Most people believe the safest place you can be… is inside your own home, surrounded by your family. But on May 23rd, 2023… that idea was shattered inside a quiet home in Texas. A young woman didn’t show up to work. She stopped answering her phone. And when someone finally went to check on her… They didn’t find a break-in. They didn’t find a stranger.
They found her brother… just standing there… inside her house. And what he would say next… made even the police stop in disbelief. [intro] The Olalde (oh LAL deh) family didn’t stand out in any obvious way. If you drove past their house in Nash, Texas…you’d see exactly what you’d expect. A quiet home. A working father.
A mom who knew everyone in the neighborhood. Kids growing up the way kids are supposed to. Nothing about them felt unusual. And that’s exactly what makes this so hard to understand. They were just a family that, from the outside, looked stable… predictable… safe. Their daughter, Lisbet, was 24. She had just graduated college. She was engaged, and she was about to start her new life as a teacher.
Everything about her future felt certain. Then there was Cesar (SEH sar). Eighteen years old. Still in high school. Just weeks away from graduating. He kept to himself. Did well in school, and didn’t cause problems. He was the kind of person no one ever worries about. And then there was Oliver. Just five years old. Always smiling. Always full of energy.
The kind of kid who looks up to his older siblings… especially his older brother, Cesar. All of them, living under the same roof. A family that, by all accounts, was close. There were no warning signs. No history of violence. No reason for anyone to believe something was wrong. But inside that house… something was brewing. And by the time anyone realized it— it was too late.
TRAGEDY IN NASH Nash is a quiet and very small suburban area of Texarkana, Texas. It has a population of less than 4000 people, and it is exactly how you would picture a small town. A tight-knit community, very uneventful and overall peaceful. But, this peace would soon be disrupted.
See, it was May 23rd, 2023, and Lisbet was due to work at a local church on this particular day. But she never made it. Now, this was a small community, where everyone was aware of their neighbors, their coworkers, and everyone in between. So, when Lisbet, who normally never skipped work or at least informed her coworkers beforehand, didn’t show up at the church, this made everyone worry for her.
This was unlike Lisbet. She was a very punctual and responsible young woman—everyone in the family was—and if they missed even one thing from their routine, it was pretty odd. Now, I know things can take a turn and life can happen and you just can’t reach somewhere and be on your usual A-game, and the same could’ve been for Lisbet too.
Maybe she was not feeling well or had some kind of emergency come up and didn’t go to work… well… the latter would be much closer to reality. The thing is, her coworkers were thinking about this same thing too – could she have been in trouble, been in some sort of an accident? Well, when she wasn’t answering her phone, their concerns started to grow exponentially.
This was too much to be a mere coincidence. Not showing up to work and now, not answering her phone? This was really odd. Now, to give you an idea of how people looked out for each other in this quaint little city, one of Lisbet’s coworkers at the church, a man by the name of Joseph Flieder, and his wife had decided to go to Lisbet’s home and check on her. In their heads, they wanted peace of mind.
Lisbet’s silence was really unusual, and this was not normal at all. She wasn’t answering her phone. Was she in trouble? What if she needed help? They just want to make sure she was okay, and these were the thoughts and questions going through Joseph’s and his wife’s minds as they made the drive from the church to Lisbet’s home.
When the couple arrived at the house, it was quiet. The door was closed, there was no activity—considering the time of day—and it just looked very eerie. Joseph and his wife got out of the car, and they walked up to the front door. Nothing seemed alarming at that point. The door was obviously closed, so Joseph knocked. Then waited.
Then he knocked some more, but there was no answer. The house sounded deserted, which would’ve been impossible, since there were supposed to have been five people in the house. At this point, another relative of the Olalde family arrived at the house too, and just like Joseph, they were concerned. Reuben and Aida were not answering their phones and had not been heard from since that morning.
Well, it was decided on the spot to break into the house. Now, for a lot of people, this might seem excessive, but they were just genuinely worried. This was incredibly unusual. The house was silent. No one came to the door when they knocked. The most obvious conclusion could be that no one was home, but then why weren’t any of the family members answering their phones? But as soon as Joseph and the relative broke through the door… they were met with someone.
It was Cesar (SEH sar) Olalde. The teenage son of the family. Even though Joseph admits that he doesn’t remember much after this initial encounter, he knew that something was terribly wrong. Why? Because Cesar was armed and waiting – standing there, just staring at Joseph. Right away, Joseph could sense the immense danger, so he told everyone to stay outside and not come in.
This was seriously daunting to think that Joseph was inside with an armed Cesar and was clearly a threat. And immediately, he noticed a lot of bizarre and chilling things in the house. There was spent ammunition casings all over the floors of the house as well as very disturbing stains and smears. But what Joseph couldn’t see or hear was the rest of the Olalde family.
They were nowhere to be seen. And he knew… this was not a good sign. It looked horrific, but the only person Joseph could see in the flesh was Cesar. Joseph remembers Cesar going on and on about how he had to get rid of his family because his life was in danger. He was also threatening to hurt himself.
At this point, the people outside the Olalde family home called the police because they knew that something was very wrong when Joseph never came back out of the house, and he told everyone to stay outside. They didn’t want to risk anyone’s safety any longer, and with that, the police were on their way.
THE TENSE STANDOFF While Joseph was in the house with Cesar, who was clearly losing his patience as the minutes passed by, police sirens were blaring outside. At one point, Cesar was given a phone to talk to an officer to tell them what he had done, but he was anything but pleasant on the call. He was very angry and on edge and just went on and on about his family… and the fact that he had taken them all out, one by one.
Well, when the police arrived, Cesar was his usual uncooperative self. He didn’t want to surrender, and the whole situation was incredibly bizarre and tense. By this point Joseph had thankfully managed to escape the house. Cesar was a risk. He was not afraid to threaten police officers with his weapons, and the whole altercation led the police to cordon off the entire area.
The neighborhood didn’t look like its usual self anymore. Police cars and vans littered the driveway, and from the outside looking in, you would think that you’re in the middle of a war zone. But in reality, it was an entire fleet of police officers against one 18-year-old boy, who was clearly disturbed.
The detectives had to tread gently in this situation. Things could’ve ended really badly with just one misstep. One miscalculation. A negotiator was also called to the scene, and the efforts to calm Cesar down and get him to surrender lasted a little over two hours. The tension and intensity during that time were unimaginable.
Police were doing everything they could to save Cesar’s life and spare him, but they were beginning to life hope. But thankfully, after two hours, Cesar relented, and he was ready to come out of the house and hand himself over to the police. Immediately, the police jumped into action as they saw Cesar emerging from the house.
They disarmed him and then arrested him, but there was something else that awaited inside the eerily quiet Olalde family home. At this point, the police only knew bits and pieces of what Joseph had managed to see while he was inside the house. They knew that Cesar had claimed to have ended the lives of his entire family.
They knew that something had happened within the walls of this quiet and peaceful home. But now, they had to go inside the home and see things for themselves. What was waiting for the officers inside… was grim, to put it lightly. A family that was once happy, thriving, and healthy was now gone, and the only thing the police knew was that their teenage son of the very slain family was responsible for this whole ordeal.
But why? What could’ve possibly led to something like this? Well, for Cesar, the explanation was simple: his family… tried to eat him. A CANNIBAL CONFESSION As if it wasn’t shocking enough to know that a young, 18-year-old boy who was so close to graduating high school was the one who attacked his family like this, the house had something more devastating in store for the police officers.
See, as the police made their way inside the house, they saw everything that Joseph saw too, and it was very disturbing. They went from room to room, but they couldn’t find any of the family members. Only chaos was left after the attack. The police’s search led them to a bathroom—the same bathroom where Joseph saw Cesar emerge, fully armed. When the police went inside, they found everything they needed to.
And it was really bad. All four family members of the Olalde family were found attacked and lifeless in the bathroom. Reuben, Aida, Lisbet, and Oliver… were all gone. They had all sustained firearm injuries. But what is even more devastating is the fact that the family members were not attacked in the bathroom.
According to the Nash Police affidavit, it is believed that the family members were attacked separately in various places of the house—some even possibly in their respective rooms—and after they had lost their lives, they were placed in the bathroom by Cesar. Needless to say, the police were not expecting such a heartless attack from someone who was part of the family – and Aida appeared to have been targeted the most, which just adds another layer to this mess.
Now, we don’t know if the victims were asleep when Cesar was attacking them, but it doesn’t make anything better. Because Cesar, the quiet, unassuming, and seemingly normal son… it is a different kind of hurt. Soon after the crime was uncovered, police tracked down another member of the family Diana, Cesar’s other sister, and she was notified of this extremely haunting news.
Diana had just woken up on an ordinary Tuesday and was told that her entire family was gone forever and her brother was the reason behind it all. But what could have possibly led to this escalation? Well, the police had to get to the bottom of it, and luckily they had their guy in handcuffs, and he was ready to talk. THE INTERROGATION Cesar was taken to the police station, and he was interrogated for the crimes.
And then, he told officers the reason why he committed these crimes. The reason was as bizarre as everything that had unfolded that day. According to Cesar, he had no choice but to protect himself from his family, because they were—and I quote—”going to eat him alive.” Yes, you heard that right.
Cesar basically outed his entire family because he thought that they were cannibals. I cannot imagine how the police must’ve reacted to this – because you definitely don’t hear this every day. The investigators were floored. They were expecting a more logical reason—like rebellion or something more fitting or dark for a teenager—but this…this was just so hard to get a grip on.
And it was extremely frustrating because Cesar didn’t clarify any further.He just told the police that he took one look at his family and he saw them as flesh-eating monsters, and that they activated his fight or flight response. He knew that he had to save his own life; otherwise, he would be the one who would end up dead in this fiasco. So, he armed himself with a weapon.
Side note, we actually don’t know how Cesar got his hands on this weapon. Was it already in the house? Did it belong to one of the parents? How did Cesar gain access to this? The police have never disclosed this, and it doesn’t seem like Cesar has either. But regardless, he told the police that he just took the weapon, pointed it at his family, and didn’t stop.
If he did stop, he knew that, without a doubt, they’d be coming for him, to, quite literally, eat him alive. He started with his dad, whom neighbors saw working together with Cesar in their family garden and running errands just a couple days ago. They were always smiling, and never once did anyone think that things could turn out like this.
Then, his mom – the woman who carried him for 9 months and loved him as much as herself, if not more, and was a guiding light in his life. Then, his sister who was so accomplished and was even engaged to be married. Cesar was about to get a brother-in-law.
Lisbet and Jeremiah were so in love and couldn’t wait to start this new chapter of their lives, only for Cesar to slam the book closed forever before it could even begin. And lastly and probably the most heartbreaking, his little brother—Oliver. THE SENTENCING Following Cesar’s arrest, he was held in jail on a $10 million bond. He was charged with capital murder for each of his victims.
He was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and a single count of injury to Oliver. Judging by the charges, Cesar was looking at two concurrent life sentences for each murder count. But then. he was also charged with assault because he threatened Joseph and other people, including police officers, before his arrest.
Now, given the nature of this case and the diabolical reason given by Cesar for his actions, of course, there was a huge discourse involving mental health and Cesar’s competency to stand trial. Now, I don’t know for certain if Cesar was diagnosed with anything in the past or following this tragic incident, but according to mental health experts, mental factors were predominant in the wake of this investigation.
Everyone was appalled at Cesar’s reasoning and rightfully so. They seriously questioned Cesar’s mental stability at the time of the case. So, naturally, Cesar underwent multiple psychiatric evaluations. Cesar was initially deemed mentally unfit to stand trial by a mental health expert.
But, later on, another psychiatric evaluation conducted by a different mental health expert found Cesar to be competent to stand trial. He was presented in front of a court, and, without hesitation, he pleaded guilty to all the charges. So, the only silver lining of this entire tragedy was that the remaining member of the Olalde family, Diana, didn’t have to sit through a trial and go over this painful ordeal.
Now, this case took place in Texas and for capital murder, the sentencing could go two ways. Either the criminal would get life in prison without the possibility of parole, or they would get the death penalty. Naturally, Diana’s input was taken when the state pursued this case. And Diana was in a very tough spot. This was her brother, but he was also a murderer—of her own family.
He was the reason why she was left all alone. But due to religious reasons and personally not condoning the death penalty, Diana opted for life imprisonment. In the end, since there was no trial, the case went straight to sentencing, and 18-year-old Cesar Olalde was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole as well as 50 years as part of a plea agreement to not pursue a trial.
Cesar was kept at Bowie County jail, and from there he was most probably transferred to a unit of the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice. A young boy who was just days away from graduating high school is now behind bars. There was no build up, no one saw this brewing… it just… was. Following this immense tragedy, Diana set up a GoFundMe for her family’s funeral expenses. She is literally the only one left in the Olalde family.
I can’t Imagine the pain of losing your entire family because of one person in said family. The GoFundMe managed to collect over $60,000, which, hopefully, did help to cover the impending expenses. This case is unlike any other case out there. From the outside looking in, the Olalde family was perfect. They didn’t get into any trouble.
Everyone was nice, kind, polite, and hardworking, but to see the twist of events is just unsettling. No one knows Cesar’s mental state at the time of this tragedy. Was he really going through a psychotic episode where he thought that his family was really trying to harm him? Of course, no one knows besides Cesar, but what makes this case so unsettling is the lack of signs.
There were literally none. There are no signs that Cesar was struggling with his mental health. He didn’t display any weird or alarming signs. He didn’t do or say anything that would make people recoil or run for the hills. Sure, he was a loner at times, and his pictures were mostly bathroom selfies of him with his AirPods in, but does every loner go on and commit the murder of their own families? Of course not.
Also, I want to disclaim that I’m not trying to downplay Cesar’s actions. Mental health issues or not, what Cesar did was beyond unacceptable. It was excessive. It was a very violent attack. There is no easy way of saying this, and that is what makes this case so terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time.
Because every member of that family was totally defenseless against him. They never could’ve anticipated that their lives would end like this—at the hands of their own flesh and blood. If this case had involved a stranger, then things would’ve been different. Would it be just as devastating? Sure. Absolutely. Without a doubt.
Because with strangers attacking people, there is no attachment that can go and rattle everyone with its intensity. There are mostly just negative emotions and conflicting feelings that fuel people to commit these crimes. But when someone from your very own family commits a heinous act like this, then that’s a different story.
Like you begin to question people you’ve seen, lived with, and trusted your whole life. And when that trust breaks or is tarnished, there is no going back. Cesar claims that it was his mind telling him to deal with his family before they dealt with him, but what really happened behind closed doors? This case really just sheds light on a person’s mental health, how quickly it can break, and the mysterious drive that led Cesar to do the unthinkable.
It’s things like these that keep people up at night… wondering who the real monsters are.
