murdered both of his parents and was found to be "criminally insane". So rather than focusing on the crime itself, this book delves into what happens in the life of the defendant after the verdict. In this case, Brian's life after the trial has been spent in a psychiatric hospital.

It is really interesting to learn about what goes on in a psychiatric hospital. I think it's easy for people to think "Oh, they claimed insanity to avoid jail time", and while that sometimes may be the case, what reading this book has taught me is that sometimes prison may be the preferable option. When sentenced to prison, you are given a set number of years that you can plan on being there. But when sent to a psychiatric hospital, there really is no set release date. In some cases, people are never released at all.

The book was really informative and brought to light a forgotten population of people that may be suffering and cannot find a way to get help. There seems to be a very real problem with doctors/psychiatrists not having enough time to spend with each patient, and not taking note of improvements or changes in their condition. Often times, a diagnosis is carried over from year to year, even if it has been quite some time since the patient exhibited any symptoms of said diagnosis.

It was very scary to learn about some of the things that go on behind closed doors, and this book only focused on one psychiatric facility. I cannot imagine what more goes on across the country at different facilities.

I will say that this book definitely skewed in Brian's favor. It is pretty evident that the author feels that Brian has been treated unfairly - and while it's hard to argue with that, given the fact that people convicted of much harsher crimes have come and gone while he's remained in the hospital - I'm still not convinced that he is completely cured. While he certainly sounds to be in a much better place than he was before entering the facility, there are still some concerning actions and thought patters that would give me pause before granting his release. And while normally I'd say that is what his doctors are for - it does sound like there's a lot of room for improvement in how the doctors treat their patients in this facility.

At any rate, I really thought it was an interesting and well-written book that brought something to light that I had never given any thought to. I think anyone who goes into it knowing and understanding that it's not a typical true-crime book will enjoy it.

Unfortunately, this is not what I expected it to be. While I appreciate the how the author shows readers how mental health issues can play a part in criminal behavior, this isn't a true crime book like I expected. I think readers who are looking specifically for a true crime novel should be aware that this is not that kind of book even though that's how it's being portrayed. This is more of a book about the aftermath of a killing and how ones mental health issues played a part in it.

I found myself simultaneously horrified and bored by this book. Based on the title you would think that the book is more about the actual crime, but it's not. The book is 10% true crime, 90% about the state of mental health services (spoiler alert: they're abysmal). As someone with mental health issues I found myself very glad that I haven't needed to be hospitalized after a crime, and appalled at all that Brian has suffered through. It's obvious that he no longer needs to be hospitalized. However, because of the misleading title this book only gets 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Critically acclaimed author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman offers literary true crime writing at its best, taking us into the life of a murderer after his conviction—when most stories end but the defendant's life goes on.

On February 21, 1992, 22-year-old Brian Bechtold walked into a police station in Port St. Joe, Florida and confessed that he’d shot and killed his parents in their family home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said he’d been possessed by the devil. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and ruled “not criminally responsible” for the murders on grounds of insanity.

But after the trial, where do the "criminally insane" go? Brottman reveals Brian's inner life leading up to the murder, as well as his complicated afterlife in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where he is neither imprisoned nor free. During his 27 years at the hospital, Brian has tried to escape and been shot by police, and has witnessed three patient-on-patient murders. He’s experienced the drugging of patients beyond recognition, a sadistic system of rewards and punishments, and the short-lived reign of a crazed psychiatrist-turned-stalker.

In the tradition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Couple Found Slain is an insider’s account of life in the underworld of forensic psych wards in America and the forgotten lives of those held there, often indefinitely.
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If I had not become a NICU nurse, I probably would have gone into behavioral health nursing, and when I heard about this book and found it offered by NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to get an early copy because it combined my interest in this topic and my enjoyment of true crime books. I am not sure what I expected when I started reading it, but I didn't necessarily expect that I would be so absorbed by Brian's story that I would spend whatever free time I could find over the course of four days drawn back to my Kindle so I could continue devouring the story of the killing of his parents and its aftermath.

Although certainly guilty of the crime of which he is accused, Brian presents as a not-entirely-unsympathetic protagonist of a long and complicated story. There is what I imagine we all hope would happen if someone is found mentally incompetent to stand trial for a vicious crime and thereby sent to a psychiatric hospital, and then there is Brian's story. As a nurse, I empathize with the impossible job that is expected of the professional staff of such institutions...there are never enough people, hours, or dollars available to get the job done right. However, we must also remember that these are human beings that we are housing in these institutions, and they deserve better.

I was deeply affected by this story and encourage those who really want to see what happens to some of those "on the inside" to pick it up and give it a read.

I am all kinds of here for this. It brought so much into perspective and while I think what happened was wrong, I could understand what led to Brian's mental health problems. I really appreciated the authors work on this book and I really can't wait to recommend it to others.

I really enjoyed Mikita Brottman's previous b0ok about teaching in a men's prison and I was not surprised to see that she dipped back into prison life for this one. She is local to me so I am familiar with some of the places and cases she talks about which is interesting. I, too, feel like our criminal justice system is very broken. I felt like his case was interesting because when you hear that someone is sent for psychiatric treatment rather than prison you don't really expect them to still be there many decades later.

My only fault with the book is how the author sort of glosses over his escape attempts and other disruptions over the years. Yes, the treatment seemed shoddy. Yes, he seemed to be of relatively sound mind but it wasn't as if he killed his (abusive) parents and then was treated and was a model patient. Bechtold did assault staff twice with a several-year interval of nonviolence in between. I can see why a judge would not be convinced that he wasn't laying low or incapable of committing violent acts again. I did see her points about how things can be pathologized in the institutional setting---putting paper in your ears is odd until you realize the intent was to make a homemade earplug to aid sleep. However, he did behave in a violent way multiple times after he murdered his parents when in a confined mental hospital. Maybe minimum security mental facilities are the best place for him. Would he be able to navigate the frustrations of 2021 America without any follow up services on his own? Where would he work? Live? I don't have the answers and I guess that wasn't the point of the book but I did feel like this could have been touched on more fully.

“There’s no blood test or genetic marker to prove a person has schizophrenia. Mental illnesses, especially personality disorders, are so interwoven and bound up with a person’s life history, disposition, and temperament that no one experiences them in the same way or shows precisely the same symptoms.”

True crime novels deal with the buildup to a crime, the crime itself, and the investigation that surrounds it. Couple Found Slain is a non fiction book that dives into what happens to the perpetrator 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 the verdict, once the sentence is read and they enter the penal system. This one digs deeper. As an ID addict myself, I could not wait to read this one!

“Something bad happened.” Fascinating. Simply fascinating. This book follows Brian Bechtold in the aftermath of his conviction for murdering his parents in 1992, where he was found “not criminally responsible” by reason of insanity. Brian goes on to spend 27 years in a maximum security psychiatric hospital and boy oh boy is that life not what you would think. It seems to be widely believed that a mental hospital vs jail is like taking the easy way out. Whelp, that could not be farther from the truth! If you have ever wondered what life is like on the hamster wheel that is the American psych system, look no further. I was simultaneously disgusted, fascinated, frustrated and profoundly sad at the treatment of the criminally insane. It’s a twisted world, one that seems to fly just under the radar and, unfortunately, doesn’t garner a lot of attention.

The narration of the audiobook was wonderful and I found myself wanting to listen more than read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, and the author for these ARC’s in exchange for an honest review.

wow, wow, wow. Couple Found Slain by Mikita Brottman is such a different book! I was completely enthralled with this story. Initially when I listened to the intro, I wasn't sure I'd be that into it. Then when it started and I learned that it is a MD case (where I live), I was more interested because that's my backyard! eek. scary.

This story is a broad testament to how people get thrown into and complete abandoned in the mental institution world. Even though it is about a murder who committed a gruesome crime during a psychotic break, and you realize this guy is capable of incredible harm, you find yourself sympathizing and empathizing with him because of how he is so terribly mistreated in the psychiatric hospitals. He is treated as completely insane for decades. He is deemed not fit to stand trial. Even though, he comes out of is psychotic break and is perfectly mentally fit. This was unlike anything I've read or listened to before. I was conflicted the whole book - hating him for being a murderer but also hating how inhumanely he was being treated. What a great read.

Highly recommend this one for all true crime lovers.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Henry Holt and Co. for a copy of this book for review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. This is a look into what happens if someone is found not criminally responsible for a crime they have committed. This book gives an extremely eye-opening look into life in annual hospital. The author goes through exactly how these individuals are treated and the feelings and thoughts of several people throughout their stays. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime or mental health.

Couple Found Slain is the true sad story of a family who was torn apart after the youngest son shot and killed his parents. But the tragedy had started long ago, with parents who were verbally and physically abusive to their children. But that unfortunately was not the end of this story. Quite honestly, it was only the beginning.

In 1992 a 22-year-old named Brian Bechtold walked into a police station and informed the police officer that he had killed his parents over two weeks prior in another state after hearing voices and believing them to be the devil telling him to kill them.

Brian was judged criminally insane and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He ended up at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a 250 in-patient facility. But Brian’s journey was far from over. As a matter of fact, unbeknownst to him it was only the beginning of a fight for his life.

Brian’s childhood was not the happiest. He and his siblings were constantly abused by non-caring parents who mentally and physically abused them almost on a daily basis. But for outsiders looking in that just was not the case. They saw a quiet husband who went to work as an engineer and a wife who took care of their growing family. As the years passed and Brian’s siblings moved out, their wrath, especially his father’s began to increase. With his mother ailing from a bout with breast cancer and continued failing health, Brian just snapped.

After his sentence he was placed in a maximum psychiatric hospital. As the years went by and through therapy and medication, Brian seemed to improve. He had begun to see other patients who had done similar or even far worse crimes being released back into society. But when he asked why he was not allowed to be released he was never really given a reason that made sense.

The Perkins Center was not exactly a proficient facility. Patients were improperly medicated, there were clashes with guards, nurses and even administrators, and there were confrontations with patients which included patients murdering each other. There was even an episode of a psychiatrist who worked at the center stalking an administrator.

When Brian questioned why he could not leave, they labeled him paranoid and just drugged him more until he began to refuse the medication. He was accused of trying to hurt guards and other patients. It seemed they wanted to keep insisting he was mentally ill. So when Brian heard from other patients that prison was actually a better facility than the Center, he decided to plan an escape in the hopes that he would end up in prison, thinking he would get a definite sentence and a release date would finally be possible. But that would not be the case.

Since then his mental state has remained stable and he has been trying to get himself released, even going to court and representing himself, something a mentally unstable person would certainly not be able to do.

This is not only the story about a mentally ill person killing his parents, but of how the system treats these individuals, even when they become a recovery story. What Brian did was reprehensible. But did he have some sort of psychotic break and through the years has fully recovered? If so, why are there no provisions put in place. Why should a patient who is no danger any more live in a facility where there is danger not only by other patients, but from the people who are suppose to protect them. Hopefully this book will shed some light on the problem and perhaps begin a series of changes.

Thank you #NetGalley #HenryHoltandCo. #MikitaBrottman #CoupleFoundSlain for the advanced copy. The book will be out in early July.

Couple Found Slain is a true crime drama unlike anything I've ever read. It starts with the murder of the mother and father and quickly we learn that Brian Bechtold is responsible- the son. He goes on the run for a few days but turns himself into a Texas jail where is returned to Maryland his home state.
The main focus of the book is Brian's life in the Perkins Hospital Center where he has been since the death of his parents in 1992. It seems Brian has been living there for decades while many of the other prisoners have been released.
This book is so interesting and disturbing as we see how those are truly treated in mental health facilities .
Defiantly a must read! Out July 6th!

Thanks to NetGalley for my advanced ebook copy.