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Dateline NBC S32E10 Ghost Rider H 264
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00:09tonight on dateline she was panicking she said becky's dead becky's dead when somebody shot 14
00:17times that's significant this was a cold-blooded execution the entire city was shaken terrifying
00:27absolutely terrifying she's going through a divorce they both by all accounts were looking
00:34forward to getting the divorce behind them we learned that she had a boyfriend it's a big deal
00:40to look at any possible surveillance cameras this is the night of the murder yes it's a person on a
00:46bike in the middle of February there was a footprint by the window there's a person in the driveway
00:53multiple times that was the first time it really registered with her that she or her children could be in
01:00danger everybody had a theory nobody had any evidence to back any of that up there's no possibility of
01:08recovering from something like this it's a hole that will always be there it's a purgatory a Valentine's
01:16visitor in the dark a bike rider in the cold and murder in the heartland I'm Lester Holt
01:23and this is stateline
01:33here's Dennis Murphy with Ghost Rider
01:47a winter's night
01:51a cyclist pedals down deserted streets the clickety-clack of gears grinding
02:00the whirr of a tire on pavement the only sounds to pierce the silence in this small town
02:09security cameras lonely sentinels in the dark of night capture fleeting images of this ghostly rider
02:18here who was it where were they going on that February night and to what end
02:42here on a bluff above the Mississippi River mark twain country sits Quincy Illinois an apple pie slice of Midwestern
02:51Americana
02:54so this is a cool old house yes a small safe town where folks like Taylor and Taylor Hyman yep
03:00they're
03:00both named Taylor plant their roots and stay for the long haul like the house also like the neighborhood
03:05yeah oh yeah we heard nothing but good things about the neighborhood and that it was one of the safest
03:11in Quincy actually in the yard across the
03:14way is Becky yes yep Becky bleefneck their next-door neighbor a mother of three young boys and a nurse
03:21at Blessing Hospital here in Quincy
03:23single mother three kids yeah the kids came over and play with her dog sometimes and she would even know
03:29our front yard yeah
03:31friendly neighbors living in nice houses on a quiet safe street until it wasn't
03:39one morning the Hyman say they woke up to find their car had been broken into ransacked so they installed
03:47security cameras
03:50so the idea is if there's a prowl around this thing will tell you yeah the cameras send them an
03:57alert every
03:58time they're triggered which is what happened in the middle of the night on February 14th 2023 Valentine's
04:04Day one of the cameras captured a figure walking between the Hyman's house and Becky's could you
04:10recognize him Taylor if someone showed you a picture the next day so that's the guy my camera guy no
04:14I could
04:15not so it's just a figure moving in the dark Taylor says she texted Becky right away asked if she'd
04:21seen
04:21anything and she responded back about seven in the morning saying she didn't that night but about a
04:27month ago she thought she heard voices in her backyard and that she's been very paranoid the Hyman's posted
04:34a message on the neighborhood's Facebook page be on the lookout and then the security camera alerted again
04:42February 22nd caught person coming in so when you say coming in they're going yeah coming in
04:47in the driveway coming down our driveway from the road and then about 53 minutes later we saw a person
04:53leaving what was the prowler up to and what if anything did he or she have to do with what
05:00happened the very next day that unimaginable thing about five cop cars start rolling up with EMTs so I
05:09was wondering what was going on I didn't know until the cop came over and and let us know that
05:14she's
05:14passed she's passed she told you she was gone Becky Blefnick was dead it was her father who'd found her
05:23lying face up and bloody on her bathroom floor he called 911 was it perhaps a suicide when the officers
05:32got there it was readily apparent that that was not the case Quincy Police Chief Adam Yates heard his
05:39watch commander on the phone with the responding officers and that conversation included the words
05:45this is clearly not a suicide other phone calls were being made including to Becky's husband Tim
05:52Becky and Tim were separated and the boys were with him that night he would have to break the
05:57news to the children Becky's sister Sarah got a call from their mother she was panicking she said Becky's
06:03dead Becky's dead we don't know anything but Becky's dead and then she said I gotta go I'll call you
06:12you later which you know is uh terrifying absolutely terrifying the terrifying unknown what happened we're
06:25trying to figure it out because Becky was a healthy 41 year old mom there is no logical explanation for
06:34why
06:34she would be found dead in her home I guess you're thinking the usual things this is a botched robbery
06:39that
06:39goes wrong I didn't even think a robbery I it didn't even cross my mind but a botched robbery was
06:48very much on the mind of the phalanx of law enforcement that had descended on Becky's home including
06:55assistant state's attorney Josh Jones he and fellow homicide prosecutor Laura Kack were assigned the case
07:02I was actually in Laura's office and I got a phone call that there was homicide and they said gave
07:08me
07:08the address and my first response was where because that was not an address that nice houses nice lives
07:14good cars in the driveways not what not what you would expect so I drove out there it took about
07:18five minutes and a couple detectives met me at the door the prosecutor was led up the stairs and into
07:26Becky's bedroom you could see that that door to the bedroom was shut and person was trying to shut it
07:34and somebody kicked in that door or broke in that door with their shoulder and then you found her in
07:39the bathroom with her hands above her head and there were bullet holes in her hands this victim is fleeing
07:44in terror you could sense the fear that she must have felt who had pursued Becky in her own home
07:53and shot her dead it's always a puzzle it may be a puzzle that you buy for a two-year
07:58-old that has four
07:59pieces to it or in certain investigations it could be a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle where 25 percent of
08:06the
08:06pieces are missing and you don't have the box to look at the picture to see what it's supposed to
08:09be
08:10when you're finished anyway this one was shaping up to be one of those puzzles with plenty of missing
08:15pieces but maybe something at the scene would help reveal the picture it wasn't just a murder this
08:22was a cold-blooded execution
08:3941 year old mother of three Becky Blefnick was dead her sister Sarah consumed by grief how'd you get
08:47those first few days you know in between the moments of totally breaking down it was logistics that got
08:57us through being able to focus on small tasks we had to fly to Quincy investigators in Quincy were
09:07focused on the immense task of processing Becky's home I've been to lots of crime scenes before this one
09:15was different you could see that there was a concerted effort to be violent in this case
09:23the violence occurred in the bathroom off Becky's bedroom she was found there on her back we later
09:29learned she was shot 14 times 14 times was 14 times this is somebody delivering a message to shoot 14
09:35times is not you're just losing your cool this is you wanted that person dead what are the crime scene
09:43text find we found eight shell casings around the body that's helpful we knew that that was going
09:49to be important we found lots of little pieces of plastic around the body it seemed like they were
09:55parts of a plastic bag was it an attempt to silence the weapon wasn't an attempt to catch the shell
10:02casings so you got casings unexplained plastics what else is in there honestly at that point there
10:07wasn't a whole lot more investigators did find a footprint next to a broken second floor window
10:12that appeared to have been forced open the killer's likely point of entry rest of the houses have
10:18been tossed Josh any sign of valuables missing no there was no evidence of anything missing from the
10:23house it didn't appear that the house had been ransacked it really appeared from the very beginning
10:30that whoever broke into the house broke into the house with the express purpose of executing Becky
10:37an execution someone hated Becky enough to want her dead but to her family and friends that idea just
10:48didn't compute it wasn't possible to hate Becky Becky just naturally could get along with everybody that she
10:57met although Sarah who is 16 months older than her sister admits there was a time she may have been
11:05the exception we lived in a one bathroom house and that caused a lot of conflicts you know two
11:11teenage girls trying to share one bathroom it's not a pleasant sight joking aside Sarah says people
11:20were drawn to Becky she was just a likable kind funny person she was really quirky add to that
11:31determination compassion and a whip smart brain and you have all of Becky's qualities that good
11:37friend Shannon's anger knew so well we met really in first grade we would hold hands and walk up the
11:44giant steps and spent a lot of time together in those those early days just kind of navigating
11:49school and being away from our parents and it's nice to have a buddy yeah it is
11:56best buddies growing up in a small farm town outside Quincy pals all the way through high school where
12:03Becky was the valedictorian and then college where Becky played tennis and met her future husband Tim
12:09Blefnick a standout on the football team who would later be enshrined in the school's Hall of Fame
12:14Becky and Shannon were still tight as Becky started her career as a pharmaceutical sales rep
12:19Shannon became a labor and delivery nurse babies those had always been part of Becky's life plan
12:27according to her sister Becky always dreamed of a family and being a mother was her number one priority
12:38and when it came time for Becky and Tim to have children her friend Shannon the labor and delivery
12:43nurse was there you the first grade mates holding hands going up and starting life in school and
12:49now that you're delivering her child yeah how important was that to be able to be there and hold
12:55the hand of your friend as she meets one of her children is it's not something it's not something
13:02that you can put into words adequately but those happy times had a dark cloud Shannon had a child
13:10born six weeks before Becky's first son who became gravely ill so she's first learning motherhood and
13:18um I was dealing with you know my fourth baby being sick and Becky would be there for you absolutely
13:26she most definitely was tragically Shannon's child passed away but the experience of watching what
13:38Shannon and her family went through the care her son received and his spirit through it all inspired
13:44Becky to change careers and become a nurse Becky graduated from nursing school at the top of her class again
13:52I wrote this speech because I wanted my friends to know how much she and her son have affected me
13:56inspired me to be a nurse and challenged me to be a better person Becky was born for this role
14:03she has an innate quality that you can't teach in a nurse she wasn't just good at testing no absolutely
14:09not
14:10she did the important part the caring part it really was her calling she really provided comfort
14:18to people in their greatest time of need but sadly nobody had been there for Becky at her greatest time
14:27of need she was dead and what was left now was for the police to find her killer they were
14:35speaking
14:35with the neighbors a couple hours after the body was found that's when they came over and asked us
14:40questions the hymens told them about their security camera footage investigators were eager to take a
14:46look obviously with any investigation it's a big deal to look at any possible surveillance cameras
14:53there could be a solve for your case right absolutely I was like this could be awesome
15:12the murder of Becky bleefnik had left her neighbors like the hymens right next door reeling I was just
15:19nervous to be around in general with something happening so close to your home the hymens hope
15:26their surveillance cam video of the prowler outside their home could help police catch Becky's
15:31killer so did prosecutors Josh Jones and Laura Keck initially we thought we had surveillance video
15:39the night of the murder so we were my attention tell me more huh could be a solve for your
15:43case right
15:44absolutely I was like this could be awesome and then it turns out one the the camera angle was not
15:50good and two it was not the day of the murder it was the night before and you you couldn't
15:54tell who it
15:55was I would be hard-pressed to even say if it was a man or a woman the same was
16:00true of the image
16:01the hymens camera captured about a week earlier still it was a potential lead so detectives hit
16:09the pavement looking for more video it's kind of like finding a needle in a stack of needles a lot
16:14of times because a lot of folks have video surveillance now on their houses the detectives
16:19worked their way out from Becky's house knocking on doors of homes and businesses asking the same
16:25question over and over again do you have video cameras and did you capture anything you know around
16:31this particular time just to see if there's any additional evidence maybe of someone driving to and
16:35from or walking to or from or something like that the search paid off because something like
16:41that was exactly what they uncovered Laura there's a figure scene on somebody's video of a guy on a
16:48bicycle yes this is the night of the murder the night of the murder yes and you see the person
16:53riding
16:54the bike and then turn towards the direction of Becky belief next house and I will also say it's a
17:00person on a bike in the middle of February which it's very cold and just the circumstances alone yes
17:06and it's the middle of the night so I mean that part is very strange the bike didn't appear to
17:12have
17:13reflectors which made it hard to see but a few blocks away also on the night of the murder another
17:18camera picked up what appeared to be the same cyclist pedaling toward Becky's neighborhood and a short
17:23time later heading back how much information did the video give you could you tell short tall none of
17:31that all you could tell is there's a person riding a bicycle each video by itself is not super helpful
17:39but
17:39each video when it becomes part of the video before the video after is how these videos become that much
17:47more important the videos fit together to form an important piece of that puzzle
17:52investigators had a suspicious cyclist in the area on the night of the murder and as they kept digging they
17:58came
17:58across that same bike moving along the same route on two other nights and those sightings match right up date
18:05and
18:05time with the prowler in the driveway videos turned over by the hymens given the timing police now believe that
18:13the cyclist and the prowler were the same person and in all likelihood the person who killed Becky but they
18:20wouldn't be able to get an ID from the videos alone they didn't even know if they were looking for
18:25a man or a woman so they
18:27turned to Becky's inner circle they were actually reaching out to us giving us information you know
18:33you may want to talk to this person you may want to talk to that person they started to learn
18:38more
18:38about Becky and her soon-to-be ex-husband Tim they'd once come across as the perfect couple he was
18:44a big
18:44personality remembers Becky's friend Shannon kind of a name in town he was a star for sure yeah very athletic
18:53good-looking charismatic guy and she was pretty proud of him and you could tell that in the beginning
19:03I think they naturally gravitated toward each other and they complemented each other at that time in their life
19:11they married after college Tim was a successful salesman and the couple owned a trailer park and part of a
19:17CrossFit gym where Tim worked out regularly
19:20it made it easier for this salesman to pitch his favorite product himself he relished the spotlight
19:26literally taking center stage at charity events and appearing with his parents and brothers on the TV game show
19:34Family Feud where he basked in the laughs he got for one of his answers what's the biggest mistake you
19:40made at your wedding
19:41honey I love you but said I do saying I do was the biggest regret yeah I'm gonna get in
19:48trouble for that
19:49darn it and the audience eats it up they go crazy but back home Becky not so much says Shannon
19:56there
19:56was some truth in what he said she thought I think she felt it at that point and you think
20:01that's the
20:01beginning of the end from my perspective yes yeah Sarah says the marriage had been unraveling in part
20:11because Tim wasn't pulling his weight Tim was very much absent in home life and we used to say kind
20:22of in a joking manner but
20:24certainly not in a funny manner that Becky was a single married mother
20:33it was Tim who filed for divorce in 2021 moved out of the house the boys had been with him
20:39the night
20:40Becky was killed police of course would have to check out Tim but there was another man in Becky's
20:47life for the authorities to consider a new guy named Ted Johnson our detectives became aware of the fact
20:56that mr. Johnson and misbelief Nick had a relationship and they reached out to mr. Johnson Ted told detectives
21:04that he had stayed overnight at Becky's house on Valentine's Day February 14th you'll want to
21:09remember that and he was also there on the 21st two days before her body was found making him possibly
21:17the
21:17last person known to have seen her alive as for the night of Becky's murder Ted said he stayed home
21:24hadn't
21:25seen her that would have to be verified so we certainly explored that and we followed that path but that
21:33wasn't the only path they followed you must have known instinctively your guy was in trouble absolutely
21:38suspect number one
21:56the Quincy community was mourning the loss of Becky blief Nick loving mother and nurse extraordinaire
22:07there was memorial service at the hospital where she worked a ceremony by the Quincy nursing honor
22:14guard they present her Becky with white roses and ring a bell and say her name three times and then
22:24the nurses in the room stand up and we release her of duty officially and it was a beautiful beautiful
22:32thing and she deserves to be remembered that way she certainly does not deserve to be remembered as
22:41the victim of a terrible crime when the authorities were working double time to solve they knew Becky
22:49had that new man in her life Ted Johnson he had agreed to speak with the police he gives us
22:56appropriate
22:57answers he's cooperative with the police there's no evidence that he was involved there was no evidence of
23:03motive and so we start looking at a different path and focusing our efforts in a different path
23:10down a different path and on a different man Becky's estranged husband Tim blief Nick Tim handsome charismatic
23:19gregarious I can't say I blame the police for him being a suspect Casey schnock was Tim's divorce at the
23:27attorney at the time but she also handles her share of criminal defense cases you must have known
23:32instinctively your guy was in trouble absolutely suspect number one did you tell him it's gonna be
23:37bad I told him you need to keep your mouth shut and under no circumstances do you talk to anybody
23:43I
23:44spoke with one of the investigators that was on the scene that night and I told her that you know
23:49Tim
23:49wants to be helpful to the investigation but he needs to focus on his kids right now Tim's kids
23:57were also his alibi he says he was home with them on the night of the murder according to Casey
24:03and it
24:03was Tim who alerted Becky's father that something was off when he told him Becky wasn't responding to
24:09his texts about the boys Becky and Tim had been separated two years by then could they be civil with
24:16one another they could be they had gotten a lot of the ugliness out of their system by the time
24:23February rolled around and they both by all accounts were looking forward to getting the divorce behind
24:28them but investigators had pulled those divorce records and didn't like what they saw it's not
24:35only that she's going through this divorce but it's actually scheduled to go to court a week after the
24:41murder so it hasn't all been settled no in fact there were multiple issues that were contentious
24:47at that point they were fighting over the big two issues money and custody Shannon noticed it was taking
24:55a toll on her friend Becky the divorce is where she just looked sort of beaten down by the whole
25:02process
25:04the process had taken a particularly nasty turn when Tim filed for a protective order against Becky
25:10she followed suit with one of her own the dueling petitions laid bare a marriage in its death throes
25:18accusations flew back and forth of poor parenting verbal assaults harassment and rage filled destruction of
25:24property there were also accusations of pushing and grabbing but no documented physical injuries
25:30tim's attorney says it was all a lot of smoke no fire very common game play in a divorce in
25:37Adams
25:37County Illinois but there is no evidence in any court filings that I've ever seen that would suggest
25:43that he was abusive they both said things that they shouldn't have said during the divorce they both
25:48probably did things during the divorce that they could take back if they could Becky also filed for a
25:55protective order against Tim's father Ray she accused him in court filings of inappropriate sexual
26:02behavior with female members of Tim's extended family including minors accusations that had been
26:08floating around Tim's family for years she did not want ray belief Nick to be around her children alone
26:14and that was a very contentious issue and that of his father I want him near my kids yeah doesn't
26:19want
26:20him anywhere around the kids unsupervised Tim fiercely defended his father and Ray unequivocally denies the
26:27allegations allegations that nobody in the family ever brought to the attention of the authorities the
26:33protective order against Ray was denied same thing for the protective orders against Becky and Tim but the
26:40puzzle of Becky's murder was starting to reveal itself to investigators the bitter divorce had given them a
26:47string to pull a lead to follow and they began to think this former football star was hiding something
26:54behind his megawatt smile time to go back to those fuzzy pictures from the security camera another look
27:02at that biker on a cold winter's night
27:19Tim bleef Nick was used to being the center of attention from his college days as a hero on the
27:24football field to parties organized around that appearance on family feud and the comment that made
27:31some people wonder honey I love you but said I do but there were different sets of eyes on Tim
27:39now
27:40and they weren't looking to heap laughter and praise investigators were hearing that in the privacy of his
27:46own home the outwardly charming bleef Nick was a starkly different man domestic violence doesn't
27:52always manifest itself as the wife with a black eye does it it doesn't you know Tim can put on
27:58a show
28:00and that show did not play out in their household he was very emotionally abusive to Becky you know he
28:10was very very controlling Shannon remembers when Becky's third son was born as both nurse and friend she
28:18implored Becky to stay an extra night in the hospital to heal and her immediate reaction was I can't he
28:25won't
28:25let me we have to go home he won't let me we have to go home yes and after they
28:32separated friends and
28:33colleagues say Becky became increasingly worried about what Tim might be capable of she had made lots
28:39of statements to people about being scared of Tim that she thought Tim might do something to her
28:46according to Sarah Becky started telling her how scared she was after a nurse colleague of hers was
28:51murdered by her ex-partner I think that was the the first time it really registered with her that she
28:58or her
28:59children could be in danger but remember despite that very real fear Becky felt the judge denied her an order
29:07of
29:07protection against Tim the bulk of her allegations were not physical in nature and she had no injuries to show
29:14the law with regard to protective orders treats emotional and verbal abuse differently than physical
29:21abuse detectives decided it was time to take a look inside Tim's home they executed a search warrant
29:30one thing that we found was a box of shell casings spent shot spent shell casings investigators had
29:37eight shell casings from the scene seemed unlikely these would be a match and in my mind I was like
29:44there's no way there is no way that anybody would keep shell casings from a gun that he used to
29:52murder his
29:53wife the shell casings were sent to the lab for testing you never know investigators also found
30:00plastic shopping bags that looked similar to the shards of plastic found near Becky's body
30:06and we seized a computer and we didn't know what we were going to find on that
30:12something rather interesting it turns out
30:15so when we start looking at the laptop search history that is when we found the information where
30:23he was searching about Ted Johnson the boyfriend the boyfriend so Tim was researching his wife's new love
30:29interest that wasn't terribly strange but when he did it jumped out at investigators
30:36Ted Johnson had a Missouri license plate and in the middle of the night on February 14th at 1 10
30:43in
30:43the morning he starts searching information about how do I look up Missouri license plates
30:50Valentine's Day why was that important let's go back to those security videos and how investigators saw
30:57the picture finally coming together February 14th was one of the dates they'd spotted the suspicious
31:02cyclist going to and from Becky's neighborhood images that coincided with a prowler in the Hyman's
31:08driveway just after 12 30 a.m. and February 14th was the very same night the boyfriend told police he
31:15had
31:15stayed over at Becky's parked his car outside so was this Tim biking to his wife's house
31:24up to no good but then scared off by seeing a strange car with Missouri plates
31:30then biking home just before 1 a.m. the timing was just too perfect they thought had to be him
31:40because you see a person in the driveway see a person on the bike you see the person riding back
31:45and
31:46then at 1 10 a.m. he goes down the rabbit hole into these google searches and if Tim was
31:52the cyclist
31:53that night the theory went he had to be the cyclist the night of the murder as well and when
31:59investigators
32:00were poking around less than a block from Tim's house they found a bike ditched behind a garage and
32:08it didn't have any reflectors on it no reflectors just like the bike on video and there was that
32:15divorce court date coming up Tim was not only going to square off against Becky but also against members
32:21of his own extended family who were set to testify on Becky's behalf about those allegations against his
32:28father prosecutors believed it spoke to motive Tim's world was going to come crashing down in his mind
32:36the puzzle had finally taken shape the picture at least to prosecutors was clear on march 13th two
32:43and a half weeks after Becky was shot to death in her bathroom her estranged husband Tim Blefnick
32:48was arrested and charged with her murder were you surprised no no because nobody else
32:59would ever do something like that to Becky
33:04but there would be plenty of surprises ahead as the case barrel toward trial
33:09could the state put him in that house breaking in put the gun in his hand being the killer no
33:13they can't
33:29murder trials are complicated time-consuming affairs it can be years between an arrest and a jury hearing
33:36evidence in a case and preparing for one is no small feat so what prosecutors Josh Jones and Laura
33:44Keck were about to do was downright nuts so what's your shot clock what are you up against here 90
33:50days
33:5290 days they wanted no bail for Tim Blefnick and the judge agreed but in Illinois if a defendant is
34:00held without bond the state is required to bring the case to trial within 90 days
34:06we got 90 days to take this to a jury uh a ton of evidence still to come back from
34:11the lab the defense
34:12could have asked for a delay but Tim's attorney Casey Schnock chose not to so now you're both
34:17playing chicken against the clock huh oh yeah i dropped everything all hands on deck you like to make an
34:23opening statement remarkably both sides were ready when the trial began in may 2023 the last minutes of
34:30Becky Blefnick's life were not spent surrounded by family friends love the opening statement i started
34:38writing in my mind the moment you walked into that bedroom and you saw her lying on the floor
34:44now the last minutes of Becky's life were spent in fear and pain and terror
34:53the prosecutors presented all the evidence they'd assembled in that compressed time period
34:59they led the jury through the steps they believe proved Tim was the one riding the bike and lurking
35:04in the neighbor's yard on those security cameras they even told the jury how they think he got the bike
35:09we found that he had a a burner facebook profile at john smith we also found that the john smith
35:18was
35:18looking at this blue bike with no reflectors on facebook the bike for sale was strikingly similar
35:25to the blue bike with no reflectors found abandoned near Tim's house and there was more evidence on Tim's
35:31phone more suspicious internet searches his phone show searches for the following how to open my door
35:39with the probe how to make a homemade pistol silencer he is searching things like how to make a homemade
35:49silencer oh you're kidding prosecutors told the jury the plastic shards at the scene had perhaps been
35:57Tim's attempt to make a silencer using the shopping bags found in his home it all added up to Tim
36:04being the
36:04killer that was a good story that mr jones just told you a good story and a great theory admitted
36:13Tim's
36:13defense attorney except for one thing could the state put him in that house breaking in put the gun in
36:19his
36:19hand being the killer no they can't you know they have somebody going into that house and killing
36:24Becky i don't think they gave you Tim and what about the bicycle videos those were infuriating as an attorney
36:30because you don't know where that person's going you don't know if it's the same person on each
36:36occasion we don't know anything about that individual but it tells the story of a round trip
36:41bicycle ride to a gruesome murder well it tells the story of somebody riding a bike late at night
36:46so what do you call evidence like that when it's thrown up against you circumstantial at best
36:52and the motive that Tim was so angry over the way Becky was handling the divorce
36:56her accusations and demands that he plotted her murder his attorney told the jury that's just not
37:02true their divorce was winding down there was no reason that Tim had to do this he wasn't that angry
37:10he wasn't that mad why was his life going to be better as the prosecution saw with Becky dead on
37:15the bathroom floor i don't know things weren't terrible with her in the picture and by all accounts
37:21they were looking forward to moving on with their new lives but prosecutors had something they felt
37:27did tie Tim to the actual murder remember that box of shell casings found in Tim's house the 27 shell
37:34casings in his house exactly matched the shell casings that were around Becky they were fired by the exact
37:43same gun so the shell casings from the scene match shell casings taken from Tim's home but that's not a
37:50smoking gun according to his attorney because no gun was ever found we didn't have a murder weapon
37:55you know they said it was shot with the same gun but we don't know what kind of gun they
38:00never had
38:01you know a gun in Tim's possession that they could link to this murder the puzzle finally assembled but
38:08what picture did the juror see i think that was the most anxiety i've ever felt what if they find
38:17him
38:17not guilty after four hours of deliberation the verdict was in we the jury find the defendant timothy
38:26bliefnick guilty of first-degree murder it was pure panic and then utter relief
38:37tim bliefnick was sentenced to life in prison he told dateline he maintains his innocence and is
38:43appealing his conviction his future behind bars is of little comfort to sarah there's no possibility
38:50of recovering from something like this it's a hole that will always be there it's a purgatory
39:02but if sarah and her family are condemned to a type of purgatory
39:05she is determined to push so that other families don't join hers
39:10when we think of domestic abuse domestic violence we often think about oh well that happens to other
39:19people that happens to women who date the bad boys doesn't happen to you know the quintessential
39:29american family when we don't think that it's a possibility it becomes dangerous
39:39sarah says that even though the judge followed the letter of the law in denying becky's order of
39:44protection against him the system failed her sister by not seeing what was really going on
39:50the prosecutors in this case agree if there's not an act of physical violence where a judge can see
39:56a bruise or a broken bone it's much harder to get an order protection and i think there is such
40:01a
40:02um stigma for people when they're going through a divorce that if they claim domestic violence
40:08people assume it's just a divorce tactic so i think all of us can learn that we need to
40:13believe people and be able to help refer them to the right resources
40:19of course all of that's too late for becky and it won't change the fact that three young boys have
40:25effectively lost both parents living now with relatives and so sarah hopes people remember her
40:32little sister not for how she died but for how she lived as a mom who loved her boys and
40:41dedicated her
40:42life to making theirs and everyone else's a little bit brighter if anybody could know becky
40:51they would know her generous spirit i think you're proud of her always
41:03that's all for this edition of dateline we'll see you again friday at 9 8 central and of course i'll
41:09see you each week night for nbc nightly news i'm lester holt for all of us at nbc news good
41:16night
41:22you
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