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Home  News In shock, mourners recall slain family
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In shock, mourners recall slain family |
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By JACOB H. FRIES, EILEEN SCHULTE, JONATHAN ABEL and LORRI HELFAND
In shock, mourners recall slain family
By JACOB H. FRIES, EILEEN SCHULTE, JONATHAN ABEL and LORRI HELFAND,
Times Staff Writers
Published December 16, 2007
CLEARWATER -- The little girl in the pink sweater and the polka-dot skirt sat on her father's lap and sobbed inconsolably.
Allyson Weaver was supposed to be at a birthday party Saturday for her friend, Olivia Bernsdorff, who was turning 5. Instead, the 9-year-old was among 200 mourners at the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater church for a memorial service honoring five church members killed Friday.
The dead: Olivia, just shy of 5; her brother Magnus, 2; their mother, Jennifer Davis, 27; their mother's new partner, Andrea Pisanello, 53; and their father, Oliver Thomas Bernsdorff, 36, the man authorities believe murdered them all before turning a gun on himself.
Holding a crumpled tissue, Allyson cried through the 30-minute service.
"I got her a book and I got Magnus a book," the girl said, tears running down her cheeks.
As a close-knit congregation gathered to mourn an entire family, new details emerged about the killings, the man behind them, and the people caught in his rampage.
"Everyone is still in shock and trying to find out what happened," said Rob Nicolas, a member of Jennifer Davis' family. "Everyone is trying to find out why."
On Saturday, though their findings were preliminary, Largo police released a more detailed account of Friday's killings. They also said that before the shootings, Bernsdorff told others that he would kill his family and himself if he could not get them back together.
Investigators suspect Bernsdorff began his grisly crime at Pisanello's apartment in Largo, where Davis was living. There, he tore out a window screen, crawled inside and found the two women in bed. He shot them with what police believe was a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and fled -- leaving alive Pisanello's 4-year-old daughter, Annie.
Annie, apparently woken by the gunshots, went to Pisanello's body and shook it, trying to wake her, said Megan Szczepanik, Annie's biological mother. Szczepanik said she and Pisanello were a couple for eight
years, and Annie considered both women to be her mothers.
Moments after the shooting, a neighbor said he heard the girl screaming, "Mommy, Mommy!"
At 6:42 a.m. Friday, police received a call of shots fired and responded to the Monterey Lakes Apartments, a sprawling complex at 7501 Ulmerton Road in Largo. There they found Annie amid the grisly scene.
Afterward, police believe, Bernsdorff went to his Clearwater home and shot his children, Olivia, 4, and Magnus, 2, in their beds. But police also said it's not known for sure which pair of homicides took place first. Investigators might not know that for some time.
At some point Friday morning, however, Bernsdorff called the children's school to say there was no need to send someone to pick them up. Bernsdorff, who had no criminal record in Florida, was an adult education instructor for the Pinellas County School District.
"He said he was staying home with the kids that day to do something fun," said Largo police Sgt. Mark Young. But, authorities believe, Bernsdorff got into the family van and drove south on Interstate 275, crossing the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
About 10:30 a.m., Manatee sheriff's deputies began receiving 911 calls about an erratic driver on the interstate. Deputies began to tail the van once it crossed to the Manatee County side of the Skyway.
Just before Exit 5, the van pulled over to the side and crashed into the thick mangroves lining the highway.
The driver, believed to be Bernsdorff, was found in the driver's seat with a gunshot wound to the head. A handgun also was found in the car. The driver's face was disfigured from the gunshot, and police have said
the driver might have to be identified through DNA.
Davis' mother, Patricia Davis, visibly upset, declined to comment Saturday. Later, the family issued a statement through the police and asked for privacy.
"Words do not even begin to describe the pain and heartbreak we are experiencing," the statement said. "Jennifer was so smart and so excited about living her life. Magnus even though he was only 2 could melt hearts with his beautiful blond hair and devilish smile. Olivia was a beautiful child with big brown eyes and a shy smile that only widened once she got to know you."
Megan Szczepanik, 32, whose daughter Annie survived the Largo shooting, attended Saturday's service at the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater church, where she is also a member. She said she knew Jennifer and Oliver Bernsdorff for about five years and considered them the "perfect" couple.
"They truly seemed to be partners," she said. "He wore Birkenstocks and tie-dyed shirts. Jennifer would carry the babies and breast-feed all day. ... I never saw any indication of violence."
But in recent months, the couple's eight-year marriage began to unravel. In August, Bernsdorff filed for divorce. About a month and a half ago, Davis moved in with Pisanello. The two women met through church and both worked at the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. "The divorce happened very quickly," Szczepanik said. "I think immediately it started to get violent."
But Saturday's service was not for blame, or hate, or condemnation. It was for comfort, the type felt by gathering in one place, supporting each other.
"It's so hard," said Kay Cutler, the church's nursery caregiver. "You rock babies and you play with them. This just isn't supposed to happen."
During the service, the music director played solemn piano tunes. Some members hummed along when he played Spirit of Life. Many wiped tears away. Several women squeezed babies tightly to their chests.
"Take courage, friends," the Rev. Millie Rochester said. "The way is often hard, the path is never clear, and the stakes are very high. Take courage. For deep down there is another truth: You are not alone."
Staff writers Demorris A. Lee and Jose Cardenas contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2002-2007, St. Petersburg Times
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