He joked about his marriage on TV – now he has been convicted of murdering his wife

Timothy “Tim” W. Bliefnick was arrested in mid-March and charged with first-degree murder and trespassing on his estranged wife, Rebecca Bliefnick. She was found dead on February 23 with multiple gunshot wounds.

According to the Associated Press, her father found Rebecca shot to death at her home after she failed to pick up her kids from school and hadn’t heard from her all day. At the time of her death, the Bliefnicks were in the process of divorcing.

Tim is known from the American game show “Family Duel”. “What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made at your wedding?” host Steve Harvey asked “Family Duel” contestant Tim in an episode airing in 2020. Tim replies, “Honey, I love you, but ‘I do’.” This snippet has since gone viral over and over again.

The jury found guilty last week after hours of deliberation. The 40-year-old family man faces a life sentence during the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for August, Court TV reports.

Rebecca’s friends testified in court that she feared what her husband would do to her if he didn’t get what he wanted in the divorce. In a text to her sister on Sept. 20, 2021, Rebecca said her husband should be the “first person of concern” should anything happen to her.

On March 3 – a week after Rebecca was found dead – the couple are due to appear in court for a hearing on their divorce. The hearing should have addressed, among others, the following points:

Two days before her death, Rebecca wrote Tim a message asking him to keep the three sons with her for another day as she had not yet fully recovered from the surgery.

“When Becky sent that message, she was showing weakness toward a perpetrator,” Assistant District Attorney Josh Jones said in his closing argument. “He knew he would get a chance.”

Investigators suspected that the killer climbed up the side of Becky’s home, opened a second-story window, entered Becky’s bedroom, left a footprint, and shot her 14 times. The shots all came from the same gun.

In his closing arguments, Jones focused on the timeline of the crime. Investigators determined that Becky’s last outgoing call was made at 1:11 a.m. — it was a missed call to 911. They also collected surveillance videos from three different locations and found video footage of a person who had died after midnight on February 14, 21, 22, and 23. rode a bicycle toward Becky’s house and back.

While this person could not be identified with certainty, Jones said it was no coincidence that the cyclist’s videos coincided with times when Bliefnick’s fitness tracker and iPhone were locked. Jones said, “On the days when we don’t see the defendant on his bike, his WHOOP tracker is fine. The only gaps are when he’s on his bike and going to Becky’s house.”

The DNA and fingerprints found at the crime scene cannot be uniquely assigned to Tim. It could also not be determined whether the traces of a break-in match Tim’s crowbar.

Casey Schnack, Bliefnick’s attorney, said they planned to appeal and were “disappointed” with the jury’s verdict, but ultimately respected the decision.

(cmu)