Transcript of Bad Romance: A Dangerous Game (Revisited)

This is Deborah Roberts. We're taking a few weeks off from new podcast programming on Wednesdays while we work on a new interesting series to share with you. So in the meantime, we're bringing back some of our installments from our classic series, Bad Romance. Here's this week's episode. Hey there, 2020 listeners. This is Deborah Roberts, co-anchor of 2020. We've got a new spinoff series we think you're going to want to hear, so we're making it available for you right here on our podcast.

It's called Bad Romance.

Have a listen. A couple in love building their family. A TV joke that goes viral and a murder that shocks a small town. So few clues, except a dim figure on a neighbor's video. Is it enough to point to a killer? Someone is playing a dangerous game. It begins with a crowbar, a fall of bullets.

I heard sirens, and the siren sound just couldn't stop.

And a ghost on a bicycle caught on camera.

It just boggles your mind.

Your call can now be completed as dialed.

That somebody could do that to another human being.

Someone planned this carefully, quietly.

Nobody had called the police to report the disturbance, loud noises, screaming, gunshots. No one was able to explain what happened.

And I was thinking to myself, Whatever happened, it's really bad. Somebody is very hurt.

You couldn't meet a couple with more going for them than Tim and Becky Bleefnik.

Becky was just so alive and bubbly. Tim was very charismatic, just They look like they had everything.

Really? All right.

Becky was blonde, bright blue eyes, and her face was just always lit up. She always looked happy. Why?

My sister, Becky, was a people person. She can walk into a room and talk to anybody, and they would be her best friend by the end of the night.

When I think of Tim Blevnik, he's fun to be around. He can talk about anything. He can find humor in anything.

Tim is always very goopy and very fun. Every time you saw him, he would run up and hug you and like, Hey, how's it going?

He's a performer, likes to put himself out there.

He was in a play. It was community theater. I was very impressed with his skills, just thinking like, wow.

He applied for American Gladiator in 2008 when they tried to bring that back. Each week, two men and two women will go head to head. He made it all the way up to the final cut. Tim's social media. It's funny and it's silly, and I think that that is a really good snapshot of what life was like with Tim as a dad.

The picture of a family man. You're doing good? Good job. Good job. Tim was also an all-around star athlete at his Catholic high school, grabbing headlines.

Tim, well known in the community, football standout, Hall of Famer at Quincy University.

Becky's big sister, Sara Reilly. What was your sister like growing up?

We were very close. We were 16 months apart. Our childhood was a lot of playing outside, catching toads in buckets, going fishing, riding bikes on a gravel road. She played tennis for Quincy University.

What did she study there? How did she do?

She studied biology. Right after college, she went into the pharmaceutical world. He was a a cycling broker, a great salesman.

Hard working and well liked. Tim and Becky are also very practical. Did they go on a honeymoon or anything like that?

They did not go on a honeymoon. Tim did not give Becky a ring prior to getting married because he wanted to buy a house. And Becky's very practical, so she went along with that.

Rachel, who prefers we use just her first name, says Becky and Tim shared common goals.

Like, Oh, we could go spend $15,000 on a wedding, or we could take that money and do something that will truly help us and get us further ahead.

Being a mother was her number one goal in life. Even though she had very specific career goals for herself, they were always countered by this desire to be a mom.

So she wanted to put family first.

Absolutely. Family always came first. She always wanted more kids. She originally wanted to be a doctor, but she didn't want to delay her life as a mom through the 7-12 years that it would take to be a doctor.

Tim was active in the CrossFit community in town. He competed in a lot of CrossFit competitions. That was a huge part of their life as a couple. I mean, you want to talk about the American dream, they had it.

With two sons born, Becky decides to pursue a new career, going back to school to become a nurse. She's still in pharmaceuticals, but as a nurse, she could bring in more money.

I don't even know if there's nights where she slept more than four hours. It was pedal to the metal all the time.

It's during this hectic time in the Blevnik household that Tim gets the idea to go on the game show Family Feud.

Tim was very excited to do it with his family, but Becky couldn't do it because of school.

Who went with him?

It was his two brothers, his mother and his father. Tim's family, Tim himself, they all like the limelight. Family Feud fit right into the mold of who they were. For a game show, they are looking for people that are going to be outlandish. It's part of the show. It's part of the show.

From Decatur, Illinois, It's the Bleefnik family.

The point of family feud, of course, is for families to answer a question and try to match how randomly surveyed people answer. And when host Steve Harvey asks, What was the biggest mistake What's the biggest mistake you made at your wedding? Tim Bleefnik's answer is unforgettable. What's the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?

Honey, I love you, but said I do.

To be fair, It was the second most popular answer. I'm going to get in trouble for that, aren't I?

It's going to be a lot of hell to pay at your house.

And there will be hell at the Bleefnik house.

There was a struggle. The door was damaged. The window had been forced open from the outside.

But inside their quiet small town home, police will find no prints and no weapons. But one of the belief mix is dead.

Hey, guys, it's Kamel Nandjiani.

My new stand-up special, Night Thought, is now streaming on Hulu.

I promise you're going to laugh.

I am an immigrant.

I am.

Are there any other immigrants here?

Okay, what you can't do is point at someone else. My Thoughts is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Terms apply. That wasn't my call. It was my call. Terms would not apply, but it's not my call. Terms apply. Friday, Avatar: Fire and Dash arrives in theaters. I am the fire.

Get your 3D tickets now for the greatest chapter of the biggest saga in history.

Whatever happens, protect this family. Critics rave. It's by far the best Avatar movie. If your father and I do not return, you go as far and as fast as you can.

Movies don't get any bigger than this. Avatar: Fire and Dash, rated PG 13.

Get tickets now.

Inside Tim and Becky Bleefnick's home, Something unspeakable has happened. Behind broken windows, a killer has left shell casings in the hall and a body upstairs. How could something like this happen here in Quincy. Quincy, Illinois, isn't known for its high crime rate.

Violent crime is very rare.

I grew up here in Quincy, and I can tell you that it was never a situation where you ever felt unsafe.

For many, Tim and Becky included, Quincy is an ideal place to build a life, raise a family. It's a small city, proud of its sense of community.

It's hard to not fall in love with Quincy.

It was home of one of the Abraham Lincoln and Steven Douglas debates.

This is one of the sites of the underground railroad.

It really is small town America. Most people in Quincy know everybody in the community.

And they know Tim and Becky Bleefnik. Nice family, nice neighborhood, nice house.

It was a block from where the children went to school, which a Catholic school, has a church right there. Very nice area.

But little kids, a working dad, and a mom who's now pregnant with their third child also has a job and is finishing her final year of nursing school, it's beyond exhausting.

You want to go down there? No.

Things started to go downhill between her and Tim because with Becky having to dedicate herself to her studies, he had to pick up the slack.

Becky was a very faith-filled person. Her faith encouraged her to stay married.

Becky was the one to make the sacrifices. She cut her hours to part-time so she could, quote-unquote, meet needs in the household. She was willing to sacrifice her own happiness, really for the stability of the family.

And then comes the family feud appearance. The local family, and national attention.

Tim Bleefnik and some of his family members travel to LA to be one of the featured families on the popular game show. There is a watch party at Rivalry in Quincy Wednesday morning.

That was a really big deal around here in a positive way. You don't see many people from our area make it to the national stage on a show like that.

The station asks him about Steve Harvey, the show's host.

His suit line is very nice.

He has a bunch of different ones that he wears for every episode, even though they take several in a row. And so if he finds a snazzy dresser when people really want to dress to impress to be on the show, he relates to that. Then the feud episode airs. What's the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?

Honey, I love you, but said I do.

As it turns out, Tim really means that answer. In just a matter of months, divorce is in the air. The Blefnik family's three-episode Stent on Family Feud earns them over 20 grand. Which the five family members who competed will split. That doesn't include Becky.

It was the separation of this is mine and not yours, and we're not a team on this. I think that's the part that really got to her.

Tim is the one who files for divorce, not Becky.

Seemed like once he had decided that's what he wanted, it was just steadily moving towards that direction.

They finally separate married in 2021. What did that mean for Becky?

I think she was relieved when he finally filed.

Tim moves out into a home just a few blocks away. Now on her own in the house that she and Tim used to share, Becky's trying to move on.

She had an acquaintance that she was dating.

Becky and her new boyfriend, Ted Johnson, they have a lot in common. He also works in health care, a director of cardiac services.

The In the last several years, she had gone through so much, and Ted made her happy.

Their relationship was never public because Becky was still in the process of the divorce, and she didn't want to muddy the waters in any way.

Becky tells her friends that she's increasingly worried about Tim, about the children.

I just remember her telling me over and over again, She's like, Our kids are so young. What is this going to do to them?

There was a divorce proceeding, a contingent divorce divorce proceeding that was taking place.

He was extremely resistant to any type of co-parenting.

Maximizing his time with the boys was his ultimate goal. He wanted to spend as much time with his kids as he possibly could, as did Becky, as do most parents.

They can't agree on custody arrangements, and then their legal filings. Both Tim and Becky ask for orders of protection.

Becky's document claims that Tim threw a tray of food across the room in front of their toddler, punched a hole in the wall, and even went into her yard to cut down her favorite maple tree.

When did she first communicate to you that she felt fear for her own safety?

Becky sent my husband and I a text stating that she was fearful of Tim, of what he would try to do.

Becky writes, If something ever happens to me, please make sure the number one person of interest is Tim. I'm putting this in writing that I'm fearful he will somehow harm me, come after me, or will try something to me that takes me away from the kids.

In Tim's request for an order of protection, he makes claims of his own.

He claimed that Becky was harassing him.

He says that Becky made a scene at their son's school during curriculum night, chasing him to grab a document even pounding on the door of his car as he tried to drive away.

A judge denies both requests, Becky's and Tim's, because the court finds there isn't enough evidence and there are no physical threats.

When you grant a protective order or a restraining order, the court is limiting the rights of one of the parents in one of these things. They really infringe on the rights of parents, and judges are very reluctant to start granting those in bitter divorces.

The boys are going back and forth from Becky's house to Tim's house. One weekday in February, they spend the night at their dad's while Becky is staying at her home alone. But broadly, Becky doesn't show up at the end of their day.

The fact that she didn't pick her children up from school was unprecedented. It just wouldn't happen.

That's when alarms start going off for everyone.

I instantly felt like something was wrong.

Tim just hadn't gotten any reply from Becky via text message that he had sent her.

When she didn't pick them up from school, Tim contacted her father.

Tim texted his father-in-law Bill. Did he know where Becky was? Could he go over and look for her?

Becky's dad went to her house, and the door was open. I was sitting on my couch at home. I heard sirens, runs about 3: 15. The sound just kept to stop.

Quincy police are currently conducting investigation after finding a dead body Thursday afternoon. Becky Bleefnik is dead. Lying face up in the second floor bathroom. Such an ordinary place and such a disturbing picture of the last minutes of Becky's life. They find some bullet casings and no fingerprints, no murder weapon. But there is one strange detail from the night before. On a neighbor surveillance video, almost a shadow, a ghost appearing in the long hours after midnight. Is it somehow connected? Is it Becky's killer? Under cover of darkness, Becky Blevnik's killer managed to pull off a murder without attracting any attention.

Becky was home alone. Clearly, somebody had gone into this house and had done this and then had left. And nobody had called the police to report the disturbance, loud noises, screaming, gun shots.

She had been shot 14 times through her hand and a lung, and a paralyzing shot in her spine.

We learned that she didn't die right away. After she was shot, that she would have survived up to a couple of minutes. And to just be left in her bath bathroom like that, it just boggles your mind that somebody could do that to another human being. It was very clear that something significant had happened at this house, and immediately we went into major crimes mode. It really was an all-hands-on deck type of situation.

As they're piecing together the crime, police believe the intruder climbed up on the side of the house and onto the roof. They use something to pri a window open on the second floor. There's a footprint on the carpet inside.

If you go through the window, her bedroom is just a right, and then it's to the left. It's a very short walk down the hall. It appeared that the door was shut, and she was trying to run and hide from whatever was coming in at her.

She had tried to do something to thwart the attack. I would imagine that she was absolutely terrified. Her cell phone was found behind the bedroom door.

Becky attempted to call 911 and misdialed, and the call never went through.

The call can not be completed as dialed. Records show Becky tried making that emergency call at 1: 10 AM. Bare one minute later, Becky's killer flees through the front door and vanishes into the night.

Quincy Police Department continues to investigate the shooting death of Rebecca Blefnik.

We started to look back and try to find surveillance video of the area around Becky's house. We found surveillance video from the day of the murder.

We had found video that showed an individual riding a bike. The detail was very grainy.

There's no way to make an ID. The figure just seems to dissolve away into thin air. But that video does show between 1: 00 and 2: 00 AM, the night of murder, someone is riding a bike to the streets surrounding Becky's home. Just hours before on the same night, Becky is texting with her new boyfriend.

How's your evening going?

Fine. Just doing laundry and paying bills. Ted Johnson, he was one of the last people to have contact with her. Last person to stay with her.

I just got back to my house.

We then talked to Ted. A nine millimeter handgun was what was used to kill Becky. We learned that he did not have access to a nine millimeter handgun, that he didn't own one.

We, obviously, as part of the investigation, downloaded Becky's entire phone and reviewed the messages that Becky had with everybody.

We found the text messages that she had sent to Ted that night. There was no indication in their messaging that there was anything going on. Ted Johnson was eliminated as a suspect because there There was nothing there that would point in his direction. At that point, we're going to focus our investigation on another person.

Focus on the person in that text that said, If something ever happens to me, please make sure the number one person of interest is Tim.

Police performed a search warrant at Tim's house, and Tim is Becky's estranged husband. They found some shell casings, a crowbar, and they took shoes. They also have in his laptop, computer, and cellular phone.

Tim was compliant when they served the search warrants and was respectful and did exactly what he was told to do. He didn't talk to the police. He didn't have to talk to the police.

The initial investigation, I think, took longer than anybody wanted it to because the community wanted answers. Of course, we wanted to identify a suspect and make an arrest, but there's no rushing the initial investigation.

With no arrest yet for Becky's murder, Quincy is now in town locking its windows and doors and asking one basic question.

Is this going to happen to someone else?

Now streaming, go behind the scenes with Taylor Swift.

Disney Plus invites you to experience a streaming event for the eras.

I wanted to give something to the fans that they didn't expect.

And we're going to do everything in our power to blow your mind. Don't miss the exclusive six episode docuseries. This is the biggest challenge we've ever done.

Tonight, we complete that challenge.

The end of an era.

First two It's now streaming only on Disney Plus. The NBA is happening Christmas Day. Five games, one Unforgettable lineup. That's what Christmas is all about. Buckets for breakfast, breakaway for dessert. It's the holiday tradition.

Christmas all day. With star power from across the globe.

The stars, they are going to be out.

The best gift, you don't even have to unwrap it. We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Nba Christmas begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN.

Our entire city was on edge because no one was able to explain what happened.

After the murder of Becky Bleefnik, the days go by slowly in Quincy, Illinois, and the police aren't talking until After about two and a half weeks of investigating the tragic death of Rebecca Bleefnik, Quincy police arrested her estranged husband. Tim's mug shot is a stark contrast to the clean-cut man in family photos. He's put in jail, and that's right where investigators want him. They're afraid he'll run and take his sons.

Early on in the case, we decided we wanted him held without bond.

I was pushing Josh that we need to hold him without bond because I didn't want anything to happen to those boys. I didn't want them to be gone from Quincy. Do you understand your rights in this case?

Yes, sir. Not guilty, Ms. Snott? Yes, sir.

So after pleading not guilty, Tim stays in jail. The prosecutors are now rushing to prepare their case because Illinois state law requires a trial within 90 days for any suspect denied bond, even in a murder case.

The idea that we're going to do a trial in 90 days was incredibly Very scary to me.

In my career, 17 years in Homicide, I never even heard of a murder trial going from investigation to arrest to trial as quickly as this one. But for Tim Glefniks defense attorney, this is great. Casey Schnack knows that prosecutors are now under a tremendous amount of pressure, and she's just fine with that.

Giving them any more time would only give them an opportunity to firm up their case, and we didn't want to give them the opportunity to do that.

Given the amount of complex evidence in this case and how they had to connect all the dots in that short amount of time was extraordinary. A1 of the murder trial for Tim Blevnik.

Tim and Becky's divorce, which, by the way, was never finalized, is a big part of the prosecution's case. Her divorce attorney testifies that when Tim moved out of their house, he took a handgun Becky owned.

What did she say about why she wanted that firearms? She wanted it for protection. Protection from who? Her husband, Tim Blevnik.

A judge had ordered Tim to return the gun to Becky. But just two weeks before the murder, Tim calls the Quincy police.

He said, My name is Tim Bleeknik.

Did he go on to say why he was calling the police because he had a gun that he needed to return to his house.

He did. He said that he did not I'm going to give it to that crazy bitch.

Tim never returns that handgun to Becky. It's a nine millimeter, the same caliber as the gun that's used to kill her, but they can't find Becky's gun. In fact, they can't find any gun they can point to as a murder weapon. But they do have those two sets of shell casings, one from the murder scene and one from Tim's house.

You almost got to heard a pin drop in the courtroom was when they were talking about how several shell casings found in his house were fired from the same gun as shell casings from the crime scene that were discovered.

The defense says there's no way to prove it was Tim who fired those nine millimeter bullets since that gun is missing.

The only thing we know is these shell casings match these shell casings, but we don't know where they came from.

Then the focus turns to those neighborhood surveillance videos showing that ghostly figure, the one on the bike in the middle of the night. We can't know from looking at the video if it's Tim Blevnik. But here's the main point. That bike, that person, was seen on numerous surveillance cameras on a number of nights, which prosecutors say adds up to a disturbing pattern.

According to prosecutors, it all starts on Valentine's Day, February 14th, and again on February 21st, and then again on February 22nd, and the last time is February 23rd, which is the night that Becky is murdered. And they point out that those dates and times match up with something else.

Whenever you see a person on that bike, whenever you saw a person on video at Becky's house, every single time that person is seen on the bike or in her yard, Tim's computer is not being used. His cell phone is locked and it's not being used. That's how you can tell it was Tim Blefnik.

But Tim's attorney points out that nobody they question actually He recognized Tim in the videos. Not in the yard, not anywhere. And prosecutors are just chasing phantoms.

We don't know if it's a man or a woman. We don't even know if they're taller, they're short, if they're fat or they're skinny. We know that there's a person on a bike, and nobody can say anything beyond that. You were unable to recover any fingerprints that were able to be linked to Timothy Blevonet, correct?

I was unable to find any suitable prints at all.

The crowbar was not a match. The footprint impression was not a match. They did not recover any of Tim's DNA or fingerprints on any of the shell casings that were found at her house. And so as far as the forensic evidence is concerned and the types of evidence that juries really like to hear, their case was really lacking in that regard.

So far, there may not be a ton of physical evidence against him, but this is where the trial really starts heating up. Prosecutors introduce evidence about Internet searches conducted on Tim's phone and Tim's laptop.

There were searches that were eerily similar to our crime scene. For example, he searched, Can I open a door with a crowbar if I lock myself out.

And searches like average police response time in Quincy, and how to make a homemade pistol silencer.

The most chilling one was, Can I just wash gun powder residue off my hands.

Tim's attorney says not so fast. Prosecutors can't even prove Tim made those searches.

He has kids at home. Are they getting curious? Are they looking up things about guns on his phone? They couldn't tell us when these searches were made. We didn't have a day, we didn't have a year. We didn't have a time.

But the prosecution isn't done yet. There's one last piece of evidence, one more discovery from Tim's computer. Will this be enough evidence to convince the jury that Tim Blevnik is a killer?

A case like this, this obviously drew national attention.

A murder trial resumes today for a man who once appeared on the game show Family Feud.

At local station, K-HQA, the story of Tim Bleefnik dominates their website's traffic.

One of the most searched things in the search engine was Tim Bleefnik Family Feud. There's a lot of interest. So they brought in a fair amount of people there.

With just 90 days to prepare and not much direct evidence, the prosecution's case against Tim Bleefnik is not a sure thing.

Mr. Jones, you may proceed.

And that's when the prosecution reveals a late-stage smoking gun. Sorts. But in this case, it's not actually a gun. It's a bike.

A big talk The point during Thursday's testimonies in the Blefnik murder trial was centered around a bike and-Turns out, Tim Blefnik had a Facebook account under the name John Smith, and John Smith was looking to buy a bike.

He found two.

The listed title was changed to Soul Isn't Her, Schwinn Mountain Bike. Yes. Did you also find a blue Schwinn mountain bike about a half a block from the defendant's Yes, sir.

The bike purchased by that John Smith is just like the one on that ghostly surveillance video, and this becomes really clear when the prosecution shows that they have done their homework.

There's no front reflector or rear reflector on that bike as well. No, there's not. On the video, you see the defendant riding a bike down the street, and when we looked at that bike, we noticed that the bike didn't have any reflectors on the wheels, and we were able to determine that because we had another detective ride a different bike down the street at the same time. And on that video, you could just see the wheels light up from the reflectors. They really went deep with this bike and to tie everything together. On February 23, 2023, the defendant rode a bike with no reflectors on it that he had bought on Facebook to Becky Blesnick's house. The defendant climbed up a chair in a purgola and on to Becky's roof. The defendant, pride, opened that window with a probar, just like he read on the internet. He shot her with a gun with a homemade silencer that he read about on the internet. When you go back and you look at all the pieces of evidence during this trial, the prosecution really did lay out everything of a timeline. After he executed Becky in cold blood and left her there on that bathroom, he went back to his house where police would later find 27 shell casings that exactly match the eight shell casings that were fired by the gun that shot and killed and executed Becky.

You may be thinking in your mind, Well, it's a circumstantial case. But the key word in circumstantial evidence isn't circumstantial. It's evidence.

The defense that circumstantial evidence isn't direct evidence. Nobody saw Tim do anything. No prints, no weapon.

Now, we talked about DNA. They did not find any of Tim's DNA on the bike that they think he wrote to commit this crime. They swabbed his car for DNA evidence. They found nothing. It's not Tim's crowbar. It's not Tim's footprint, and we don't have a witness. They want you to take away the presumption of innocence that all defendants joy, that Tim enjoys as he sits here right now. Look at Tim and ask yourself, what hasn't been proven?

The defense wraps their closing argument on the sixth day of the trial, and Tim Blefnik's fate now rests in the hands of the jury.

Prosecuting attorney Josh Jones says he was confident in the evidence presented, but he and Lord Keck were still unsure of what the jury would decide.

There's Never been a moment in our life that had more writing on a decision than that one.

One thing I always do when we're waiting on a verdict, once we get into the room and we sit down, I have prayers that I say.

The defense council, of course, hopes they've planted enough seeds of doubt. One juror is all they need.

You hope for a not guilty verdict. You hope that one person is not going to be convinced by a reasonable doubt.

It's the longest four hours of our life. Time went by impossibly slowly.

I was down in the basement reliving every mistake I made. For example, we were going to have a photo of Becky on the screen behind me when we were doing the rebuttal, and I forgot to do it. So I sat down and thought, if they find him not guilty because I forgot to press a button on a PowerPoint slide, how am I going to And has the jury reached its verdict? Yeah. Okay, and if you could hand that paperwork to the bailiff.

And that's it. That heart-stopping moment. Which side convinced the jury? Is somebody going to prison or is somebody walking out the door.

We are on the record on People versus Timothy Bleefnik.

When we were told there was a verdict, I looked at him and I'm like, We did our best. No matter what, we did our best to get justice for Becky.

Has the jury reached its verdict?

Yeah. Take me through the moment where the decision is read.

I feel like I didn't breathe for the entire time.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Timothy Bneiefnik, guilty of first-degree murder.

It was relief. It was really...

All right.

Hearing the juror say that, I crumbled. My husband actually physically lifted me up because I just crumbled with the weight of it. What have all of it.

What I'll never forget is Bill, Becky's dad. He was so stoic and so strong. I had never seen an emotional response from him. After Mr. Bleifnik was taken away, Bill came up to us and he cried. I think he was holding it together for as long as he could.

They said he did it, and I completely believe them. I just haven't been able to wrap my mind around it yet.

The trial lasted less than a week. His sentence, however, will last a lot longer. The heaviest sentence the court could impose.

Mr. Bleefnik, you researched this murder, you planned this murder, you broke into her house, and you shot her. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Times the court believes that the appropriate sentence would be natural life in prison.

Tonight, an Illinois man who once joked on TV about regretting his marriage has been given three life sentences for the murder of his wife.

It's three life sentences, one for home invasion, and two, for first-degree murder with a firearms.

One of the most poignant parts of murder trials is during the sentencing, the friends and family of the victim are permitted to stand up and make a statement. It's really their last opportunity to say something that the murderer is going to have to listen to, and they are far and away the most heartfelt and emotional part of any trial.

Your children's future will be forever impacted by your crime. They are already suffering. Maybe you should have googled childhood PTSD in between your Internet searches for homemade silencers and VIN numbers.

Luckily for the boys, they will get glimpses of their mom from Sarah for the rest of their lives. We should all hold ourselves accountable to a high expectation.

Friends and family want Becky remembered for who she was, not how she died. To remember her nursing school commencement speech.

Stop with your kids for 10 extra minutes. Take time to hold someone's hand and let them know they are important. Even though she was murdered, Becky didn't live life that way. She was this incredible capable, capable, amazing mom and friend, and she was a whole person before that.

You know your sister in one way. And since her death, so many people have reached out, and they've shared how much Becky meant to them in their own lives.

At her son's school, children honor their friend's mom with a rock garden. Sarah hopes her legacy extends beyond the Quincy community. She wants to be a reminder about verbal and emotional abuse, the treatment she says Becky told her she lived through.

In some ways, that type of trauma can be just as bad, if not worse, than batteries and punches and kicks.

So much of this tragedy lies in what might have been the new chapter she was beginning, dating, maybe even falling in love.

I met Ted for the first time at the funeral, and I gave him a hug, and I'm glad that she was able to get a glimpse of what could have possibly been true love in her life.

There's all those small reminders of these great plans, our dreams for the future, all of it. When you think you see Becky and she's not there.

Tim Bleefnik is appealing his case, but if the appeal fails, he will spend the rest of life in prison for Becky's murder.

That's the part I actually hope he lives with for a really long time, that he knows exactly what he has stolen from the world, not just her family and friends.

With their mom gone and their dad behind bars, where does that leave Becky's three boys? Right now, they're living with grandma and grandpa. Becky's parents have temporary custody.

My parents have dedicated did their life to raise them in a way that Becky would want.

Becky's sister sometimes imagines talking to her one more time and what she'd say.

Mostly that I love her, and I wish I could have done more, and I will take care of the boys. Probably try to share a laugh with her. Talk. To hear her laugh again. No.

Would be the greatest treasure. I want to do it.

You can watch fresh episodes of Bad Romance from 2020 on Monday nights at 10: 00 PM, right after the Bachelor. And of course, tune in on Fridays at 9: 00 for all new episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.