The Hruby Family Murders

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28th March 2021  •  4 min read

Alan Hruby lived beyond his means and reveled in the notion that people thought he was wealthy when in fact, his money came from his parents or from the credit card he stole from his grandmother. After being cut off financially, Alan did the unthinkable.


The Hruby Family Murders

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John Hruby from Duncan, Oklahoma, was a publisher at the Marlow Review, where he worked alongside his wife, Katherine. He was the former publisher of The Duncan Banner where his late father, Al Hruby, was the former publisher before taking leadership. In 1997, the Hruby family sold The Duncan Banner, and John started working at the Marlow Review. The couple had a 17-year-old daughter, also named Katherine, and a 19-year-old son, Alan. Katherine was a junior at Duncan High School while Alan was attending the University of Oklahoma.

At around 9AM on the 13th of October, 2014, Duncan police received a distraught phone call from the Hruby’s housekeeper. She said that when she arrived for work, she found the dead bodies of John, Katherine Sr. and Katherine Jr.. They had all been shot dead.

Police arrived at the home at 1217 Bent Tree and cordoned off the scene as neighbours congregated in the street. “It’s sad, it’s very shocking,” said one neighbour. “They were a good family. They would always help you out. If your car wouldn’t start, they’d come over and jump it, or if your dog ran off, they’d try to help you catch it. Just neighbourly things…”1

The murders completely terrified the locals and many were left wondering if it was a robbery gone terribly wrong. However, it would soon become apparent that this was an isolated incident but was much more complex than initially suspected…

Just hours after the grim discovery, Alan was arrested on an unrelated charge. Back in January, Alan had pleaded guilty to a charge of credit card theft. He had stolen his grandmother’s credit card. He entered a delayed sentencing program, owed $491.15 in fines and court costs and had been scheduled to appear in court on the 12th of November for a final sentencing.2

When Alan was arrested after the murders, investigators announced that he had been charged with concealing stolen property in relation to the stolen credit card. However, they then announced that Alan was the sole suspect in the murders of his parents and his sister. When Alan was arrested and informed about the murders, he began “wailing and crying and having a hard time.” However, he soon enough “settled down” and allowed investigators to interview him.3

It soon became apparent that Alan was living much beyond his means and reveled in the notion that people found his wealth to be impressive. Well, his parents’ wealth which he proclaimed to be his own wealth. According to students at the University of Oklahoma, Alan often bragged about how wealthy he was and would go on spending splurges. He wore a Rolex watch, Louis Vuitton shoes and flew first class. He often tagged his social media posts with “expensive” and mocked people who ate instant noodles.  When he stole his grandmother’s credit card, he took a trip to Europe and spent $5,000. Two years beforehand, he had assaulted his mother during an argument over money.

The Hruby Family Murders
Alan Hruby.

Shortly after his arrest, Alan confessed to the triple murder. He said that he had stolen his father’s gun and approached his mother in the kitchen. When Katherine Sr. turned to him, he shot her in the head. After she fell to the floor, she still showed signed of life so Alan advised that he fired a second shot into her. Katherine Jr. was washing her car outside and when she came into the kitchen, Alan shot her once. He informed investigators that he believed that she died instantly. Alan then waited for his father to come home from work around an hour later. As soon as John entered the home, Alan shot him in the head. He said that his father said “ouch” as he fell to the ground. He noticed that there were still signs of life so he shot his father once again.4

Alan said that after the murders, he took the surveillance footage from the home recording system and fled to the University of Oklahoma in the jeep that his father had purchased him as a gift. He then went to a party at the at the Ritz-Carlton. According to Alan, he had been motivated to commit the murders because he had been cut off financially. His family said that he could not control his spending; he owed $3.000 to a Norman loan company and was being investigated for having stolen and forged $17,500 worth of checks. Alan stated that he believed if he killed his family, he would inherit their estate.

Prosecutors would announce that they were seeking the death penalty against Alan, stating that he had killed for money, that he had killed three people, that he was a continued threat to society and because the murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. They noted that the evidence against Alan was overwhelming. In addition to his confession, his DNA was found on blue gloves that were recovered with the handgun.5

Alan would eventually plead guilty to three counts of murder and was sentenced to serve three consecutive life sentences without parole and no contact with his family or with the media. His family had requested the life sentences and according to District Attorney Jason Hicks, if they had not of done so, he most likely would have been sentenced to death. The purpose of Alan not having contact with his family or with the media was to avoid the possibility of book or movie deals where Alan would profit.

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Footnotes:

  1. Ad Express & Daily Iowegian, 13 October, 2014 – “Police Investigating Death of Okla. Newspaper Publisher, Family”
  2. Americus Times-Recorder, 14 October, 2014 – “Deaths of Couple, Teen Daughter Treated Like Homicide”
  3. Americus Times-Recorder, 14 October, 2014 – “Son Only Suspect in Oklahoma Triple Murder”
  4. The Duncan Banner, 16 October, 2014 – “Affidavit Describes Slaying”
  5. The Oklahoman, 17 June, 2015 – “Prosecutors Will Seek Death Penalty in Duncan Triple Killing”

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Dee
Dee
2 years ago

What greed hungry evil little shit!! It’s absolutely disgusting to think of what he did all for money. He deserved the death penalty!

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Money can’t buy me love, sets the mood for this case.

m x
m x
2 years ago

not of? NOT HAVE!

Romane
Romane
2 years ago

So glad they made sure they couldn’t make a movie or book deal about it. Every book/movie made about a horrible person is money that goes towards them.

Robert Wallace
Robert Wallace
9 months ago
Reply to  Romane

I guess you and the 14 upvotes never heard of the son of sam law. Criminals can’t profit off their crime in jail. It’s been that way for about 40 years.

Elle
Elle
2 years ago

This is petty, but I was reading about him bragging about his money, showing off etc, and then saw the photo of him and it all made sense. I mean, not much else going for him, let’s be honest.

Laura
Laura
2 years ago
Reply to  Elle

I live in Duncan and remember when it happened. I hope he continues to spend the rest of his life succumbing to guilt and his own evil demons. Absolutely the greediest little fuck, ever!

Katrina
Katrina
1 year ago
Reply to  Laura

Absolutely. And I hope they all haunt and torture him at night to the point it drives him to insanity!

Katrina
Katrina
1 year ago
Reply to  Elle

I THOUGHT THE EEXXAACCTT SAME THING!!! LMMFAO!

Taiwa
Taiwa
2 years ago

I knew this family very well. Very very good people and when I found out about this I had to drive by their home to see if what I heard was true. They had the house taped off and the road blocked. I burst out into tears and to this day years later I still morn for them. He let money get the best of him. Now he has nobody and nothing to call his own. All because of greed. I really really miss this family and still look for her excursion to drive down the road.

ray spruill
ray spruill
1 year ago

The show, American Greed has an episode based on this awful crime. He actually went to a Sooner football game, and seemed to enjoy his time before being arrested.

T2016
T2016
9 months ago

I am from Duncan and went to school with Katherine (his sister) I was thinking about this case and stumbled upon this article. While no one deserves the fate that this family met, I genuinely believe that this is partially due to how Alan was raised. I know for a fact that Katherine was a bully because my friends and I were victims of her tormenting. (I won’t get into that though out of respect.) I heard rumors that Alan was just as bad, so I suspect that he was raised to believe he was better than less fortunate people.… Read more »

Last edited 9 months ago by T2016
Pansy Blackwell
Pansy Blackwell
5 months ago
Reply to  T2016

I respect your opinions. I commend you for them. There are two sides to every story. These kids were spoiled. But be that, as it may, there are a sizeable number of public schools, that have the “haves” and the “have nots.” And guess which ones are the most popular, and the least. So sad the son would not let this family exist.

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