‘He looked into her eyes and shot her 14 times’: Bliefnick jury in deliberations

QUINCY — Judge Robert Adrian sent the jury in Tim Bliefnick’s first-degree murder trial out to deliberate at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Assistant State’s Attorney Josh Jones and defense attorney Casey Schnack presented their closing statements Wednesday morning.

Jones began his closing with his basic case of Tim riding a bike to Becky’s house, climbing on the roof and going through a window.

“He looked into her eyes and shot her 14 times,” Jones said. “And the exact same gun that left eight shell casings beside Becky’s body also left 27 shell casings in Tim’s basement.”

Jones then delved into the text messages from Becky’s friends about Tim’s violent tendencies to friends
and Tim’s desire to “eliminate her as a choice” while recapping numerous messages and using Becky’s own words to describe the ordeal as a “f**king nightmare.” 

“Tim is going to come after me if he continues to not get his way,” she also texted.

Jones also brought up a court order for Tim to not be at the Kentucky Road house, which is the basis for the home invasion charge.

Jones also rehashed Christine Mandel’s testimony she gave Tuesday about a conversation that took place in March 2022. Tim shook his head no when Jones read Becky’s text that said, “Tim wants me to suffer.”

In recapping the “John Smith” Facebook texts about buying the blue bike, which he said were from Tim.

“If some walks in wet and carrying an umbrella, do we have to look outside to see if it raining? No,” Jones queried as he pointed at Tim. “Do we know who John Smith was? Yeah, he’s sitting right there.”

Jones mentioned buying the bike as he built the timeline from Valentine’s Day 2023 to the day Becky was killed on Feb. 23, 2023 that featured three late night bike rides that followed nearly the exact same pattern.

Jones repeatedly showed video of a shadowy figure riding from near the Quincy Public Schools Bus Barn at 20th and Hampshire to Becky’s house on Kentucky Road and the ride back, with Tim’s WHOOP fitness watch off during each of the three rides and his cell phone locked and both being reactivated at roughly the time of what would be his arrival home.

Jones talked about how after Tim’s first ride, he did an Internet search for Ted Johnson’s license plate and VIN number as Johnson’s truck was at Becky’s house on the night of Feb. 14.

The next day, Feb. 15, Jones said Schnack, on Tim’s behalf, sent a final divorce settlement offer to Becky’s attorney where Tim wanted 60/40 custody, the Kentucky Road house and his dad, Ray, to have access to the kids. It appeared, according to court documents, Tim was not going to get some of the terms he wanted in the divorce.

Becky home from surgery at 11 a.m. on Feb. 21. At 12:42 a.m. on Feb. 22, the same order of events begins, WHOOP off, no cell phone connection and a man riding a bike with no reflectors along the same path and a return in the same time frame.

Three different times before the night Becky was killed, the exact same pattern of smart watch, cellphones and a mystery bike rider walker all happened.

Ted Johnson texted and called Becky the night of Feb. 22 and then around 12:30 am February 23, the same pattern of a bike rider emerges.

Jones described Tim climbing the roof and breaking in. Becky tries to shut the door and Jones says Tim kicks it in, Becky falls to the ground and Tim pulls the trigger. “Again, again, again, again and again.”

“Tim leaves and Becky can’t move her spinal cord has been hit and a lung has been punctured. She is bleeding to death,” Jones said.

Jones says Tim dropped off the Little Tikes basketball hoop at his dad’s house. “Tim knows Becky won’t be a problem anymore because she was laying at her house dead,” Jones said.

Jones says Tim picks up the boys at St. Peter so they wouldn’t find what he (Tim) had done. Tim texts Bill Postle, Becky’s dad, with a concern about Becky. Postle tried calling Tim, and he doesn’t answer.

Jones loops back to the blue bike with no reflectors found on 18th that he says Tim bought as “John Smith.”

Jones talks about the Aldi bags found at his home and reminds the jury about pieces of similar bags by Becky’s body. “Inconclusive, but consistent.”

DNA under Becky’s fingernails matched Tim and the boys, but Becky hadn’t been around the boys for days and she had to scrub for the surgery she had earlier in the week.

Jones said you don’t have to have the gun to convict someone of murder. He says the word “evidence” is the key word In the phrase “circumstantial evidence.”

Tim shakes his head no again after Jones relays a message from one of Becky’s friends that alleged Tim said Becky “would be dead before she gets my money.”

Jones is recapping all of the evidence he’s just presented one more time and telling the jury there have been no more bike rides or people wandering in the Kentucky Road neighborhood since Becky was as killed.

Jones: “No burglary, no sexual assault … nothing missing … a random burglar breaks into the house and doesn’t take anything?”

Jones said whoever broke into the house was athletic and reminds the jury that Tim is a QU Hall of Fame football player and a crosssfitter. “She was shot 14 times. This was a crime of passion.”

Jones again mentions the 35 shells that match in both locations then says, “What more do you need to see?” And then brings up the Internet search history. “How many cops are in Quincy? Enough to catch him.”

After bringing up each search, Jones says Tim’s thinking was “How are the police going to catch me?”
Jones said no other person had the motive to “execute” Becky, bring up all Tim stood to lose in a divorce.

Casey Schnack begins her close. She is going at “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“It is one of the most important parts of the law. It’s a high burden. It’s a MONUMENTAL burden.”

Remember your promise: Follow the law. 

Schnack: “Sympathy should not enter into your deliberations. We all feel sorry for Becky and her family. It’s sad. But we’re not here to decide if it’s sad.”

Schnack says “Mr. Jones’s case is dripping with sympathy and lacking in evidence. Tim doesn’t have to prove anything in this case. It’s the state’s burden.”

“Look at Tim. What does the evidence prove? What is the lack of evidence?”

“We’ve heard about DNA. I’m telling you DNA can be transferred if you haven’t been and there isn’t any DNA that was credibly proven.” 

Schnack: “There is no gun and they cannot tell you when the google searches occurred. If they happened after she died, he might have been looking into the case like half the town did.” 

“If you have to guess when the Google searches happen, you can’t guess when they happened.”

Schnack says no one can say if Tim’s crowbar was used and the shoe print and Tim’s shoes were excluded.

Schnack said somebody was riding a bike and it wasn’t really in Tim or Becky’s neighborhood.

Schnack says that the state can’t give you a gun. Can’t give you DNA. Can’t give you fingerprints. And that he did it while his kids were home in his bed. She said there is no evidence.

Schnack said all you heard was divorce talk and girl talk and there was no evidence of domestic violence.

Schnack wraps with Becky asking Tim to pick up and keep the kids following her surgery. “Becky went to Tim in one of her last acts when she needed him.”

“Look at the evidence, read the law and find Tim not guilty.”

Jones: “We failed Becky Bliefnick. She got court orders, continuances and delays. It’s been 98 days. She’s calling out to you (the jury) for justice. Do a better job than us.”