Teen suspected of killing mum, sister and baby nephew before naked police chase
The teenager arrested during a bizarre naked police chase has been charged with killing his mother, sister and infant nephew, police have confirmed.
Matthew Thomas Bernard, 18, was arrested in a tiny southern Virginia community after police warned of a dangerous gunman on the loose upon finding the three bodies on Tuesday morning at a home in Keeling.
His sister Emily Bivens, 25 - one of the victims - was the wife of Blake Bivens, a 24-year-old pitcher for Alabama’s Montgomery Biscuits baseball team, a Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Mrs Bivens’ mother Joan Bernard, 62, and 14-month-old son Cullen were also murdered, police have confirmed.
News of the slayings prompted the Biscuits to cancel their scheduled doubleheader slated for Tuesday.
“All we can do is kind of put our arms around [Bivens] as an organisation, him and his family, and do the best we can,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said on Wednesday.
Motive of triple-homicide remains unknown
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive, Pittsylvania County Sheriff Michael Taylor said at a news conference Wednesday.
During an intense manhunt on Tuesday morning involving up to 100 officers, schools were locked down and a tank and armoured vehicle were brought in to Keeling, an unincorporated community near the North Carolina border.
Authorities said Bernard emerged naked and unarmed from the woods about four hours later, running past TV cameras to a church car park, where he was recorded allegedly trying to choke a church caretaker.
An officer unleashed pepper spray and smacked Bernard with a baton before he was captured at a barricade with the help of a police dog, officials said.
Bernard banged his head against the cage in a police vehicle after being taken into custody and was taken to a hospital for treatment, Sheriff Taylor said.
He was released and was in jail on Wednesday, where he was being kept on suicide watch, Taylor said.
A firearm was “involved in the incident” according to Taylor, who declined to give details about how the victims died.
Police dogs were processing the crime scene on Wednesday, the sheriff said.
Bivens couple were longtime churchgoers
Jackie Poe, the senior pastor of The River Church in Danville, said Blake Bivens was a longtime member of the church, and that he and his wife would come to services during the baseball offseason.
“He’s a fine young man,” Ms Poe said. “Just a great example of a young man in baseball. And just a good Christian young man.”
“His wife was just a wonderful young lady. Whenever he was [in the] offseason, they would be in church.”
Ms Poe said Bivens’ parents are “just completely shocked and devastated and yet holding on to their faith and trusting in God.”
The church planned to hold a community prayer gathering on Wednesday evening.
“That’s what we do,” Poe said. “And that’s the answer. There are no other answers for a tragedy like this.”
Bernard was held without bail and faces three counts of first-degree murder and use of a firearm during a felony, according to court documents. An initial court appearance was scheduled for Thursday morning.
Paperwork for determining Bernard’s bail shows that he was attending community college and working at his parents’ campground.
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