Brett Bednarz

*** I want to note before I get started in this case that I am a bit confused as to Beverly Therrien's name. She was Brett Bednarz's mother and she died just two months after her husband, Andrew. There was never any mention in anything that I saw on television or read in my research to indicate why this was said to be her last name. The website Findagrave.com shows her maiden name as Pappas. Her tombstone has the names Pappas and Therrien. There is a bench apparently near both the graves of Beverly and her husband Andrew Bednarz that shows all three surnames. There are no other apparent people buried at that cemetery with the Therrien name.***

On Thanksgiving morning, November 25, 2010 East Hartford Connecticut police went to the home of seventy-four year old Beverly Therrien for a “welfare check.” A friend of hers had called them stating she could not reach her and was concerned. Beverly shared her home with sixty year old Pamela Johns and fifty-three year old Michael Ramsey who rented rooms from her. When officers entered the home they discovered the bodies of all three occupants. Pamela was found in the front room of the home while both Beverly and Michael were found together in the bathroom. All three had been bludgeoned to death in the head with a still unidentified “blunt object.” However, this was not just a few hits on the head that had rendered brain bleeds but repeated hits that had scattered blood throughout the home.

Beverly's husband, Andrew Bednarz had just previously died from what was ruled to be a heart attack on September 15^th. Since that time there had been a lot of turmoil in the Bednarz family. Beverly had become estranged from her two children, Candace and Brett, as well as her granddaughter, Tiffany Ortiz. Andrew's death had seemingly fractured this once close family. I have double and triple checked my dates because I seemed very confused how so much could happen in just two months with this family. Not only had their been the rift between Beverly and her children, but her daughter Candace's marriage had also ended. It was almost as if everyone in this case ran on impulse.

First Andrew died, then there was the reading of the Will which is what apparently began the issues between Beverly and the children. According to reports they were expecting that Andrew left them particular things and the Will gave everything to Beverly, who by all accounts, and rightfully so, decided not to distribute anything out. Whether it was this issue or other that fractured Candace's marriage is unclear but her husband would apparently also end up doing some jail time during this time in Florida. Between the time of Andrew's death and her own, Beverly had kept in contact with Candace's ex husband, Jose Ortiz and had even made him beneficiary of her own new Will. Add to this Beverly also moved Pamela Johns and Michael Ramsey into her home.

The children would later argue that the seventy-four year old Beverly suffered from dementia and that they felt that Johns and Ramsey were taking advantage of her. Whether this is true or not is really unknown. I am sure that her friends would say she was of complete sound mind, but in many cases of dementia friends just simply do not see things. I would gander to guess that her family, or at least some of them, would know better, but as you will see, it is uncertain that their word could be trusted.

Neighbors of Beverly's would report seeing a vehicle in the drive around the time investigators believed the murders had likely occurred. They described a vehicle that matched that of one belonging to Tiffany Ortiz, Beverly's granddaughter. Investigators went and spoke to Tiffany and while they could not prove for certain that it was her car that was seen at the home, they also could not prove who could have been driving it. Tiffany lived with her mother and her uncle, Brett, had recently moved in also. According to what Tiffany told authorities all three of them freely used Tiffany's vehicle.

Investigators would have possession of the house for nearly a week as they gathered evidence. It was unclear just who they interviewed in the family and when, but their attention soon landed on Candace. They had learned that Candace had recently filed a harassment complaint against Beverly. It was said that Beverly had left some “nasty” messages on Candace's answering machine. It was not exactly clear who for certain heard them, what they contained or the reasons behind them.

Investigators could not ignore Brett either. He had allegedly left a note on one of the neighbors vehicle's that stated “She has made all of our lives a living hell. But, I have an ace up my sleeve. I'm just waiting for the time to use it..... Also if you should see any activity at 154 Naomi Drive, call me. Please call me. This bitch has to be stopped.” In March of 2010, long before Andrew had died Brett had been arrested and charged with assaulting Beverly. He was ordered to stay away from her and was later convicted of a lesser charge. A journal had been found in the house belonging to Beverly and it in she had written, “I lay here night after night wondering if Brett will come back to hurt me.”

Now, before I go on I am going to play a bit of a devil's advocate here. It seems obvious that there were issues between Beverly and Brett long before she was murdered, or even Andrew died. However, I would like to know more about the incident in March before I make a judgment call on that. I also would like to know more about the possibility of Beverly having dementia. Did she have it? Had she, like so many others who do suffer from dementia, show signs to her family long before anyone else saw anything? Was the incident in March really what it looked like on paper? Who was present? What brought on the apparent argument that led to the incident? I am still stuck on how so many things seemed to occur and escalate in such a short period of time. I also want to know why Beverly was calling and leaving “nasty” messages to Candace. Was this also possibly dementia related?

There is also the possibility that Beverly was not suffering from dementia but had always been a strong willed and blunt person. Were buttons pushed by her children on purpose to make her appear to be unstable? Had Candace done something that she did not share with the police that lit a fire with her mother and caused her to leave the “nasty” messages on her machine?

I have worked in the healthcare field, as well as the fact that I have cared for and seen what dementia can do to a person. If the children truly felt that Beverly suffered from dementia I have to ask what they were doing about it. It is unlikely that if this was the case that the signs were not there prior to Andrew dying. While his death was unexpected one has to wonder if Beverly's alleged condition was discussed among the other family members. When families tend to see the signs they often will make plans for the future. Spouses will look into ways to ensure that in case of their death their spouse is taken care of especially if they fear for their safety. Children will often know that at the time of one parent's death that the other is in no position to care for themselves and take steps needed. I heard none of that in this case. Candace gets irate and “nasty” messages from her mother and she files a harassment complaint. I did not hear of her reaching out to a healthcare provider, or even contacting the authorities concerned with Beverly's mental well being and getting advice on what she could do. Brett is leaving nasty messages about his mother on the cars of her neighbors, he is not contacting the authorities or anyone to help look after her.

It are these actions, or lack of actions, by the children that have made me seriously questioned the fact that they claim Beverly suffered from dementia. They were allegedly convinced that both Pamela Johns and Michael Ramsey also knew she had dementia and that they were taking advantage of her financial situation. It was also said that Beverly was sending money to Jose Ortiz in a Florida jail. I want to know more about that. How much was she sending him? Was it on a regular basis? Was this really a situation in which Beverly was confused and a danger to herself and others or was this a case in which two spoiled children did not get what they thought they deserved and made plans to go about it anyway they had to.

That all being said, the continued actions of the children, after Beverly's murder did nothing more but put them more in the spotlight. Investigators would hold the home for about a week before they released it to the family. They spent that week gathering all the evidence. They not only had an entire home to go through, but three victims and their belongings. They had discovered that the rear sliding door to the home was left unlocked. They found a bloody tissue found next to Michael Ramsey's body. They found Beverly's checkbook scattered across a bed. They found a trash bag stuffed behind a bookcase in one of the bedrooms. I was not completely clear what was found in the trash bag. They had also found Beverly's cellphone and charger.

Investigators would come to believe that the murders had occurred some time between three in the morning of November 23^rd and just after seven on the morning of the 25^th. The victims were found in what they believed to be their night clothes. The answering machine had calls on it from as far back as five in the evening of the 23^rd.

While it was not completely clear when exactly this next lead came in, it was indicated that it occurred just hours after the home had been released to the family. Investigators found Candace sitting in her car outside Beverly's home. Now, whether that car was also Tiffany's car is unclear. Candace was told that the car was being seized to be searched. It was then that she told authorities that two phones were in the trunk of the vehicle. Those phones belonged to Pamela Johns and Michael Ramsey. Candace would claim that she had gone into the home that morning and had found them. Investigators would take her inside the home so she could show them exactly where she had allegedly found the phones. It was said that she pointed to three different places claiming she could not remember. Later she would allege that she had found them three days prior (again it was confusing as to how soon after the home was released she alleged finding them) and that she wanted to check in with her lawyer before turning them over to authorities. The authorities have argued that there is no possible way that they could have missed them in the home. They claim that throughout the seven days they had possession of the home it was “turned over” and everything was searched. They have argued that if the phones were in that home, they would have been found by investigators, not Candace.

A search was also made on the home in which Candace, Brett and Tiffany resided. There was a large amount of Beverly's mail found there. Candace would make two claims as to how the mail had gotten there. One was that it had been “misdirected” by the post office and the second would be that she admitted going through Beverly's trash in order to “know what was going on in my mother's life.” In addition to this Candace would pull out receipts she had kept from around the time of the murders. One of those receipts literally had a notation that it was when Beverly had been killed and yet authorities had not been able to pin down a time. When asked about those she would claim that she had kept them and made notations so that she could prove where she, and her brother were. These answers did not sit right with investigators but until they had some forensic results they could not move further.

Eventually those results would come in and it seems that despite claiming that he had not been in the home in more than six months, Brett's DNA was pretty much everywhere, and in places it should not have been. His DNA was found on the bloody tissue found next to Michael Ramsey's body. It was also found on the checkbook and duplicate checks found in the bedroom. Many of those checks were dated long after he had moved from the home and after he had alleged not being in the home. They also found his DNA on Beverly's phone and charger, as well as the trash bag that had been stuffed behind the bookcase in a room that had once been his.

Authorities finally felt they had enough evidence and they arrested Brett Bednarz on three counts of first degree murder. It would all take a while to be settled. Brett's first trial would end in a hung jury. Both Candace and Tiffany, neither of which were ever charged with anything, proclaimed his innocence. Brett was convicted on all counts at the end of his second trial on January 21, 2016. He faced a maximum of 185 years. At the age of fifty-one it seems that any significant sentence given would have been a life sentence. In the end in March of 2016 the judge sentenced him to 180 years. The Department of Corrections website shows his maximum release date as October 2192, long after all of us are long gone.