George Brinkman Jr. was born on January 28, 1972, in the United States. Not much is publicly known about his early childhood, but court records and defense counsel later cited a difficult upbringing marked by instability and possible abuse. Over the years, Brinkman lived a transient lifestyle, often experiencing periods of homelessness.

He developed relationships with various people in his community, including Suzanne Taylor, whom he had known since elementary school. Brinkman would frequently visit her home in North Royalton, Ohio, and even did odd jobs for her when needed. Suzanne sometimes allowed him to stay at her home when he had nowhere else to go. Her daughters, Taylor and Kylie Pifer, reportedly viewed him as a sort of “second father.”

Brinkman also had close ties to the John family in Lake Township. He had once dated Gene John's daughter and even worked for Mr. John's business delivering phone books. Over the years, he stayed connected to the family and had been entrusted with house-sitting duties, including caring for their elderly, blind-and-deaf dog. At the time of the murders, Brinkman was living a relatively low-profile life, doing furniture work and mechanic jobs from his garage.

On the night of June 10, 2017, George Brinkman entered the home of his longtime friend Suzanne Taylor and her two daughters, 21-year-old Taylor Pifer and 18-year-old Kylie Pifer, in North Royalton, Ohio. It’s believed Brinkman held the three women captive, binding their wrists and ankles. What followed was a chilling sequence of brutal killings.

Brinkman first murdered Suzanne Taylor by stabbing her in the head and slitting her throat—right in front of her daughters. He then smothered Taylor Pifer with a pillow and strangled Kylie Pifer using a phone cord. Before killing Taylor, he reportedly cut off her long hair—something she cherished dearly.

After committing the murders, Brinkman laid the three bodies side by side in a bed and covered them with blankets. Investigators later found clumps of Taylor’s hair throughout the house, supporting the theory that she had been humiliated before being killed.

The next day, on June 11, Brinkman fled the scene and drove to the home of another couple he knew well—Gene and Bobbi John.

Brinkman arrived at the Johns' Lake Township home under the pretense of house-sitting. The elderly couple had recently returned from vacation. An argument broke out, allegedly over medication for their ailing dog. Brinkman retrieved a .45 caliber handgun from the house—one that belonged to Gene John—and loaded it.

He forced the couple upstairs into a bedroom farthest from the neighbors. When they locked the door, he shot at the doorknob to break in. Inside, he shot Gene John three times and hit Roberta John in the head with the gun, fracturing her skull before shooting her twice. Brinkman stole around $140 from their wallets and fled.

On June 12, Taylor Pifer’s boyfriend discovered the bodies at the North Royalton home. Around the same time, the Johns' bodies were found by their son after Gene failed to show up for work.

Brinkman was located at a woman’s home in Brunswick, Ohio, triggering a tense nine-hour police standoff. During this time, he spoke to a news reporter on Facebook. SWAT eventually breached the house and arrested him using a stun gun. Evidence from his person linked him directly to both crime scenes. Brinkman confessed and even admitted to throwing away incriminating items while driving on Interstate 77.

Brinkman pleaded guilty to both sets of murders in separate proceedings. For the North Royalton killings, he pleaded guilty on November 5, 2018. A three-judge panel found him guilty on November 26 and sentenced him to death on December 28, 2018.

However, in July 2021, the Ohio Supreme Court vacated his conviction and sentence in the North Royalton case, citing that Brinkman didn’t fully understand the constitutional rights he was waiving. He was retried and resentenced to death on May 31, 2023.

For the Lake Township killings, Brinkman pleaded guilty in October 2019. A different three-judge panel sentenced him to death, citing the brutality of the murders. Brinkman himself accepted this outcome, stating that the victims were “wonderful people” who didn’t deserve to die.

In 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld his death sentence for the Lake Township murders. Brinkman remains on death row at the Ross Correctional Institution and is scheduled to be executed on September 23, 2026.