A Story of Murder and Forgiveness

 “Nothing could have prepared 16-year-old Brooks Douglass for the future that lay before him. Brooks grew up in a loving family in a rural home near Oklahoma City. His father, Richard Douglass, was pastor of Putnam City Baptist Church, which housed over 3,000 members in its congregation. Brooks’ mother, Marilyn, devoted her time to her children, which in addition to Brooks included 12-year-old Leslie. Tragically, both of their parents were murdered, and Brooks and Leslie were left to pick up the pieces.”

This quote is the opening to chapter seven in Closure: The Rush to End Grief and What It Costs Us.

I had an opportunity to talk with Brooks about this tragedy and how his life unfolded after it. In Closure, I share Brooks’s story and explore what survivors of homicide face in trying to heal.

The chapter also covers how difficult the trials and appeals process can be in cases that involve the death penalty, and how the concept of closure gets used in political debates about capital punishment.

Brooks’s story is fascinating. His full name was Richard Brooks Douglass, named after his father. His life journey following that tragic night was full of misery, struggles, and hope.

Along the way, he became the youngest state senator in Oklahoma at the age of 27. He helped pass several legislative acts beneficial to crime victims.

He also had the experiences of both witnessing an execution of one of the offenders and having a face-to-face meeting with the other offender. Brooks describes meeting the offender who killed his parents as one of the most important events in his life. He went into the meeting looking for a way to end the killer’s life, but ended up forgiving him.

Brooks wrote and produced a film about his family’s story. It was originally titled Heaven’s Rain when released in 2010. In 2018, it returned to theaters retitled The Amendment and currently remains available to stream on multiple platforms.

In addition to writing and producing the film, Brooks played the role of his father, including reenacting the night of the murder. He said that filming the murder scene was one of the most difficult things he had to do. Brooks described the film as a story about family, love, and forgiveness.

Information on the film and related news reports can be found on the film’s website.

When we talked, Brooks said that after he made the film people kept asking if he found closure. He replied: “I don’t know if you ever get over something like this. I doubt there’s a day that goes by that I don’t think about it, but I also think I’ve tried to deal with it in a way that my faith has taught me, in a way that my parents taught me. Ultimately, we have to move on—not forgetting our loved ones or forgetting what happened—and live our lives to the fullest. This is what I had to do.”

Healing after a loved one has been murdered is a long, difficult, complicated journey. Brooks Douglass did a beautiful job sharing his pain and struggles, but also showing the hope and resilience that survives.

Richard Brooks Douglass died in 2020 at the age of 56 after living with cancer for several years. On his memorial page, his wife Julea writes “For anyone who has experienced trauma or loss, Brooks would recommend trying to ‘put as many good memories as you can between you and the tragedy that happened to you.’ As Brooks wrote for The Amendment movie tagline, we are capable of more than we ever thought possible.”