Family Feud has long been a source of hilarious moments between host Steve Harvey and the myriad contestants that take the stage during weeks of filming. But anything comedic that happened involving Timothy Bliefnick's appearance with his family in 2019 has been forever tainted by the 2023 murder of his estranged wife Rebecca "Becky" Bliefnick. He was charged with the crime in March, having denied his guilt then and since, but the start of the murder trial this week unveiled a message she wrote that somewhat foreshadowed the deadly tragedy.
Because Timothy Bliefnick is being held without bond in Illinois, the Quincy resident has the right to a speedy trial, and the prosecution had quite a lot of evidence and testimony to bring out during the first week of the trial. The victim's sister Sarah took the stand this week and shared a disturbing text message she received from Becky Bliefnick that indicated she was already aware and fearful that something potentially violent could happen as a result of their bitter divorce and custody battle over their three children. The text message is said to have read:
If something ever happens to me, make sure the No. 1 person of interest is Tim. . . . I am putting this in writing that I’m fearful he will somehow harm me, come after me, or will try to [do] something to me that takes me away from the kids or the kids away from me, He already has lied multiple times to paint himself as a victim and me as the perpetrator when it is absolutely the other way around.
Timothy Bliefnick is accused to breaking into an upstairs window of Becky's house on the night of February 22, and of subsequently shooting her 14 times in the bathroom attached to her bedroom. It's noted that she died not from the gunshot wounds themselves, but from internal bleeding. He allegedly used a homemade silencer on the 9mm handgun used in the murder, and the Aldi bag used in making it was tied to the evidence that led to Bliefnick's arrest. Upon going through the defendant's search history, which sparked other pieces of evidence, authorities are said to have found that he'd searched for instructions on making just such a silencer at home.
While Becky Bliefnick apparently didn't bring it up in her text message to her sister, one of the filings she made as their divorce proceedings started was for the defendant to return a 9mm handgun that belonged to her, which apparently never happened. According to WGEM, her former divorce attorney Denny Woodworth took the stand and stated the victim had purchased a gun safe, with the intention of buying a weapon to protect herself from her husband.
Two of Becky Bliefnick's friends, Nicole Bateman and Christine Moore, also took the stand and shared their experiences involving Becky sending angry and fearful messages about her to-be-ex's behavior. WGEM also reported that one text Moore shared was the victim saying she was considering filiing an order of protection against him.
Clearly, there were times prior to her murder that Rebecca Bliefnick voiced her concerns about her estranged husband taking things to the extremes as their divorce wore on. Even his aforementioned Family Feud appearance was an ominous slice of foreboding, as he answered "What's the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?" with saying "I do," while laughingly apologizing to his "honey." For what it's worth, instead of his usual loud and hilarious reaction to a wild contestant answer, Steve Harvey just glared and stared the grinning Bliefnick down.
The family's appearance on Family Feud was celebrated at the time by the local community, as seen in the video below, without any sense of what was to come a few years later.
At the end of Thursday's proceedings, a total of 36 witnesses had already taken the stand across three days, with the trial continuing on Friday ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
