This week Evil Lives Here examines the tragic murder of actor Thom Bierdz’s mother by his own 19-year-old brother.
Thom Bierdz is maybe best known to many as Phillip Chancellor III on The Young and the Restless, where he played the role for three year between 1986 and 1989. Around this time he also decided to try and help his younger brother Troy out by bringing him out to Los Angeles, where Thom had decided to quit the show and look for film roles.
His brother stayed with their mother Phyllis back in their hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and had for many years suffered from what his mother thought was schizophrenia. She’d taken him to dozens of doctors but many thought he was faking the symptoms and her warning to officials that he’d threatened to kill her were ignored.
Tragically in he beat his mother to death with a baseball bat in their home. Troy is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.
Thom’s woes continued when his other brother Craig killed himself in 2000, he has one sister left alive.
He later released a book called Forgiving Troy and there is also an accompanying documentary.
Evil Lives Here airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.
James Wray
James has worked for Monsters and Critics since it started back in 2003. He oversees the business and technical side of things. You can contact or follow him on Twitter.