Wife, Child and Mother in Law of Rays Minor Leaguer Blake Bivens Reportedly Murdered in Virginia
By Sam Dunn
The unspeakable has happened today. 18-year-old Matthew Thomas Bernard is in custody in Pittsylvania County, Virginia in connection with a horrific triple-murder Tuesday. Details are still coming in as to precisely what happened, but ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan reports that the tragedy struck the family of Tampa Bay Rays minor league pitcher Blake Bivens, who currently plays for the Double-A Montgomery Buiscuts.
His wife, son, and mother-in-law are reportedly the three lives lost.
Just an awful tragedy: The wife and child of Blake Bivens, a Double-A pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, were among three people killed in rural Virginia on Tuesday, sources tell ESPN. Police have charged Bivens' wife's brother with first-degree homicide.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 28, 2019
Passan indicates that Bernard is Bivens' wife's brother, a further chilling development in what is a roundly scary, awful story.
It's been reported that Bernard's own mother was the second adult victim.
Was withholding this information until it was shared, but I can indeed confirm what @JeffPassan reported: The wife, mother-and-law, and child of Blake Bivens, a Double-A pitcher in the Tampa Bay #Rays organization, were among three people killed by Bivens’ brother-in-law today.
— Andersen Pickard (@andersenreports) August 28, 2019
"A 911 call came in around 8 a.m. Tuesday, August 27 on Keeling Drive where officers found three people dead at a home; two females and a child. The sheriff's office said the suspect and the victims are related," wrote Ida Domingo, Elizabeth Tyree, and Laura Taylor of WSET news in Pittsylvania County earlier Tuesday.
Matthew Bernard was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
BREAKING NEWS: Matthew Thomas Bernard, 18, has been arrested on three counts of first-degree murder.https://t.co/4OVjvg9kkQ
— ABC 13 News - WSET (@ABC13News) August 27, 2019
At this time, there's no way to begin to reckon with the atrocity that's been committed here.
As we await the confirmation of further details, our thoughts are with Blake Bivens as he deals with the most awful of tragedies.