An Illinois man who once made an eerie joke about his marriage on Family Feud has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars for the brutal murder of his estranged wife.
Earlier this year, 39-year-old Timothy Bliefnick was convicted of first-degree murder and home invasion in the fatal shooting of his 41-year-old wife Becky Bliefnick. The couple, who shared three children, were in the final stages of a contentious divorce when Bleifnick pried open his wife’s second-storey window with a crowbar and shot her dead on 23 February.
Roughly six months after the killing, Bliefnick was sentenced to three life terms at a hearing on Friday. As he handed down the sentence, Adams County Judge Robert Adrian counted to 14 — the number of bullets that Bliefnick unloaded during the attack.
“You researched this murder,” Judge Adrian said, according to People. “You planned this murder. You practised this murder. Some of those shots were fired while she was lying on the ground and you did all of that while your children were upstairs at your house, lying snug in their beds.”
The sentencing comes three years after Mr Bliefnick made an ominous joke during an appearance at ABC’s Family Feud. Answering a question by host Steve Harvey on what his worst mistake had been on his wedding night, Mr Bliefnick said that it was saying “I do” — the answer was second on the board.
Bliefnick, who appeared in court wearing orange and white prison scrubs and hand shackles, refused to make a statement at his sentencing.
Loved ones of Becky Bliefnick addressed the court and slammed Bliefnick for cutting her life short during their victims’ impact statement.
“When you murdered Becky, you took from your boys the person who loved them the most on earth,” her grieving mother Bernadette said.
“Becky’s family, friends coworkers and patients will never again see her smile, hear her laugh, feel her embrace or receive her love. We are left with emptiness that cannot be filled. We are only left with memories. Your soul is black with hate. Your heart has only love for itself. You should never be allowed to be free again.”
Bliefnick and his slain wife had filed for divorce in early 2021, court filings show.
He had reportedly told her that “she would not get his money,” prosecutors said during the trial, adding that the victim had texted a friend before her death that if anything happened to her, her husband was behind it.
Loved ones first became concerned when Becky failed to pick up her sons from school. Her body was later found by her father on the floor in the bathroom of her home, with a towel underneath.
Bliefnick has 30 days to appeal his life sentence.
