This has to be the most heartbreaking thing a person has to go through.
Tampa Bay Rays minor league pitcher Blake Bivens will need all the love he can get after his wife, 14-month son, and mother-in-law were senselessly murdered in rural Virginia.
Bivens jumped on social media for the first time since that terrible day and posted several pictures of his wife Emily, child Cullen, and mother-in-law Joan Bernard to go along with a heartfelt message.
“Two days ago my heart was turned to ash. My life as I knew it is destroyed. The pain my family and I feel is unbearable and cannot be put into words. I shake and tremble at the thought of our future without them.
Emily, my sweetheart, you are the best wife and mother this world has ever seen. You made me into the man I am today and you loved me with all of my flaws. You brought our precious baby boy into this world and made our family complete. Your love and kindness changed countless lives, including mine.
My sweet little boy, dada loves you so much! I can’t breathe without you here. I finally understood what love was when you were born and I would have done anything for you. You have changed my life forever, you are my reason why. I long to hold the both of you again in heaven. I’m so glad you are with all your Great-grandmothers now, I know they are eating you up. This earth did not deserve either of you; you were just too wonderful to comprehend.
Joan you were the best mother-in-law anyone could ask for. You loved your family more than anyone I’ve ever seen. You raised the most wonderful girl in the world. I’m so glad y’all are still together. You were the best Nana this world has ever seen and I will never forget you.
Skip you are a wonderful father and grandfather. We will get through this together as a family. We will not let the devil win!”
Charged with three counts of first-degree murder is 18-year-old Matthew Bernard, Emily’s brother and Joan’s son.
The 2014 fourth-round draft pick was on a road trip with the double-A Montgomery Biscuits when he received the terrible news.
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“I’ll never forget his face. He was scared,” Biscuits manager Morgan Ensberg said Thursday during a news conference. “He was nervous. He didn’t know what was going on. He couldn’t get in touch with his family and so we knew something was obviously wrong.”
“We put him in a car to go to the airport and three minutes later we found out what happened. I hopped in the car and went to the airport with him.”
Ensberg and 2 staffers flew with Bivens back to Virginia.
“It was awful,” Ensberg said. “Blake is an incredibly strong man. He’s an incredibly strong man, and he went through just a rotation of tearing up, and then he would shake and then he would just stare. I didn’t let him out of my sight.”
Court documents that were unsealed stated the victims were killed with a rifle and a sledgehammer, but no motive was given.
“According to the criminal complaint, Bernard’s rampage began at a neighbor’s house when he came to her home, punched her in the arm and then ran away.
The neighbor then heard multiple gunshots at the house next door, police said. The neighbor then drove to the house and encountered a body in the driveway.
An intense manhunt ensued, involving as many as 100 officers. Schools were locked down. A tank and an armored vehicle were brought in to Keeling, an unincorporated community near the North Carolina border.
Authorities said Bernard emerged naked from some woods hours later, running past TV cameras to a church parking lot, where he was recorded trying to choke a church caretaker.
An officer unleashed pepper spray and smacked Bernard with a baton before he was captured, officials said.
Bernard banged his head against the cage in a police vehicle after being taken into custody and was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. He was released and was in jail Wednesday, where he was being kept on suicide watch, police said.”
