Latest / Legally Brunette / Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - The Family Feud Killer

Transcript

Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - The Family Feud Killer · Legally Brunette

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi guys, welcome to Till Death Do Us Part. I'll
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: be your host today, Emily Simpson with Shane. All right,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: today we're going to talk about a story that involves
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a man, a husband named Tim Bleifnick. So we're going
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to head to Quincy, Illinois. It's the kind of small
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: town where nothing much happens. But in February of 2023,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: that changed when Becky Bleifnick, a mother of three, in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the middle of a bitter divorce, was found shot to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: death inside her own home. Who would want her dead?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: As investigators dug deeper, a picture began to emerge that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: was much darker than anyone in this quiet riverfront community
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: could have imagined. This is a story about love gone wrong,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a family torn apart, and the truth that can hide
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: in plain sight.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: First of all, Tim Bleifnick is the guy that was
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: on the episode of Family Feud. Mm-hmm. I never saw
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that episode because I don't watch Family Feud. But I
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: did see the clip because when the story came out
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that she was murdered, obviously, I don't know who put
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: it together, but people put it together that he was
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: on an episode of Family Feud, which coincidentally he made
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: like a crappy comment. On a 2020 Family Feud episode,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Steve Harvey asked Belief Nick, all right, Tim, we talked
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to 100 married people. What's the biggest mistake you made
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: at your wedding? He then replies, honey, I love you,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: but said I do.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but see, that's the thing. People might interpret it
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: as like he personally felt that was a mistake. But
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: he was answering on behalf of like statistically... What are
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the top answers out of 100 people surveyed?
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: And so he said that, obviously, to kind of be funny, too.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Right. And actually, what was the answer? The answer was what?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: It was number two on the board.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay. What was number one?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know what number one was. I should look
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: that up, but I don't know.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It might be entertaining.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So Tim and Becky Bleafnick were married on September 18th
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of 2009, and they have three sons together. Wow.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: He was very animated on Family Feud, though.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: He was annoying.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Overly animated.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was. I found him to be very douchey. Yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. I mean, what he said was
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: prior to her being murdered. So, I mean, people just
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: like to put it together.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Years, too, prior, right?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was a couple years.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: It made it kind of interesting, gave a different spin
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: on it. You got a little peek into him prior
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to the murders on TV and how he acted.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I would wonder what Becky thought about that family feud
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: episode and what he had to say, whether she thought
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it was funny or not.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Maybe that was the least of our problems.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot of bigger issues other than the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: answers he gives on family feud.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: All right. So then Tim files for divorce, setting off
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: what becomes a prolonged and bitter legal battle over finances
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and child custody. On May 9th of 2021, Becky texts
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a friend expressing fear that Tim might try to take
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the kids. You know, I don't know. He doesn't ever,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: because I watched an interview with him and he doesn't
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: ever indicate. He makes it like it's a secret about
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: his reasons for wanting a divorce.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: A secret to who?
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Just like he doesn't, he's very secretive about.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Like he's protecting her? Like, oh, I don't want to
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: expose her. I have my reasons.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: No, you watched it too. I'm saying when they ask
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: questions to him about like the reason he wanted a
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: divorce or why he filed for divorce, I felt like
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: he's very vague. I mean, most people in a bitter divorce.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't even pick up on that. So he
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: would just, they would ask him why he wanted a
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: divorce and he would just kind of shrug his shoulders
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: and say just because. Yeah, yeah.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: It doesn't really, I mean, it doesn't really articulate, you know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: like I wasn't happy in the marriage or she wasn't,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: she was nagging me all the time.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: He actually praised her a lot in the interview.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Well, that's because he's being accused of murdering her. So
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he's like, she's great.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: This is wonderful. Any man would be lucky to have her.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I just don't want her.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: On September 1st of 2021, Tim filed a petition for
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: a protection order. He and Becky were separated at the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: time and he'd already filed for divorce, but he alleged
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that Becky had been repeatedly contacting him and insisting on
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: speaking with their youngest child, that she had caused a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: scene at their kid's school after he refused to hand
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: over a letter one of her sons had written and
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: that she had sent him a series of text messages
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: demanding to know his whereabouts when he had the children.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: That's just, him making an issue out of every little thing.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I agree with that. He even had that video. Remember
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: we were watching a documentary on 48 hours about this
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: case and he had like a cell phone. Yeah. But
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: he kept saying, leave me alone, Becky. Get away, Becky.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: You're harassing me.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: You're harassing me, Becky. But he has a phone. She
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: couldn't even.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Get a word in. She's like, what are you talking about?
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: She's like, I'm just trying to ask you something. So
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to me, I feel like any little thing she probably did.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: He made it into something.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: He was probably trying to create a story that she
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: was the problem. And to me, it looked like he
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: was the problem. Right. In October of 2021, Becky filed
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: her own petition. In her petition, Becky claimed that Tim
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: had been letting himself into her home without her consent
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: on multiple occasions, at times using their children as a
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: way to gain entry and remove items from her property.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: She noted that when she contacted police about one of
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: these incidents, officers told her that a restraining order would
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: be necessary to stop it from happening again. Becky also
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: alleged that Tim had cut down a tree she loved
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: as retaliation for, in his words, her failure to comply
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: with things he had been demanding of her for over
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a decade. She further claimed that he had threatened to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: get rid of a family pet because she wasn't following
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: a rigid exercise routine he expected of her, and that
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: during one argument, he had come dangerously close to striking
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: her and one of the children with a garden hose,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and it's real. So she... He asked for a protective
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: order first, and then it's denied. Yeah. And then she
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: asked for a protective order, and it's also denied.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: They're both just getting after each other for every little thing.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Although we learned that hers should have been granted.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Hers should have been granted. I don't know if it
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: would have made any difference at all.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: No, but she was entitled to protection from him.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: On January 5th of 2023, Becky confides to an acquaintance
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: that Tim had told her, quote, you'll be dead before
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you get any of my money.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Does he have any money? Is this like, I don't know,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: you know, is this like he just, that's the only
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: leverage he has, you know, that he has to pay
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: her a little bit.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Spouses, you know, she did go back to school to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: be a nurse. So I know she was a nurse,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: which I assume she made decent money.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: She had a career and she had her own income.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: He also did well from what I understand from the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: 48 hours and he was in recycling. I don't know
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: what that means. I feel like that could mean.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Well, like, like trash industry. Now it's just everything's recycled.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm saying I don't know what the specifics
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: of that mean. Like, is he in management? Does he
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: own his own company? Like, I don't know what being
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: in recycling means.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you this. He's not in a
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: recycling business anymore.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: No, no. Unless he's recycling in prison. He's helping to
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: recycle things.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: That's one of the programs he's created there.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: If there's one thing I know.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: It's recycling.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: It's how to recycle these trays.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So on February 14th of 2023, which is Valentine's Day,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: this is when surveillance video does capture someone walking around
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the vehicle of her new boyfriend.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: And then shortly after that is when the police found
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: on his computer forensics of him searching... The vehicle identification number.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Right, and his name for like 200 times.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And his name and his license and things like that.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, obsessed, clearly. Right.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: The divorce trial is formally scheduled for March 3rd, 2023.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So that means that now we have a date, a
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: calendar date for their divorce trial, and it's two weeks
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: out from where we're at currently, right? So the night
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of the murder is February 22nd to early morning the 23rd.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: surveillance footage captures a bicycle rider near a local bus barn.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I thought it was funny that they called it a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: bus barn.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: I still think it's funny. What is that?
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: It's where they parked all the school buses. They called
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: it a bus yard. Yeah, but they called it a
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: bus barn. I thought that was kind of cute. It's
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the bus barn at 1228, which is on February 23rd.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Tim's phone locks at one 11 a.m. Becky attempts to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: call nine one one. At 1.12 a.m., a front door
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: alert is triggered at her home. And at 1.16 a.m.,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a bicycle rider is captured on video heading northbound away
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: from the area.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: But prior to that, there's video camera of the bike arriving.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Did you say that?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: And then all the activity happens.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: And then the bicyclist rides back.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: But the surveillance video, and there's also surveillance video of
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a man in the driveway, in the neighbor's driveway. You
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: can see him walking across.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: To get to Becky's property.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: And you can't see the face. You can't identify the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: bicyclist or the pedestrian. Right. But the timeline and the
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: locations track where it's like as if this person rode
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: their bike here, you know, walked around, committed a crime,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: got in their bike and went back.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, so Becky's father goes to check on her, but
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: do you know why he goes to check on her?
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Because Tim calls him and says, have you seen Becky?
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know where she is. She hasn't come home.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: So then the dad drives to her house to do
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: a welfare check to check on his daughter. He enters
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: into the home, and then he finds her dead in
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the bathroom. And she was shot, I believe. 14 times.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: So he was sent there to see his daughter murdered.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: He was sent there to see, to find his daughter murdered.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: And she was shot 14 times. Wow. Maybe it was 15.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: It's 14. But I think it was 14. And I
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: think one of the shots missed. I think it was
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: 15 rounds were fired. 14 hit her. But what they said,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the prosecution said, which I thought was so sad, was
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that none of the 14 shots were life-threatening.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Were fatal.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Were fatal. But- So she died slowly. Yeah. So she
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: literally laid on the bathroom floor in the dark alone.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he left her there.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Knowing that she was going to die. And it took
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: about three minutes for her to actually die. And they
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: used a silencer, which they believe was the Aldi bags.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Because remember, they found all kinds of.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Like a homemade silencer?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Like a homemade silencer, like grocery bags, Aldi grocery bags.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Because they found all the... the plastic pieces at the scene.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Like shredded, right? Right.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Where he like had shot through it to try to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: silence the bullets. All right. So at 3.30 PM, Becky's
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: father goes to check on his daughter and discovers her
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: body in the bathroom. Police are immediately dispatched and she
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: had been shot 14 times. All right, now we're investigating
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the murder, right? And people are asking, does this woman
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: have any enemies? Obviously, the husband's going to be looked at.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Because anytime something happens.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Soon to be ex-husband.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Soon to be ex-husband. I mean, they have a divorce
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: trial coming up in two weeks. So they start to
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: investigate this murder. Obviously, they're going to ask the husband.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: He's going to be the number one suspect. And they
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: ask her friends and family. She doesn't have any enemies.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: She's very loved. She's a nurse. She has patients. She
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: has three boys. She's a great mom. I mean, she
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: lives alone. She has a boyfriend. I guess the boyfriend
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: was probably never a suspect. They don't mention him at all.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: So he must have had an alibi or he was
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: probably cleared very quickly. But obviously the police learned that
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: she has this contentious divorce with an ex-husband and Where
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: they've both filed restraining orders against each other.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: At an upcoming court date where he says basically, over
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: my dead body will you see my kids and stuff
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: like that or my money.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Right. So then he offers an alibi. And his alibi is.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. His alibi is the worst alibi.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Right. Is that he's home with his children because he
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: claims that she had said she was supposed to have
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: the kids that night.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: He's like, my alibi is I'm at home with my
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: sleeping minor children.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: They were asleep when I was home. Trust me. You
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: can ask them.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: They're at his house. And by the way, he only
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: lives like what? A half a mile away from her
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: or something?
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Apparently a bike ride away.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: A bike ride away. He lives close by in another home. Yeah.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: The kids were supposed to be with her that evening,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: but he claims that she called him and said that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: she wasn't feeling well. And so she asked if the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: kids could remain at his house. And he's such a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: great guy. And he's so flexible and easygoing that he
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was like, sure, they can stay with me.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Well, he only wanted her to feel better. Right.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: He's concerned about her well-being. So he says he has
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the kids. So that's his alibi is I was home
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: with my children. Now, look, I have three kids. We
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: have three kids. They go to bed at night. They
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: never wake up. I'm just saying it wouldn't be that
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: difficult to be able to sneak out of your house
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: with three sleeping children, go shoot your wife that lives,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: your ex-wife that's a half a block away or whatever,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: half a mile away, ride your bike back, climb back
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: into your house, get in your bed and your children
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: don't know the difference. So that's his alibi that he
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: was with his children. Yeah. All right, on February 27th,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: an abandoned blue Schwinn bicycle with no reflectors.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: So in the video, albeit dark and everything, it's still
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: very clear as to what the activity is. You just
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: can't make out any features or anything. There's a bicycle
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: that moves without any reflectors. And the reflectors would have
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: reflected because there was enough lighting, right? Because remember there
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: was like something on the jacket that reflected. So no reflectors,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: which means the reflectors were removed. It's not like some
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: bikes have and some don't. They're removed.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Right. So then we get to February 27th, which is
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: just a couple days after the murder, and an abandoned
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: blue Schwinn bicycle is discovered near the bus barn. It
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: looks to be the same bicycle that is seen in
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the surveillance footage. With removed reflectors. Yes, and it has
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: no reflectors on it. Can you just talk about how
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: much you like Tim Bliefnick's defense attorney?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: She was awful. She was... I knew he was guilty
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: once I saw her. She was terrible. Okay, I can't...
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Every argument she had was like, well, that doesn't mean anything. Right. Well,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: that doesn't mean... Well, so what?
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Everybody has bikes with no reflectors.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: It was like... It was just, she was the divorce
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: attorney gone criminal defense attorney. Right. And she lost.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Which made me wonder if she'd ever actually handled... a defense,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: like a criminal defense case, but not only a criminal
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: defense case, but like a murder trial.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Because she was originally his divorce attorney. And then the
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: next thing you know, in this episode, we're watching on
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: 48 hours. Then she is now his defense attorney for
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: a murder trial. She was a character. I did find
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: her entertaining.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: She was, she, she had no arguments. Every interview, like
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: they did ask good questions, right? They pushed her and
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: everything was just like, well, what does that mean? Well,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: that doesn't mean anything. Well, of course that could happen.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: It's like every single thing. Yeah.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I do remember when they said, you know, well, Becky
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: claims that he was abusive and the divorce slash defense
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: attorney says, well, she doesn't have any bruises. There's no
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: markings on her. And then I thought, yes, but we've had,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: we've had so many conversations about mental abuse and emotional abuse.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: And I mean, just to, to pair it, just to
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: minimize it down to like abuse and a relationship that,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: has to mean that there's some type of physical marking.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine she got one referral as a result
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: of being on 48 Hours. No.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Not one. No.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: She might have lost a few clients.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I put her on the never hire this attorney list.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Or if you know someone that you don't like in
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: the area and you want to recommend an attorney.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: That is true. All right. On March 1st of 2023,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: police searched Tim's home. On March 13th, so about two
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: weeks after they searched his home, he is arrested and
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: charged with two counts of first degree murder and one
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: count of home invasion. So let's put together what they
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: have against him because he claims he's innocent, right? He's
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: steadfast and like he had nothing to do with this.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: He's emotional. He would never hurt the mother of his children.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: So the surveillance video of the mysterious cyclist. They do
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: have that. But obviously, from that surveillance video, you can't
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: distinguish that it's Tim. Yeah, no. But they did recover
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: a blue Schwinn bicycle, and they linked it to Tim. Now,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: you can tell me how they linked it to Tim.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Well, on his phone, he had a fake Facebook account
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: or something, and he was using Facebook Marketplace. And he researched,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and he was looking at the bike. It was the
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: same Schwinn bicycle found near the bus barn, and it
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: had no reflectors on it. And he was.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: searching that on a burner Facebook account.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Right. Right. I mean, I get it. And then she
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: would be like, well, that doesn't mean he bought it.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Lots of people look at bicycles on Facebook marketplace. Right. Right.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It's like genius. Yeah. You're correct.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Right. But I don't know how many people look at
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the exact same bike that was used as the murder vehicle.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, found it down the street.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, with no reflectors.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: The fitness tracker and cell phone data placing him outside
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: his home during the murder window. Internet searches, his internet
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: searches cracked me up. Didn't he search a silencer? Yes,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it was how to make a silencer. Internet searches, including
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: how to make improvised gun silencers. It literally said how
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: to make a gun silencer. And then there was other
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: internet searches.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: How to break into my own home. That's what it was.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Was it? Yeah, there was one. It was how to
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: break into my window or my door.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's right. Or how to use a crowbar in
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: a window or something.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it was to break into my house.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: It's like, how to delete Google searches. That's what I'm
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: waiting for.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: There was testimony about the threatening statements that Tim had
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: made to Becky. And there was evidence of Tim's financial
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: motive tied to the pending divorce. So then we get
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: to May 31st of 2023. After just four hours of deliberation,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the jury found Tim Bleifnick guilty on all counts. He's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: At sentencing, Becky's loved ones addressed the court directly. One
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: statement to Tim included, you replaced their mother's love with
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: emotional scars. I believe that was her sister that did
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the victim impact statement that they showed in the 48
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Hours episode.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and wasn't she the one that also said how
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Instead of searching how to make a silencer and how
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: to break into a home, you should have been searching
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: how to parent children. Basically, she was saying you should
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: have been focusing on your children. You should have been
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: parenting and searching how to handle children with post-traumatic stress
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: syndrome and things like that.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Right. So there was also ballistic evidence.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: So there was shell casings and or bullets in her
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: home that were obviously used. And they matched it with
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: some shell casings or bullets that were found in his home.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: And it was determined that the same firearm was used
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: for both sets of ammunition.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: And then he had owned the same type of gun.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: A 9mm.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: But then he claimed it had been lost three years prior.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Right. Right.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: So we don't... yeah right so then they asked the
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the uh defense attorney no the interview yeah but the
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: interviewer right asked and said well why didn't you put
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: on any expert witnesses to kind of refute the testimony
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: of the prosecutor And she's like, well, I guess we
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: could have, but we ran out of money and time.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: And it was like, what?
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: So you had a smoking gun supposedly to, you know,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: find him not guilty.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Wait, what's the smoking gun?
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Well, if there was a ballistic testimony or an expert testimony.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Or that contradicted. Right.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: If there was one, we don't think there was, but
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: that's what they asked. And her reasoning was we didn't
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: have time and we ran out of money.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: So they presented no defense.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Out of luck. Sorry, dude. Yeah.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: So that's what happens when you hire a divorce attorney
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to handle your murder trial.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: She was a weirdo.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: She's like, we ran out of time.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: I guess we could have. I was like, yes, you
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: should have.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: That's correct.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: You know what I was thinking? Cause we get to
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the appeal process. That's what made me think. I hope
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: his appeal is ineffective legal counsel.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah. As proven with the 48 hours episode.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: So he does appeal in the spring of 2024. He
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: raises three arguments. The evidence was improperly admitted under the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine that the prosecutor made statements to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the jury about matters that were not in evidence and
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: that Judge Robert Adrian should have recused himself due to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: a conflict of interest. See, he doesn't even raise in
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the appeal an effective legal counsel. You thought that his
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: attorney had was liked him.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. She probably had the hots for him. Yeah,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: that's right.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: And maybe maybe I don't know if he had the
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: hots for her, but well.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: He doesn't raise an effective legal counsel as an appeal.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: So it makes me think maybe on October 16th of 2024,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the Illinois Appellate Court hears oral arguments in the case.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Then in November of 2024, the Appellate Court of Illinois'
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: 4th District affirms his conviction and life sentence on all counts,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: rejecting every one of his arguments. The court notably states,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: just as with the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine, the defendant's
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: success in silencing Becky should not be rewarded.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Did he use the same counsel for his appeals?
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Probably not. Well, I don't know.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: That would explain the not making the argument of ineffective counsel.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Because then his appeal would be done by an ineffective counsel.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he, but he has no funds.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And everyone just appeals all the time, you know. It
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: just seems so exhausting. You know, you kind of wonder, like,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: why don't they just go straight to the appeals court?
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Be like, let's just cut to the chase.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: They probably do.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Let's not even have a trial. Let's just go to
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: the appeals court. They don't have to appeal.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Tim Bleefneck is now 41 and remains incarcerated for life
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: at Minard Correctional Center. You know what's sad is the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: victims here are the three boys that don't have a
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: mother or a father now. I mean, yes, obviously she's
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the victim, but I'm just saying, I just look at
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: those three boys and think they just, their whole life,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: you know, at one point they had a mom and
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: a dad that lived together and then their mom and
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: dad are getting divorced, which is hard enough on kids.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: And they're going back and forth between the two homes.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: That's not a great example. And then he kills the
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: wife or the mom. And then he goes to jail,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: and now the kids, well, the kids were with the
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: sister now, the mom's sister, I think, right?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: No, her parents are raising the three boys now.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: So at least they're with family and together.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because remember at the end it said that there's
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a no contact order. He's not allowed to have any
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: contact with his sons at all. And her family is
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: raising the three boys currently. You know, and I also think,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I was wondering this when we were watching it, Was
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: it premeditated? Well, I guess because he was looking for
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the bike.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And he did all the searches and everything.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: How could it have not been premeditated?
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I guess because it was in the middle of the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: night and he was home with the boys. And I
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: just thought.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: You mean like that moment in time? Like maybe he like. he, he,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: that moment said, okay, tonight's the night. And he grabbed
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: everything and ran over there.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It just made me think, was he just sitting
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: there like seething? Cause he has a trial coming up
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and the boys were all asleep and he was alone.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: And he just thought, well, that judge made it very clear.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Cause remember he counted, he said, you shot her one, one, two, three, four.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: And he counted all the way to 14. Yeah. Like,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: like that you wanted her dead.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: There's no like, oops, I made a mistake or oops.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I got caught up. Yeah.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: He shot 14 times.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: That's a, that's a rage killing. You kill, you shoot
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: someone 14 times. I mean, you're in a rage. Like he,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he hated her. Yeah. You have to pull a trigger
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: 14 times. Like you're not just sneaking in and like
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: doing an execution shot to the head. You're just like,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: you're pissed and you're just firing over and over and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: over with an Aldi bag. As a silencer.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Well, that probably works on the first shot or two.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Well, then I think you had to keep using new
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Aldi bags, right? For each one?
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know either. Thank you guys so much for
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: listening till death do us part. Please follow the Legally
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Brunette feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Make sure to
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: tell your friends and family and if you have any
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: cases that you think would be great for us to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: discuss on till death do us part, please find me
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: on Instagram and send me a message. We love to
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: hear your feedback and your requests. So thank you so
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: much for listening.