A celebration-of-life ceremony will be held this weekend in Virginia for the wife, son and mother-in-law of a Tampa Bay Rays minor league pitcher who allegedly were slaughtered by an unhinged teenager earlier this week.
Funeral arrangements for Blake Bivens’ family — 24-year-old wife Emily Bivens, 14-month-old son Cullen and mother-in-law Joan Bernard, 62 — will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Central Boulevard Church of God in Danville, according to their obituaries, which were posted online Thursday.
“Emily, a kind and gentle soul and a light to all who knew her, loved the Lord and her family with all her heart,” her obituary reads.
Emily Bivens, who attended the church, lived in Ringgold with her husband, a pitcher for the Montgomery Biscuits, a Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays whom she married in January 2016. The couple “completed their family” with the birth of their son two years later, Emily’s obituary said.
Joan Bernard, Emily’s mother, was also remembered as an active member of the church and someone who endeavored to be the “best Mama and Nana there ever was,” according to her obituary.
“The light of Jesus poured from her onto everyone she met,” the obit read. “She treasured her family and spent most of her time with them. When she wasn’t with her family, she was making the family campground a fun place to be.”
Emily Bivens, her son and mother will be buried following the services in adjoining plots at Danville Memorial Gardens, an employee told The Post on Friday.
Church officials late Tuesday asked the Danville community to “bind with us” after authorities found the bodies of the three victims earlier that day in nearby Keeling.
“The Bernard and Bivens families are very precious to us and we at Central Boulevard desire your prayers for these dear people, as they are a beloved part of our church family,” a Facebook post read. “The circumstances of the day are not ordinary, but we serve an extraordinary God.”
The brother of Bivens’ wife, Matthew Thomas Bernard, 18, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the slayings.
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A neighbor of Bernard’s told police he came to her house early Tuesday and punched her in the arm. She then heard several gunshots coming from the family’s home, where she discovered the body of Joan Bernard in a driveway, according to a criminal complaint.
The bodies of Emily Bivens and her infant son were found inside the residence, both with visible gunshot wounds to the head. A rifle was found behind the home and a sledgehammer with blood was discovered inside a garage, while spent shell casings were found near all three victims, according to the court documents.
Matthew Bernard, who was on suicide watch ahead of his initial court appearance, remains held without bail in the Pittsylvania County Jail. He was set to appear in court early Thursday, but that hearing was canceled after he was taken to a hospital for an “undisclosed reason,” WSET reports.
He’s now scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, Sept. 5, according to the Danville Register & Bee.
Authorities have yet to provide a motive in the killings, but Bernard was dealing with mental health issues prior to the slayings and snapped after reaching a “breaking point,” cousin Jenn Stallard told DailyMail.com.
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