The Lake Oswego resident suspected of killing his mother had suffered from severe mental illness and was placed in a temporary guardianship administered by his mother and brother-in-law, Clackamas County Circuit Court records show.
Chad Brix, 52, was placed in Clackamas County jail following his arrest for the murder of his 76-year-old mother, whose name had not yet been released by police, Friday, Feb. 2. He was charged with second-degree murder.
Brix, according to a petition submitted by his mother and brother-in-law, was a great father and managed large construction sites before his mental health took a turn. Brix suffered from delusional disorder and depression, the document reads, and his primary delusions were that “a huge fraudulent conspiracy brought down his business and the rest of his life” and that “his girls are in constant danger. Oligarchs come and take them. Plans to murder them are always afoot.”
“Chad's transformation due to mental illness is more tragic than most. He was an extremely kind individual; the sort that held families together. He was absolutely dependable, a fine person and a great father. At work he managed large construction sites working with dizzying complexities. Beginning about 10 or 11 years ago he steadily lost everything he had in life,” the court petition reads.
In 2022, petitioners reported that Brix’s mental health condition considerably worsened, and that he had searched his neighborhood thinking his daughters were murdered in a nearby garage. In another instance, he parked his car in a neighbor’s house, leaving his keys in the ashtray next to a large ax and ringing the doorbell. He was admitted into Unity Center for Behavioral Health Hospital when the petition was filed,after he had been found to be walking onto private property. The petitioners expressed needing a longer hospitalization than was permitted by a precommitment hold.
“With a guardianship Petitioners could sign for Respondent, obtain mental health treatment at an appropriate facility and return him to as near a normal life as possible. The longer he goes without comprehensive treatment the deeper the psychosis and more difficult later treatment will become,” the petition reads.
Though Brix objected to the guardianship, the court granted the petitioners’ request and the guardians had the ability to consent to treatment or hospitalization if Brix was not compliant with medications and treatment or experienced significant increases in mental health symptoms, according to the court judgment. If he was compliant, guardianship oversight would be limited and Brix would be autonomous. The guardianship would be reevaluated every six months.
Brix’s hospital stay and treatment are unclear from the documents. However, Brix seemed to his mother to be improving, according to the final document filed to the court last April.
In that filing his mother said that Brix had been stable and was looking for employment, although he needed medication and suffered from relapses. She added, however, that the limited guardianship for mental health emergencies should continue. Brix was living at his private residence in Lake Oswego at the time.
“Chad is able to manage his house, pets and life. I check in on him weekly,” his mother, who lived in Washington, wrote in a court document.
Willamette Week first reported news of Brix’s mental health issues and guardianship.
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