Nearly two years after being found guilty of killing his wife, Bliefnick gives his side of story during 70-minute interview from prison

QUINCY — As people waited outside Courtroom 2B in the Adams County Courthouse for the trial of Bradley Yohn to resume one afternoon in July 2023, a different group of people started to line the second-floor hallway. 

Most of the people were with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department or the courthouse staff. However, one man holding a video camera was facing the east end of the hallway while his belt was secured by another man standing behind him. The cameraman then started walking backward, and the other man was making sure he didn’t topple over. 

Moments later, it was finally clear what was going on.

Tim Bliefnick had been found guilty in early June 2023 on two counts of the first-degree murder of his wife, Becky, and one count of home invasion. The jury believed Bliefnick fired 14 bullets into her body while in the upstairs bathroom of her home on Kentucky Road in the early-morning hours of Feb. 23, 2023.

However, he was still in the Adams County Jail awaiting sentencing, and he was escorted down that second-floor hallway to an interview to be conducted by Erin Moriarty, a correspondent for the CBS news series “48 Hours.”

That day sparked the idea for Muddy River News to ask Bliefnick for an interview as well.

That 42-minute episode of “48 Hours,” titled “The Game Show and the Murder,” included 3 minutes and 13 seconds of statements by Bliefnick from the Moriarty interview. It is the only recorded media interview of Bliefnick before he met with Muddy River News.

A request for a sit-down conversation-style interview was sent to Bliefnick while he was still in the Adams County Jail. A phone call with Bliefnick revealed he was willing to do the interview, but he hadn’t been sentenced and wanted to allow the appellate court process to work itself out.

Bliefnick learned in November 2024 that the Appellate Court of the Illinois Fourth District had denied his appeal. His attorneys — State Appellate Defender James Chadd, Deputy Defender Catherine Hart and Assistant Appellate Defender James Waller, all with the Office of the State Appellate Defender, Fourth Judicial District — filed an appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court on Dec. 3.

Bliefnick, however, wrote in a December 2024 letter to Muddy River News that he would like to be interviewed by Muddy River News if the offer was still available, promising to answer any question “to the best of my ability.”

Contact was made with officials at the Illinois Department of Corrections on Jan. 2, and the interview date of Feb. 5 was set a week later. Muddy River News was given one hour to enter the prison and set up for the interview, one hour to interview Bliefnick (which spilled over by a few minutes) and one hour to tear down the equipment for the interview and exit the prison.

The interview was conducted in a 10-foot-by-30-foot room with one window and two tables with four seats each. 

Bliefnick is housed in the Menard Correctional Center, an adult male correctional facility on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in Chester. The facility opened in 1878. Menard is home for approximately 1,900 people who are assigned to one of three housing areas: 

• The general division, which is maximum security.
• The medium security unit, which has four wings outside the perimeter.
• The reception and classification unit, where all people in custody are initially admitted from court, as well as people on parole violations or work release violation transfers.

Bliefnick is housed in the prison’s north gallery, which is generally where people who also have jobs at the prison also live. He works in the “individual in custody” kitchen, known as the IK. He works from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. as a cook, preparing the evening meal.

Thanks to Naomi Puzzello, public information officer with the Illinois Department of Corrections; Kim Garecht with the office of communication at the DOC; and Megan Rohlfing at the Menard Correctional Center for their assistance in coordinating the interview and assisting Muddy River News staff inside the facility.

Click here to read all of the stories Muddy River News has published on the Bliefnick case.