Becky Bliefnick.Photo:Madeline Paige Photography
Madeline Paige Photography
Family Feudviewers were taken aback whenTim Bliefnicksuggested that the biggest mistake he made at his wedding was getting married.
Harvey stared deadpan at Bliefnick and the studio audience laughed, but back at home, no one — including Bliefnick’s wife, Becky — was surprised at his irreverent answer when the show aired in 2020.
“That’s just kind of how he was,” Becky’s sister, Sarah Reilly, 42, tells PEOPLE. “It was not really anything out of the ordinary.”
Shockingly, Tim wasaccused of killing his wife three years later, with viewers recalling his now-chilling answer.
On Feb. 23, 2023, Becky was found dead in the second-floor bathroom of the comfortable home where she still lived with the couple’s three young boys, ages 12, 10 and 6, after Tim filed for divorce in 2021.
Tim Bliefnick.
The 41-year-old nurse had been shot 14 times at close range. Tim was arrested in March and charged with her murder, on June 1, jurors found him guilty of murdering Becky and of home invasion. He is facing life in prison when he is sentenced in August.
Tim Bliefnick (with his back to the camera) getting arrested.J. Robert Gough/Muddy River News
J. Robert Gough/Muddy River News
Tim had told police his estranged wife was the victim of a violent home invasion. Prosecutors said otherwise, laying out key pieces of evidence tying him to her murder during his four-day trial in May.
They pointed out how authorities later found damning evidence — including internet searches on “how to break into a window with a crowbar” and how to create a homemade gun silencer.
They believe he attacked her in a jealous rage after spotting a car belonging to another man parked outside her house on Feb. 14.
It belonged to Ted Johnson, Becky’s boyfriend of several months.
Nine days later Tim returned with a gun and “looked in her eyes” before killing her, said Josh Jones, lead trial attorney for the Adam’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Tim Bliefnick.Mike Sorenson/Muddy River News
Mike Sorenson/Muddy River News
After the verdict, Jones told PEOPLE, “Nothing we did was going to bring Becky Bliefnick back. And at the end of the day, there are still three little boys who lost their mother in a violent and tragic way, and now they’ve lost their father.”
Becky leaves behind three boys, Deacon, 12, Greyson, 10, and Arlin, 6.
Becky Bliefnick and sons.Love’s Me Photography/Stephanie Haskins
Love’s Me Photography/Stephanie Haskins
“Becky loved her children more than anything,” Reilly tells PEOPLE.
“It’s impossible for us as adults to really wrap our heads and rationalize this situation because it is so far out of the realm of possibility,” she says.
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“So it’s impossible for a 6-year-old or a 10-year-old, or a 12-year-old, to grapple with the fact that their father murdered their mother. Ultimately, he’s still the only father they’ve known and the father that has been with them since they were born. So if we can’t understand it, they can’t understand it. It’s going to be a long road,” she says.
‘A Mother’s Love Never Dies’
Becky and Reilly grew up on a farm in a rural part of Quincy, Ill.
“We were rural kids,” says Reilly, an English teacher and librarian. “We used to go what we call the sand pit, 500 feet from our house where companies buy sand to make cement and stuff like that. We would swim in the sand pit and we would catch toads in our driveway. So we are very outdoorsy people and that’s the heart of who we became.”
Those skills came in handy when Becky ended up having three boys.
“Becky was very proud of being a boy mom,” says Reilly.
After Deacon was born, Becky left her job as a pharmaceutical rep to focus on raising him and later, Greyson and Arlin, full-time.
“She was always the mom in the crowd, taking photos of the kids,” says Reilly. “She was the one that volunteered whenever there was an opportunity at their school. She was just super involved in every aspect of their lives, and made sure they had every opportunity to engage in life in every way possible.”
Always extremely smart, Becky graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class and went onto study biology at Quincy University, where she met Tim.
“She always wanted to be in the medical profession,” says Reilly. “After college, she contemplated going to med school, but she also knew that her number one goal was to have a family. She knew that med school and a residency would be prohibitive for her career as a mom. So after Deacon and Greyson were born, she decided she wanted to go back to school to become a nurse. She actually graduated from nursing school on spring break of her graduation year, after giving birth to Arlin.”
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Becky’s longtime friend since kindergarten, Shannon Zanger, says, “When it came to her boys, Becky was incredible. Mom was the title she cherished most and she made sure they knew unconditional love. She worked tirelessly, but always managed to be everything the boys needed. She was the mom who did it all and made it look effortless — and if you knew her, you knew everything she did for them gave her joy.
“Every fall, we counted on seeing pictures of the boys proudly beaming while holding the elaborate back to school chalkboards she made. And then there were the many little moments that were just for them – silly traditions, cheering at games, and the hugs when she picked them up after school.
“Simply put, she poured her heart and soul into them. And when asked how she managed it all, she’d quickly tell you her three boys were her life-force. They gave her strength and purpose. She was so proud of those young men and they knew their mother’s love deeply.”Sara Murphy, one of Becky’s colleagues at Blessing Hospital, says that Becky “brought positivity and strength to everything she did. Even on crappy days, Becky lit up every room she walked into.”
Willing to learn and jump into any challenge, Becky “was the definition of a well-rounded woman. I hope to show her children the purity of their mama’s heart.”
The boys are living with Becky’s parents now. Reilly, who lives in New York State, checks in on them often.
“I miss Becky every day,” she says. “I still pick up my phone to call her. I choose to believe she will always be with us. We will all spend the rest of our lives making sure her boys know how much she loved them—how much she loves them still. A mother’s love never dies.”
In aGoFundMeReilly and her family set up for the boys, she says “our whole family will lovingly support and care for the boys for the rest of their lives in the ways we know Becky would want.”
source: people.com
