On Tuesday, the life of minor league baseball pitcher Blake Bivens changed forever after 18-year-old Matthew Thomas Bernard murdered his wife, son, and mother-in-law in southern Virginia.
Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor announced on Wednesday that Bernard has been charged with a triple homicide.
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24-year-old Bivens is a pitcher for the Montgomery Biscuits, a Class AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Biscuits’ CEO Lou DiBella announced on Tuesday that they would be canceling the team’s doubleheader “due to a tragic event within the Biscuits family.”
Yesterday Bivens broke his silence, releasing an emotional public statement on Instagram.
“Two days ago my heart was turned to ash,” Bivens wrote alongside a picture of his wife Emily, one-year-old son, and mother-in-law. “My life as I knew it is destroyed. The pain my family and I feel is unbearable and cannot be put into words. I shake and tremble at the thought of our future without them.”
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He went on to write a heartfelt tribute to his sweet Emily, hailing her the “best wife and mother this world has ever seen.”