Brandon Menard, 21, a Boy Scout whose friends and remaining family were “dumbfounded” over his arrest for allegedly killing his parents and sister in Northridge, California. Headlines read, “Motive in killings remains mystery” over murder in what up to now appeared to be a perfect family. An article three days later mentioned, in the 18th paragraph, that Brandon had been adopted, substantially raising the odds of inherited alcoholism. The 29th paragraph in the same piece mentioned that Brandon and other Boy Scouts had a Scout meeting Thursday night, after which several went to Perversion, a “hard-core dance club on Hollywood Boulevard. They got tipsy…and went to IHOP in Hollywood to sober up,” meeting up with Brandon’s brother who was on his night-time job dinner break. The brother left at 4:30 a.m. The coroner reported that Brandon’s parents and sister all died about 6:30 a.m. Friday of multiple stab wounds. Motive? Try, “alcoholism-fueled rage.” No other motive necessary.
An article six days later, entitled “Trouble Beneath a Happy Surface,” reported that friends said Brandon “had a dark side.” There were growing tensions between the family and Brandon, who “frequently left home to live with friends.” When he returned, it wasn’t always with the best of intentions. A friend of his sister’s told reporters he had broken into his parents’ home more than once to steal jewelry, cash and credit cards. “Mrs. Menard kept giving him chances, saying, ‘Oh, he’ll change,” the friend said. “But he never did.” Indeed. If Mrs. Menard and others had understood addiction and uncompromisingly disenabled (a phrase coined in Drunks, Drugs & Debits), the Menard family might be alive today.