A beloved New Jersey dad was beaten to death with a baseball bat and hammer in front of his teen daughter outside the home of her alleged 17-year-old assailant and his father on Easter Sunday.
Louis “Gus” Serbeck went over to Eric Hannah’s Vineland home on April 20 with his daughter, Brooke Serbeck, 19, after she told him she was assaulted by Hannah’s 17-year-old, identified as JH, the day before, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office wrote in a press release.
According to authorities, the 54-year-old bodybuilder from Millville intended to have a conversation with the teen over his daughter’s claims, but the confrontation quickly turned violent.
JH and Serbeck “engaged in a physical altercation” at the front door of the Hannah home before the teen allegedly grabbed a metal baseball bat and struck him in the head several times.
Eric Hannah also joined in on the assault, prosecutors alleged.
Hannah then allegedly grabbed a metal flashlight and bashed Louis Serbeck in the back of the skull.
Brooke, who watched her father be ganged up on and beaten, was also “struck in the head by JH” during the chaos.
Officers with the Vineland Police Department and EMS responded and found Serbeck in critical condition.
The father of two was en route to Inspira Medical Center Vineland when he died, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office revealed.
JH and Hannah were arrested and charged with homicide and weapons offenses on April 21.
JH is also facing an additional charge of aggravated assault for striking Serbeck’s daughter.
Hannah was booked into the Cumberland County Jail while his son was taken to a juvenile facility. Prosecutors are still determining whether JH will be charged as an adult.
Serbeck’s brother, Christopher Serbeck, said the devoted dad is remembered for his kindness and being willing to do “anything for anyone.”
“He would take the shirt off his back and give it to you, just ’cause you needed it. You call him, he’ll be there,” Christopher told 6 ABC Action News while fighting back tears on April 25.
“He literally laid his life down for his daughter.”
Christopher told the outlet that the two families were “lifelong” friends.
“He went to school with my oldest brother. Known him our whole life,” the grieving brother said. “No expectations of something like this happening at all.”
Serbeck is also remembered as a devoted father and “fierce protector” of his two daughters, Summer and Brooke, according to an online obituary.
“Summer and Brooke brought out a tender, loving, compassionate side of Gus that many people never saw before,” his obituary reads. “He was never happier than when he had one of his daughters in his arms sharing a big smiling cheek-to-cheek hug.”
The beloved father of two was also a grandfather to two boys from his daughter Summer, and “would be anywhere, Home Depot, Walmart, the flea market, and he’d see something he had to buy for his grandsons. He enjoyed nothing more than spoiling those boys.”
In recent years, Serbeck had grown close to his daughter Brooke, and the two were “always together, doing something fun and goofy.”
“He’d call off of work to take her to get her hair or nails done, or to take her shopping because she wanted the newest sneaker. Gus was the epitome of a protecting, providing father,” the post read.
He was also adored for being crafty and “tinkering around his garage and building something out of nothing.”
“He loved building, he was an efficient carpenter and roofer, who possessed vast knowledge of the building trades that he wasn’t afraid to share with anyone willing to listen and learn,” according to his obituary.
Serbeck is remembered by his father, Louis; his two daughters and two grandchildren; his brothers, Rich and Chris; his former wife, Joy, and “numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.”
