Tampa Bay Rays prospect Blake Bivens’ wife, one-year-old son and mother-in-law were all murdered in a triple homicide in Keeling, Virginia on Tuesday. Bivens’ brother-in-law, Matthew Bernard, 19, has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, reports WSLS-NBC 10.
Bernard, a student at Danville Community College, allegedly killed his mother, sister, niece and a dog in Pittsylvania County Tuesday morning.
Police were alerted to a possible crime in progress when a neighbor called 911 and reported that they believed someone had been shot.The first responding officer, who reportedly arrived at the scene within 12 minutes of the 911 call, found a woman’s body in the driveway of the home. The other two victims were found dead inside the house.
Tuesday afternoon, as police and local media prepared for a press briefing, Bernard appeared, running from the woods naked.
A neighbor told 10 News the suspect looked nervous and frightened. She said she saw the suspect run out from behind her house toward Keeling Baptist Church. She said he was naked and deputies tried pepper-spraying him, but, she said, he was unfazed. She said she saw him choke someone at the church. Deputies then hit him with batons and arrested him, she said..
Bernard was finally taken into custody when he ran toward a police road block and was subdued by a police dog. Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor told reporters that around 100 officers responded to the scene, including several Virginia state troopers.
Bivens, 24, is a relief pitcher in the Southern League for the Montgomery Biscuits, the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
— Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) August 28, 2019
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 28, 2019
A GoFundMe page has been created in support of Bivens and his family.
