Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Mom, baby and grandmother gunned in cold blood by perp who hides bloody clothes and weapons in woods.

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Mom, baby and grandmother gunned in cold blood by perp who hides bloody clothes and weapons in woods. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I office received a call
0:10
Speaker 1: from a neighbor just down the street advising us that
0:15
Speaker 1: they believe someone had been shot. Two women at a
0:17
Speaker 1: child found dead in Pittsylvania County. This was a shock
0:20
Speaker 1: dot community, to anybody's community when something like this happens,
0:24
Speaker 1: and it's just a reminder of how fragile life he is.
0:27
Speaker 1: Two of the victims are the wife and child of
0:29
Speaker 1: minor league baseball player Blake Vivins. According to ESPN, Bivins
0:33
Speaker 1: is with the Montgomery Biscuits, part of the Tampa Bay
0:36
Speaker 1: Rays organization. Local media reported that the suspect, naked attacked
0:40
Speaker 1: a groundskeeper at a Baptist church while on the run.
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Speaker 1: I never dreamed metter like this had ever happened to me,
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Speaker 1: and wished to have happened to happen. I'm not wanting
0:50
Speaker 1: to give me involved in something like The authority say
0:53
Speaker 1: they placed three schools in the area on lockdown and
0:55
Speaker 1: about one hundred officers from various agencies responded to the scene.
0:59
Speaker 1: They have actually captured the suspect and took him into custody.
1:02
Speaker 1: You're hearing our friend Craig Treadway at w pi X
1:05
Speaker 1: eleven News What happened? How did a young mom? How
1:12
Speaker 1: did her baby? And a third victim, a mother, a
1:20
Speaker 1: sixty two year old grandma all end up dead, A
1:25
Speaker 1: young mother just twenty five years old, a fourteen month
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Speaker 1: old baby, Emily's baby, and the mother Joan Bernard. Is
1:37
Speaker 1: overwhelming at the tragedy. It came to the forefront because
1:42
Speaker 1: Emily Bevins, twenty five years old, is the wife of
1:47
Speaker 1: a double a pitcher with the Rays currently with the
1:50
Speaker 1: Montgomery Biscuits. His family slain in apparently a horror and
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Speaker 1: rural setting in southern verga I mean, as he Grace,
2:01
Speaker 1: this is crime stories, thank you for being with us.
2:04
Speaker 1: It's almost too much to take him. This area reminds
2:08
Speaker 1: me of where I grew up in rural Middle Georgia,
2:14
Speaker 1: not even in an incorporated city or town. It was
2:18
Speaker 1: out in unincorporated Bibb County. As I recall, there are
2:22
Speaker 1: only three homes only remotely close to ours on an
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Speaker 1: old red dirt road, and this area reminds me of
2:31
Speaker 1: the rural nature of Middle Georgia, where crime is especially violent.
2:37
Speaker 1: Crime is almost unheard of. With me an all star
2:43
Speaker 1: panel to break it down and put it back together again.
2:45
Speaker 1: Where now? Lawyer Ken Belkin out of New York criminal
2:49
Speaker 1: defense attorney, former NYPD And let me tell you something.
2:53
Speaker 1: He's been around the block a couple of times. John Cardillo,
2:56
Speaker 1: psychologist from Manhattan. Doctor Karen Stark, South Carolina medical examiner,
3:02
Speaker 1: author of Homocide Investigation field Guide, Doctor Michelle Dupree joining
3:06
Speaker 1: me right now. Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter Levi Page.
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Speaker 1: I don't understand how in this rural we callic setting,
3:17
Speaker 1: three murderers go down. What happened? Okay? A neighbor, Nancy
3:24
Speaker 1: heard gunshots in the home near her and she called
3:28
Speaker 1: nine one one, and when police arrived to the home,
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Speaker 1: that is when they found three bodies along with the
3:36
Speaker 1: body of a dead dog inside this home with blood
3:40
Speaker 1: splatter everywhere. Rose Stars, what can you tell me about
3:44
Speaker 1: the location about where this took place? Is on the
3:49
Speaker 1: Virginia North Carolina border in southern Virginia, Nancy, a very
3:55
Speaker 1: small rural talent, like you had described. It's not a
3:58
Speaker 1: place where you expect or like this to occur, but
4:02
Speaker 1: it did occur here in this community is reeling from it.
4:06
Speaker 1: Cops immediately come to the scene when they get word
4:10
Speaker 1: of shots fired. They have no reason to believe. A
4:15
Speaker 1: family is all but nearly wiped out. A young mom,
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Speaker 1: twenty five year old Emily Bivens, her baby, Colin Bivens,
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Speaker 1: just fourteen months old, and Emily's mother, sixty two year
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Speaker 1: old Joan Bernard, all gunned down. And now you're telling
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Speaker 1: me leave my page. The dog was killed too. The
4:35
Speaker 1: family pet dog was beaten to death and blood was
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Speaker 1: all over this home. Nancy. It was quite the scene
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Speaker 1: and probably a shock to the police officers that don't
4:45
Speaker 1: stumble across crime scenes like this on a daily basis.
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Speaker 1: A right handed picture. Bivens was picked by the Race
4:53
Speaker 1: in the fourth round of twenty fourteen first year player
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Speaker 1: draft out of Washington High School in Danville, Virginia. He
5:01
Speaker 1: married wife Emily twenty sixteen. Their little baby, Colin Micah Bevans,
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Speaker 1: turned one in June just before he was murdered. Emily
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Speaker 1: was a photographer and a devout Christian. According to her
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Speaker 1: Facebook page, I'm just thinking about when I had had
5:24
Speaker 1: the twins, when they were fourteen months old, all the
5:28
Speaker 1: joy we had, you know. I took John David, my
5:32
Speaker 1: son now eleven, went on a scout trip this weekend.
5:36
Speaker 1: His dad went with him as a volunteer, and I
5:39
Speaker 1: took a chance, a very rare chance, that I get
5:41
Speaker 1: to be alone with Lucy, my daughter, also eleven, of
5:44
Speaker 1: course they're twins. And we drove and drove and drove
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Speaker 1: and got to the foothills of the Appalachian Trail, and
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Speaker 1: we walked around, we looked around. We just spent time
5:57
Speaker 1: being together. And she kept asking me about my childhood
6:01
Speaker 1: and one of my favorite memories. But they all seem
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Speaker 1: to be wrapped up in raising her in John David
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Speaker 1: and I told her story after story after story of
6:10
Speaker 1: things they would do, and how they would go on
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Speaker 1: a stroller walks and get three baths a day, and
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Speaker 1: just the things I would slip into their bottles to
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Speaker 1: make them healthy, just all sorts of funny stories. All
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Speaker 1: this was just starting for Emily Bivins. She was just
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Speaker 1: starting with her fourteen month old with the most wonderful
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Speaker 1: journey of a lifetime raising your child. It just breaks
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Speaker 1: my heart. Who would do such a thing. Take a
6:43
Speaker 1: listen to this our friends at w SLS ten. This
6:47
Speaker 1: is John Carlin and Brittany McCraw. Deputies have identified the
6:50
Speaker 1: suspect as nineteen year old Matthew Bernard. Family members say
6:54
Speaker 1: he killed his mother, his sister, and her one year
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Speaker 1: old child. Deputies found their bodies at a home the
7:00
Speaker 1: Kealing community. Pictures show the alleged aspect naked, running past
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Speaker 1: houses and a church before officers arrested him after an
7:08
Speaker 1: hour's long manhunt. Neighbors say they were frightened to see
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Speaker 1: him running over to the church and choking a man
7:14
Speaker 1: before he was beaten with batons and arrested. About a
7:18
Speaker 1: hundred officers responded to that chaotic scene, and the man
7:22
Speaker 1: hunt sent at least nine schools into lockdown. Family members
7:26
Speaker 1: are among those with a lot of the unanswered questions tonight.
7:30
Speaker 1: We don't know why the young man allegedly killed his
7:32
Speaker 1: family members or how it happened, you know, to Dodgor
7:35
Speaker 1: Karen Start, Bernard allegedly shot and killed three family members
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Speaker 1: and blood and the family dog dead. What does that
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Speaker 1: tell you about his mindset? Well, he's psychotic, Nancy, This
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Speaker 1: is somebody waynute. Wait a minute, you're going into work four. Okay.
7:53
Speaker 1: We're just regular people, of course, except for doctor Micheldepre
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Speaker 1: who as a doctor, the NYPD and the criminal lawyer
8:02
Speaker 1: Balkan and Cardillo. We're all on the same boat. Okay,
8:06
Speaker 1: you and Dupree are the doctors. You got to break
8:08
Speaker 1: that down. What do you mean by psychotic? His lost
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Speaker 1: track with reality. He's illusional, He's not seeing the world
8:15
Speaker 1: the way we are, obviously, and he's a psychopath. So
8:19
Speaker 1: he has no problems with killing people. He's in an
8:22
Speaker 1: authored state. And you can tell. I mean, he was
8:26
Speaker 1: running around naked. It's not like you can see that
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Speaker 1: there's anything that made sense. And I can't imagine that
8:35
Speaker 1: he didn't get any signs that this was happening. I'm
8:39
Speaker 1: sure that there were indications that something was going wrong
8:43
Speaker 1: with this guy, and people weren't paying attention crime stories
8:57
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. The uncle told ten News these suspects
9:03
Speaker 1: all around perfect kid. But he also says the teen
9:06
Speaker 1: expressed to his mother last week he was having bad dreams.
9:11
Speaker 1: A family torn to pieces. Investigators believe Matthew Barnard is responsible.
9:17
Speaker 1: His uncle says this is out of character for his nephew. Well,
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Speaker 1: I love my nephew was snapped. Oh no, something changed
9:33
Speaker 1: him a very quick period of time. Joan Bernard, daughter
9:38
Speaker 1: Emily Bivins, and grandson Cullen Bivens. All three were shot
9:43
Speaker 1: and killed, but no one knows what led to the shootings.
9:47
Speaker 1: He expressed his mother last week that he was having
9:54
Speaker 1: bad dreams and that he's seen Damon's around his baby,
10:01
Speaker 1: and his uncle was told by the team's dad he
10:04
Speaker 1: was troubled. On the day of the killings. He woke up. Yeah,
10:09
Speaker 1: he just he says something to his mother that someone's
10:13
Speaker 1: going on. It's got to stop. Today. You're hearing our
10:16
Speaker 1: friends at WSLS ten. That was Arisia Jones with the
10:21
Speaker 1: suspect's uncle, Bryant Bernard. Back to doctor Karen Start, a psychologist,
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Speaker 1: bad dreams does not insanity make although if he says
10:33
Speaker 1: he sees demons around his bed, that would indicate visual hallucinations.
10:42
Speaker 1: That's right, Nancy. The kindest thing that I had I
10:45
Speaker 1: was mentioning with being delusional, a psychotic break, not being
10:50
Speaker 1: in touch with reality. So it's not just bad dreams.
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Speaker 1: He saw demons and she said that something was going on.
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Speaker 1: It's very ominous sounding and it just doesn't sound like
11:01
Speaker 1: somebody who's just your everyday great kids. As his uncle
11:06
Speaker 1: was describing, this is a kid that was falling apart
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Speaker 1: and losing touch with its reality. Joining me right now.
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Speaker 1: Renowned medical examiner doctor Michelle Dupre joining me out of
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Speaker 1: South Carolina, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Doctor Dupree.
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Speaker 1: Is there a way to determine when you've got three
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Speaker 1: dead victims Joan Bernard sixty two, the grandmother, the young mother,
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Speaker 1: Emily Bevins twenty five, and her baby, Collin Bevins, fourteen
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Speaker 1: months and you've got a dog victim, can you tell
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Speaker 1: who was murdered first in order to try and recreate
11:44
Speaker 1: the scene? Yes, now, so we actually may be able to.
11:47
Speaker 1: We can look at the blood drying and determine which
11:51
Speaker 1: blood has dried first or dried the most. We can
11:54
Speaker 1: look at things like that. We can also look at
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Speaker 1: the scene itself and see if there are any seen
12:00
Speaker 1: walkers that may get that away. Wow, And to you,
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Speaker 1: John Cardillo, former NYPD, why would it be important to
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Speaker 1: determine the succession of the murders? Well, for several reasons.
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Speaker 1: One could be motive, right, that's something about that particular
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Speaker 1: victim trigger him, and it really could have been from
12:20
Speaker 1: the dog to the baby, you know, in addition to
12:22
Speaker 1: the family maybe getting more attention than him. I will
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Speaker 1: say one thing. Just listening to the uncle, the hesitation.
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Speaker 1: If I were interviewing the family, which they're going through
12:32
Speaker 1: exhaustive interviews of law enforcement at this point, I'd be
12:35
Speaker 1: reluctant at first past to believe the uncle. I heard
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Speaker 1: a lot of hesitation in his voice. I think he
12:40
Speaker 1: knew more than he was letting on. I think this
12:42
Speaker 1: kid had been troubled for a long time. The uncle,
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Speaker 1: to me, seems like he's traumatized. He lost a big
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Speaker 1: chunk of his family. But he doesn't want to bad
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Speaker 1: man the kid. But I just wasn't convinced with his
12:53
Speaker 1: assertions that he was a really good kid. And this
12:55
Speaker 1: all came on very suddenly. So I'm with you and
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Speaker 1: the doctor. I think there was probably a pattern here
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Speaker 1: that the family either ignored or simply didn't act upon. Well.
13:07
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you may be right. Take
13:08
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at w s l S ten.
13:11
Speaker 1: This is Shane Dwyer with Bryant Bernard derrelative. My daughter
13:16
Speaker 1: is a cole food in the shriff's department. She called
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Speaker 1: me and said, Dad, something's going on. You need to
13:23
Speaker 1: find call your brother. That phone call started the day
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Speaker 1: that Bryant Bernard says he will never understand by the
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Speaker 1: end of it, his nephew, nineteen year old Matthew Bernard,
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Speaker 1: was running from police naked and attacked a man in
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Speaker 1: a church parking lot. And my wild as dreams, I
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Speaker 1: never could imagine that, not him, of all the paper
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Speaker 1: in this world, I never could imagine this police, who
13:46
Speaker 1: say he's charged with three counts of murder. Matthew's uncle
13:49
Speaker 1: says there are clues as to what happened Especial's mother
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Speaker 1: last week, that he was having bad dreams. Police won't
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Speaker 1: confirm any of the details of their investigation, and Bernard's
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Speaker 1: family says this man is not the Matthew that they know.
14:07
Speaker 1: This boy is a Christian, went to church every Sunday,
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Speaker 1: every Wednesday, every Sunday night, taught youth groups, just all realms,
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Speaker 1: perfect kid, in my opinion. Well wait a minute, how
14:22
Speaker 1: is that possible, to defense lawyer Ken Belkin joining us
14:26
Speaker 1: out of New York. If he was teaching Sunday school
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Speaker 1: and youth groups and being coherent and showing up to
14:35
Speaker 1: appointments on time, how could he suddenly have become a
14:39
Speaker 1: psychopath gone psychotic. The reality is, even though we may
14:44
Speaker 1: be doing these things. It's not mutually exclusive of the
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Speaker 1: fact that he might be engaged in psychotic behavior and
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Speaker 1: in this case, the murder of three people. But if
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Speaker 1: you're teaching a youth group and you're showing up to
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Speaker 1: appointments up until that day or up until the time time,
15:00
Speaker 1: you know, the week or so leading up to it,
15:02
Speaker 1: how do you suddenly there is no such thing as snap,
15:05
Speaker 1: as the uncle said Ken Belkin, There is no snap
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Speaker 1: under the law. Snapped is a name of a show
15:13
Speaker 1: one Oxygen my TV home. It is not a valid
15:16
Speaker 1: legal defense, No, it's not, but it can be mitigating.
15:20
Speaker 1: It can get a first degree murder charge down to
15:23
Speaker 1: a second degree murder charge potentially a mans order charge,
15:27
Speaker 1: because they could say, look, he didn't intend to do this,
15:30
Speaker 1: There was no premeditation, that this was something he was
15:33
Speaker 1: acting under extreme stress and direst and something triggered him,
15:36
Speaker 1: and this is the reaction that it triggered. You know.
15:39
Speaker 1: Another issue, Karen Stark keeps mentioning that he was naked,
15:43
Speaker 1: running naked, But what about this items of clothing white
15:47
Speaker 1: T shirt, blue sweatpants, Nike shoes were located about an
15:53
Speaker 1: hour from the family home. A search warn't obtained reveal
15:57
Speaker 1: that the items were found a day after or the murders.
16:02
Speaker 1: Did he get rid of the clothes because they were bloody?
16:05
Speaker 1: What about that? That shows a certain degree of intent. Yeah,
16:12
Speaker 1: Levi Page, investigative reporter with crime online dot Com. Were
16:16
Speaker 1: those of clothes he was wearing during the murders? We
16:18
Speaker 1: can presume that we also know, Nancy, that the rifle
16:21
Speaker 1: that he used to shoot his victims was found in
16:24
Speaker 1: a wooded area outside the home, and the sledgehammer that
16:29
Speaker 1: he used to beat the dog to death was found
16:33
Speaker 1: in the garage. The sledgehammer covered in blood. So he
16:37
Speaker 1: didn't hide the murder weapons very well, but he did
16:40
Speaker 1: hide them. That's the point. If he hid them at all,
16:44
Speaker 1: that shows that he knew what he was doing was wrong.
16:50
Speaker 1: That is a question for shrinks. But how to banarn
16:55
Speaker 1: run from police to the extent he was able to
16:58
Speaker 1: attack a church Grand hounsekeeper. Listen to our friend Brittany mcgrawls,
17:03
Speaker 1: ten well, plain and simple State police say, this trooper
17:06
Speaker 1: did what he was trained to do. You've seen these
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Speaker 1: images reportedly showing Matthew Bernard naked and running from police
17:14
Speaker 1: through yards in a church parking lot while you see
17:17
Speaker 1: this trooper here who trails behind him. Today's State police
17:20
Speaker 1: shared why this was handled the way it was. They
17:23
Speaker 1: say Matthew Bernard didn't have a weapon and was in
17:25
Speaker 1: obvious mental distress. In those situations, state police say troopers
17:30
Speaker 1: are trained to first try to de escalate the situation.
17:33
Speaker 1: They're also trained to keep a safe distance from a
17:36
Speaker 1: suspect to prevent that person from grabbing any weapons the
17:39
Speaker 1: trooper has. They say the trooper did that and also
17:42
Speaker 1: use pepper spray and a baton during the incident. The
17:47
Speaker 1: trooper did what he was supposed to do, but not
17:50
Speaker 1: allowing the suspect access to his rifle. That is the biggest,
17:56
Speaker 1: biggest concern. I think this incident will be reviewed since
18:01
Speaker 1: troopers had to use force to arrest Matthew Bernard. Crime
18:19
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace Blake Bivens began this week full
18:24
Speaker 1: of hope. A minor league baseball prospect, married to his
18:27
Speaker 1: high school sweetheart, Emily, and proud father of a fourteen
18:31
Speaker 1: month old son Culin that's Emily's mother Joan in a
18:37
Speaker 1: family photo spanning three generations, But on Tuesday in southern Virginia,
18:42
Speaker 1: all three were found murdered allegedly by Emily's brother, who
18:47
Speaker 1: relatives say was battling mental health issues. In his deepest grief,
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Speaker 1: Bivens last night posted this, my heart was turned to ash.
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Speaker 1: My life as I knew it is destroyed. The pain
19:00
Speaker 1: my family and I feel is unbearable. I shake and
19:03
Speaker 1: tremble at the thought of our future without them. In
19:07
Speaker 1: a tribute to his wife, Bivens wrote, your love and
19:10
Speaker 1: kindness changed countless lives, and to his son, I can't
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Speaker 1: breathe without you here. I finally understood what love was
19:17
Speaker 1: when you were born, and I would have done anything
19:20
Speaker 1: for you. Bivens minor league club, the Montgomery Biscuits, canceled
19:24
Speaker 1: their games this week as investigators who met with Bivins
19:27
Speaker 1: scramble to figure out why. Bivins ends his note, I'm
19:31
Speaker 1: not sure what is next for me, but I do
19:33
Speaker 1: know God has a plan, even though I can't see it. Wow.
19:37
Speaker 1: What unshakable faith you're hearing, CBS News reporter Jamie Ucas
19:43
Speaker 1: talking about the murders right now, more questions than answers.
19:48
Speaker 1: A young teen charged with him murdering his own mother,
19:52
Speaker 1: his own sister, his own baby nephew just fourteen months old.
19:58
Speaker 1: His sister Emily, the wife of Tampa Bay Ray's pitching prospect.
20:02
Speaker 1: Police now revealing he injured his own head by hitting
20:07
Speaker 1: it against the police cruiser cage after they caught him
20:12
Speaker 1: on a naked foot chase. Now take a listen to
20:17
Speaker 1: what we learn from his uncle. This is WLS ten
20:21
Speaker 1: News Shane Dwyer, Matthew Bernard's uncle we spoke with earlier
20:25
Speaker 1: today as this was all going down in Pittsylvania County.
20:28
Speaker 1: They were a little bit of a distance back away
20:30
Speaker 1: from the house. That's when he says he saw his
20:32
Speaker 1: nephew get taken away in a line of police cars.
20:35
Speaker 1: As that line of police cars was going by, he
20:37
Speaker 1: locked eyes with his nephew through the cruiser window. He
20:41
Speaker 1: says that the eyes of that person that he saw
20:43
Speaker 1: in the backseat of that cruiser were not the eyes
20:45
Speaker 1: of the nephew that he knows, and he just did
20:48
Speaker 1: not understand what was going on. That was his body,
20:51
Speaker 1: But he says, as he looked at them, that was
20:53
Speaker 1: not his nephew that was in the back of the car.
20:55
Speaker 1: He does not know what kind of headspace he was
20:57
Speaker 1: in this evening, So it is completely understandable to imagine
21:01
Speaker 1: all the grief that this family is going through, not
21:03
Speaker 1: only with the devastating loss of their family members, but
21:06
Speaker 1: not understanding how something like this can happen. I don't
21:09
Speaker 1: understand it either, or because the teen suspect, Matthew Bernard,
21:16
Speaker 1: was a student at Danville Community College, no problems, regularly
21:20
Speaker 1: attended church, he even taught youth groups, and then suddenly
21:23
Speaker 1: he commits mass murder to Leavipage Crime online dot Com
21:28
Speaker 1: investigative reporter, had he dropped out of school or was
21:32
Speaker 1: he still in classes? He was still a student, and
21:33
Speaker 1: apparently a good student and a regular in church. This
21:37
Speaker 1: entire family was a regular in church, Nancy. So it
21:40
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like he had a bad childhood either. It
21:43
Speaker 1: seemed like he was brought up in a very wholesome, carrying, close,
21:48
Speaker 1: tight knit family. I'm just wondering. Could drugs account for
21:52
Speaker 1: this too, Doctor Karen starts psychologists joining us. That's a possibility, Nancy,
21:56
Speaker 1: But I suspect that really it has to do more
21:59
Speaker 1: with joe littleness. I think that he Look, you can
22:03
Speaker 1: really be high functioning, go to classes and do all
22:06
Speaker 1: of that, but something was going on and I don't
22:10
Speaker 1: think that the family was paying attention to what was
22:13
Speaker 1: happening with this guy. He saw a demon. That's not
22:16
Speaker 1: your everyday wake up and say I had a nightmare.
22:19
Speaker 1: I want to go to doctor Michelle Dupree, South Carolina
22:22
Speaker 1: medical examiner and author of homocide Investigation Feel guide, Doctor Dupree,
22:28
Speaker 1: based on what you know of the injuries the three
22:31
Speaker 1: victims sustain the three human victims, Joan Bernard, Emily Bivens,
22:35
Speaker 1: and Culin Bivins, the baby. Did they die instantly or
22:40
Speaker 1: did they understand what was happening? Did they suffer? They
22:43
Speaker 1: probably did suffer a little bit. I don't believe that
22:45
Speaker 1: this was instantaneous. No, I don't think it was instantaneous.
22:51
Speaker 1: It just it's overwhelming to be what this family has
22:54
Speaker 1: gone through now. A relative has stated that the purp
23:00
Speaker 1: Matthew Bernard, had been struggling with mental illness. A much
23:04
Speaker 1: shot was made public by the county's Sheriff's office, and
23:08
Speaker 1: Bernard's dressed in an orange jumpsuit. His head, both his ears,
23:12
Speaker 1: and part of his throat in the photo are covered
23:16
Speaker 1: in gauze bandages. There are scratches on his forehead. How
23:21
Speaker 1: did that happen to leave my page. Crime online dot
23:23
Speaker 1: Com investigative reporter, Well, Nancy, the media had set up
23:26
Speaker 1: a staging area and as they were setting it up,
23:29
Speaker 1: and this was actually caught on footage. This guy was
23:32
Speaker 1: in the woods and he ran out of the woods
23:34
Speaker 1: buttneckad just a mapped in this spectacle and he was running.
23:39
Speaker 1: He was running through the woods. The police had a
23:44
Speaker 1: confrontation with him, he was sprayed with mace. They got there,
23:47
Speaker 1: betimes out still could not subdue him. Canines were dispatched.
23:52
Speaker 1: And I think that's fitting because he killed a dog,
23:56
Speaker 1: the family dog, beat it to death with a sledgehammer.
24:00
Speaker 1: And he went to a church and actually attacked you know,
24:03
Speaker 1: a worker there that takes care of you know, the grounds,
24:06
Speaker 1: the church grounds. He attacked that and then the dogs
24:09
Speaker 1: actually subdue him so the police can arrest him, which
24:13
Speaker 1: is quite fitting. Well, we also know that apparently he
24:19
Speaker 1: banged his head against the cage inside the police vehicle
24:22
Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah, he was then taken to the
24:25
Speaker 1: emergency room, later transferred to an area hospital. He was
24:29
Speaker 1: treated and released, so they were not serious injuries. He's
24:33
Speaker 1: not facing three counts the first degree murderer use of
24:36
Speaker 1: a firearm during a felony. That is how we first
24:40
Speaker 1: learned that he shot all of his victims. The motive
24:43
Speaker 1: still unclear. More questions than answers right now. Take a
24:49
Speaker 1: listen to our friends over at WSLS ten. This is
24:55
Speaker 1: News reporter Shane Dwyer. Matthew Bernard appeared in court this
24:59
Speaker 1: morning wearing a green jacket with handcuffs around his wrists,
25:02
Speaker 1: shackles around his ankles, and multiple Sheriff's deputies surrounding him.
25:06
Speaker 1: This arrayment had been delayed multiple times before it finally
25:09
Speaker 1: happened today. It didn't last very long, only a few minutes,
25:13
Speaker 1: and Bernard only offered the words yes, sir to the
25:15
Speaker 1: judge each time he asked him a direct question. Now
25:18
Speaker 1: that his lawyer is asking for a mental examination to
25:21
Speaker 1: see if Bernard is fit to stand for trial, and
25:24
Speaker 1: the Commonwealth did not object to that. Crime stories with
25:38
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, the Sheriff's office is not releasing a whole
25:42
Speaker 1: lot right now, citing the ongoing investigation. We did learn today, however,
25:46
Speaker 1: that Sheriff's deputies and members of the Department of Game
25:49
Speaker 1: and Inland Fisheries were back out on Keeling Drive this afternoon,
25:52
Speaker 1: where this incident took place yesterday. They were looking for
25:55
Speaker 1: information or evidence. I should say that they may have
25:58
Speaker 1: missed yesterday. Nineteen year old Matthew Bernard is charged with
26:02
Speaker 1: killing his mother Joan Bernard's sister Emily Vivens, and sisters
26:05
Speaker 1: one year old boy Colin yesterday morning. Bernard was eventually
26:09
Speaker 1: captured naked shortly after noon near his family's home where
26:13
Speaker 1: the murders happened. We still don't know why he murdered them,
26:16
Speaker 1: and neither does the sheriff's office. It's also unclear why
26:19
Speaker 1: he was naked. According to Pennsylvannia County Sheriff Mike Taylor,
26:22
Speaker 1: Matthew Bernard beat his head against the inside of the
26:25
Speaker 1: patrol car after being arrested and had to be taken
26:28
Speaker 1: to Roanoke for treatment. He was taken back to the
26:31
Speaker 1: jail here in Pennsylvania County early this morning and is
26:34
Speaker 1: now on suicide WI hearing our friends SLS ten reporter
26:38
Speaker 1: Coulter Anstatt still we wonder at motive to leave I page,
26:44
Speaker 1: investigative reporter. At this point, has any motive been developed? No, Nancy. However,
26:49
Speaker 1: law enforcement did say that the cell phone that was
26:51
Speaker 1: discarded in the front yard may contain evidence regarding motive.
26:55
Speaker 1: Maybe they can get into his phone, they got a
26:57
Speaker 1: search warrant for it, and see what he was googling,
27:01
Speaker 1: what he was looking up, what his Internet activity is,
27:03
Speaker 1: and maybe they can look at that and then piece
27:05
Speaker 1: together motive. To renowned attorney Ken Belkin joining us out
27:10
Speaker 1: of New York criminal defense attorney Ken Belkin, there's a
27:13
Speaker 1: big difference between incompetency to stand trial, insanity, mental defect.
27:20
Speaker 1: So right now the questions are going to be, first
27:23
Speaker 1: of all, is he competent to stand trial? Which basically
27:27
Speaker 1: means do you have the wherewithal to help your lawyer?
27:30
Speaker 1: That's what incompetence competence means in this setting, the defense
27:34
Speaker 1: may very well be insanity. Explain the difference between incompetency
27:40
Speaker 1: and insanity, Ken Well, The difference is simple. Incompetency is
27:44
Speaker 1: really a free trial issue. And what they're going to
27:47
Speaker 1: look at is does this guy understand the nature of
27:50
Speaker 1: the proceedings against him, the potential consequences he might face,
27:53
Speaker 1: and can he render meaningful assistance to his defense counsel
27:57
Speaker 1: in proffering a defense in this case? Now to pre
28:00
Speaker 1: trial concerned and if that's the case. If he is
28:03
Speaker 1: deemed incompetent, they will have to try and bring him
28:05
Speaker 1: into competency. You will have to receive mental health treatment
28:08
Speaker 1: so that he can go forward and knowingly and intelligently
28:11
Speaker 1: assist in his defense. Now, as for insanity, that is
28:15
Speaker 1: the defense, that is the ultimate issue in the case.
28:17
Speaker 1: And to prove to proper an insanity defense, what you
28:20
Speaker 1: have to do is establish that at the time of
28:23
Speaker 1: the incident that this person did not know that his
28:26
Speaker 1: actions were wrongful by cause of mental defect or disease.
28:30
Speaker 1: According to w SETTV, they have found a criminal complaint
28:35
Speaker 1: from a neighbor of Bernard, who tells police that before
28:38
Speaker 1: she heard the gunshots coming from the victim's home, the
28:41
Speaker 1: suspect came to her home and punched her in the yard.
28:45
Speaker 1: She also reports that she found the body of Jane
28:49
Speaker 1: Bernard to grandmother in the driveway of the home. It
28:54
Speaker 1: sounds like he went on a killing spree. So what
28:58
Speaker 1: does that tell ye, doctor Michelle Dupree if one body
29:03
Speaker 1: was out in the driveway. As far as how the
29:06
Speaker 1: murders went down, Nancy, the fact the one being in
29:10
Speaker 1: the driveway, somebody would have heard this farsh whether it
29:13
Speaker 1: was a person in the driveway or whether it was
29:14
Speaker 1: victims in the house, the other people would have heard
29:17
Speaker 1: all of this coming on. And it also tells me
29:19
Speaker 1: they weren't all killed at the same time, because apparently
29:23
Speaker 1: the grandmother, John Bernard, must have been running from the
29:26
Speaker 1: home when she was murdered in the driveway, So they
29:30
Speaker 1: weren't all three killed at once exactly. And again that's
29:34
Speaker 1: just going to instill fear and the rest of those
29:35
Speaker 1: who heard all of it. I'm just trying to think
29:37
Speaker 1: this through regarding any potential motive, and again leave a page.
29:43
Speaker 1: Still no idea about motive. Nancy. I'm just reading some
29:46
Speaker 1: search warrants from his cell phone, and I just found
29:49
Speaker 1: out that state police investigator, and I'm reading from a
29:52
Speaker 1: search warrant, has searched social media sites and discovered a
29:56
Speaker 1: post from Matthew Bernard indicating that he was going through
29:59
Speaker 1: a divorce and to quote, never underestimate a Bernard, So
30:03
Speaker 1: he was going through a divorce at the time of
30:06
Speaker 1: that these killings happened, It says State Police investigator Matthew
30:11
Speaker 1: Wade has searched social media sites and discovered a post
30:14
Speaker 1: from Matthew Bernard, indicating he was going through a divorce
30:17
Speaker 1: and to quote, never underestimate a Bernard. He made a
30:20
Speaker 1: post on social media with that caption. You know, I
30:24
Speaker 1: find that really hard to believe Leavi page, because this
30:27
Speaker 1: is a team that lives in this home. But court
30:31
Speaker 1: documents may very well reveal possible motive in a triple
30:35
Speaker 1: homicide last month, triple homicide in Pennsylmania County. The team
30:41
Speaker 1: charging the murders of his mother, sister, and nephew has
30:44
Speaker 1: just been in court for an arrayment. He's officially charged
30:48
Speaker 1: with three counts of first degree murder and three counts
30:51
Speaker 1: of use of a firearm during commission of a felony.
30:53
Speaker 1: But according to court documents, his cell phone may contain
30:57
Speaker 1: information identifying a motive. I'm looking at the affidavits right
31:03
Speaker 1: now and that's exactly what it says. Information in the
31:07
Speaker 1: phone may contain information identifying a motive for the shootings.
31:12
Speaker 1: At the time he was apprehended, he was naked and
31:14
Speaker 1: not possession in possession of his phone. We have now
31:17
Speaker 1: found out it was in the front yard, of course.
31:21
Speaker 1: Matthew Bernard arrested after sheriff's worn of a dangerous gunman
31:25
Speaker 1: on the loose upon finding the bodies of Joan Bernard,
31:29
Speaker 1: Colin Bivens, a baby, and the mom, Emily Bivens, all
31:33
Speaker 1: this going down around seven thirty in the morning. To
31:39
Speaker 1: John Cardillo, former NYPD, you know, multiple murders typically do
31:44
Speaker 1: not happen first thing in the morning. Do you agree
31:47
Speaker 1: or disagree? No? I agree. Look, well, murders could have
31:50
Speaker 1: been any time of day. But everything about this case
31:52
Speaker 1: is atypical, from the fact that the family seems really
31:55
Speaker 1: well adjusted, church going, clearly nurturing. If one of the
32:00
Speaker 1: sons or why should say son in law is making
32:04
Speaker 1: it to the major leagues, but clearly the wife is
32:07
Speaker 1: going to gravitate toward a good guy because she had
32:10
Speaker 1: a good upbringing. Nothing about the case makes sense. We
32:13
Speaker 1: heard from the uncle they have law enforcement members in
32:16
Speaker 1: their family. Then see, I'm with you, Nancy, and that
32:19
Speaker 1: I'm not entirely convinced that this guy wasn't in a
32:26
Speaker 1: solid frame of mind. It looks to me like he
32:29
Speaker 1: did hide clothing. Again, just running on gut feeling. Here,
32:34
Speaker 1: the way I would approach the investigation. He hid clothing,
32:37
Speaker 1: he had very unusual to me is that he did
32:40
Speaker 1: the dog in a different way than he killed the people.
32:42
Speaker 1: So there was something else at work here, But there
32:47
Speaker 1: was there was a very cognitive way in which he
32:50
Speaker 1: went about murdering these people. And he used by all accounts,
32:55
Speaker 1: to thirty thirty rifle, the typical old school lep action
32:58
Speaker 1: dear rifle typically chambered in that cartridge. Very powerful, right,
33:02
Speaker 1: it's made to take down good size game. To shoot
33:06
Speaker 1: a fourteen month old with that rifle, it's a whole
33:09
Speaker 1: another level of complexity to this case. You know, you're right.
33:13
Speaker 1: They did find Authorities found a white T shirt, blue sweatpants,
33:16
Speaker 1: Nike shoes one mile from the Bernard's home where the
33:20
Speaker 1: murders took place, and they were hidden in a wooded area.
33:23
Speaker 1: They were found the next day. We've learned from police
33:26
Speaker 1: AffA Davis, the clothing did appear to have red stains
33:30
Speaker 1: and what they believe were particles of human tissue on
33:35
Speaker 1: the clothes. To me, getting rid of the bloody clothes
33:39
Speaker 1: shows intent that you knew what you did was wrong.
33:45
Speaker 1: We also know that they are looking at digital data
33:48
Speaker 1: contained within the cell phone, including voicemails, call history, electronic messages,
33:53
Speaker 1: social media activity, the historical cell phone location data. What
33:59
Speaker 1: more do we know? Videos, pictures, call Watt's text messages,
34:03
Speaker 1: browser information, digital storage. All that information may lead to
34:10
Speaker 1: a motive and Levi was right. State investigators have searched
34:14
Speaker 1: social media sites and found posts from Bernard indicating he
34:19
Speaker 1: was going through a divorce. It shows him holding his nephew. Now,
34:25
Speaker 1: what is he talking about going through a divorce right now?
34:30
Speaker 1: Trying to make sense of it all to Ken Balkan
34:34
Speaker 1: New York criminal defense attorney, do you believe that he
34:38
Speaker 1: can be found mentally fit to stand trial just as
34:42
Speaker 1: to incompetence. Well, it's going to be an issue for
34:45
Speaker 1: the judge and they're going to have to figure out
34:47
Speaker 1: does this guy understand the proceeding? Can you under meaningful
34:50
Speaker 1: assistance to his counsel during the proceeding? And the question is,
34:53
Speaker 1: at this early stage, no one really knows, except for
34:56
Speaker 1: his defense counsel, who has probably been having very significant
35:00
Speaker 1: sessions with The more interesting question is whether or not
35:03
Speaker 1: they can successfully proper an insanity defense in my opinion,
35:07
Speaker 1: because this set of fact seems to lend itself more
35:10
Speaker 1: to that sort of theory than any other set of
35:12
Speaker 1: fact I've seen recently. You know, this guy was a
35:15
Speaker 1: seemingly upstanding citizen, murdered three members of his family and
35:18
Speaker 1: a dog, and is running around naked, and had reported
35:22
Speaker 1: hearing voices prior to this. He probably does suffer from
35:25
Speaker 1: some sort of severe mental illness, and it's well known
35:27
Speaker 1: that the onset of schizophrenia is usually late seams for
35:30
Speaker 1: alas one, we wait as justice unfalls. Nancy Grace Crime
35:35
Speaker 1: Story signing off goodbye friend,