Bernie Tiede was a beloved mortician in Carthage, Texas, and even after he shot his 81-year-old companion Marjorie Nugent dead in 1996, his town still stuck by his side.
Twitter / Texas MonthlyBernie Tiede , pictured with Marjorie Nugent , not long before her 1996 murder .
Bernie Tiede , a dear funeral director in Carthage , Texas , was friendly , well - liked , considerate , and helpful . take great pride in his piece of work , he was a soothe berm for the grieving throughout the recent 1980s and early ’ 90s – especially the aged .
Nevertheless , when Tiede became the constant companion of the meanest woman in Carthage – Marjorie Nugent , 40 year his elderly — it was sure enough a surprise . Despite locals ’ electrical shock , Tiede and Nugent became inseparable and may have even partake in a romanticist human relationship .
Twitter/Texas MonthlyBernie Tiede, pictured with Marjorie Nugent, not long before her 1996 murder.
But when Nugent was find dead in a freezer in 1997 and Tiede came under suspicion , the town had problem believing that their favorite Word had dedicate such a heinous crime . And though this eccentric is the rightful chronicle behind the 2011 movieBernie , the genuine event are more staggering than anything Hollywood could have woolgather up .
How Bernie Tiede Became A Beloved Fixture In Carthage, Texas
Bernhardt Tiede II was accept on August 2 , 1958 , in Abilene , Texas . When he was just three years quondam , his mother croak in a car fortuity , with his father unhurt as driver of the fomite . Never forgiving himself , Tiede ’s father start imbibe heavily , and died when Tiede was 15 accord toCBS News . After high schoolhouse , Tiede start working in a funeral dwelling , showing a particular talent for makeup and whisker .
In 1985 , the 27 - year - old Tiede act to Carthage , which had a universe of just 6,500 . As an adjunct funeral director at Hawthorn Funeral Home , Tiede soon became a beloved tower of the Carthage community , and according toTexas Monthly , bust colorful Tommy Hilfiger clothes , when not wearing drab funeral suit , and drove around town in his Lincoln Continental , smiling loosely at everyone .
Public DomainBernie Tiede was so beloved in his Texas hometown that locals refused to believe he could have committed slaying .
Public DomainBernie Tiede was so beloved in his Texas hometown that locals refused to believe he could have committed murder.
Tiede became a preacher and featured soloist in the choir at the First United Methodist Church and play with the medicine and theater departments of the local college , often taking on starring roles himself . He comforted families of the deceased at funerals , stay close to grieving widows , and maintain their hands to steady them . Tiede visited them for solar day and weeks after the funeral , making certain they were all correct .
In all , he was wide regarded as the nicest man in town .
Bernie Tiede Meets Marjorie Nugent
Marjorie Nugent was a longstanding member of the rich family in Carthage after her husband had made his fortune as an oilman . However , to say that Nugent was not well liked was a earthy understatement . Many believed her to be the meanest woman in Carthage , lord her riches and status over the town . Nugent had n’t seen her only son in years , or her grandchild who had sued her over trust money .
Tiede met Nugent at her husband ’s funeral in 1990 , Tiede whistle a hymn and escorted Nugent to and from her husband ’s tomb , provide her his coating in the chilly burying ground . A few days afterwards , Tiede hold in on her at her theater . “ It just seemed like she did n’t have any Friend , ” and I just felt up this compelling desire to give her some friendly relationship he said .
The tender and affable Tiede ask round her shopping and to dinner . They took longer trip together , to Dallas , New York , and elsewhere along the East Coast , and before long it seemed , they were go everywhere together . They made for an interesting duo and had knife waggle throughout town .
YouTubeMarjorie Nugent And Bernie Tiede were inseparable right up until her 1996 demise.
The curt and vindictive senior widow woman with the assistant funeral director , who at 6 foot 3 and 270 pounds , would n’t have been out of place on a football field .
The Murder Of Marjorie Nugent And The True Story BehindBernie
Tiede and Nugent visited several countries together , cruise the Nile and the Rhine — with Nugent , of course , pick up the tab .
Despite town chin wagging , there was nothing sexual about it , Tiede said , conceive of Nugent more as a mother figure and a booster . Besides most of the religious and bourgeois local assumed Tiede was gay , which was never a job . After all , everyone sleep with Bernie .
YouTubeMarjorie Nugent And Bernie Tiede were inseparable right up until her 1996 demise .
Castle Rock EntertainmentJack Black as Bernie Tiede in Richard Linklater’s 2011 filmBernie.
In 1993 , Nugent convinced Tiede to make for her full - time , as her business coach . Giving him access to her learn accounts so he could compensate her bills , she rewrote her will make Tiede her sole beneficiary . She wanted him to spend money on himself as well , and Nugent was adamantine that no heritage hit her family — “ Not one slender dime bag . ”
As years passed though , Nugent became more and more possessive , expecting 24 - hour obedience , paginate Tiede constantly . Living in separate homes , Tiede still had to attend Nugent ’s house multiple time a day . Trapped as Nugent ’s full time health care provider , Tiede could n’t muster the bravery to will .
“ She was just so see to it , she felt like she could own me , and I guess to some degree , she did , ” Tiede said . At one detail he imagined hitting her over the head with a baseball game bat , but could n’t contain the thought of her suffering . Finally , however , he steeled himself to get rid of her for honorable .
On November 19 , 1996 , Tiede shot Nugent once in the back with her .22 - caliber rifle as she stopped to pet the dog in her garage , then shot her three more times . Tiede then wrapped Nugent snugly in a sheet and place her into the bottom of a chest freezer , underwrite her in nutrient items . Tiede attended a college musical rehearsal that day and reportedly seemed like regular old Bernie over the following weeks , until he started becoming unprecedentedly generous .
Spreading an forecast $ 2 million of Nugent ’s money around township while dissemble that she was still active , Tiede invested in a western clothing shop , pledged money to the church for a raw wing , and purchase cars for at least 10 mass . If anyone ask , Tiede told them they ’d just missed Nugent , or that she was taking a nap . As nine months pass , Tiede said Nugent was in Ohio visiting her sister , or in the infirmary go back from a stroke that leave her speechless .
As unpopular as Nugent was , her boy eventually grew shady . He and his daughter accompany police to Nugent ’s firm on August 18 , 1997 , and found her neatly wrap in the Deepfreeze . Frozen solid , Nugent was channelise to the coroner ’s office staff in Dallas on the back of a tone arm hook up to a generator . Almost straightaway , Tiede accommodate to slay Nugent — but the local anesthetic in Carthage did n’t seem to hold up it against him .
Bernie Tiede Goes On Trial — Twice
Bernie Tiede ’s trial was moved 60 nautical mile out because of the overwhelming support for him in Carthage . Testifying in his defence , Tiede said “ Someone sound out I could have dropped her from an plane into the Gulf of Mexico , ” but she would n’t have been found , and I want to give her a right burial . ” Tiede ’s test live less than a week before he was launch guilty and given a life judgment of conviction .
But in 2014 , defense lawyer Jodi Cole , inspired by the 2011 film about his case , Bernie , discovered novel evidence . Among the item taken from Tiede ’s house after his original arrest were four script on childhood intimate abuse . Tiede reluctantly admitted to Cole that he had endured harassment by an uncle from the years of 12 , with psychiatrists saying he experience a “ dissociative episode ” during which he killed Nugent .
Castle Rock EntertainmentJack Black as Bernie Tiede in Richard Linklater ’s 2011 filmBernie .
Tiede was released pending a resentencing hearing and lived in the service department apartment of the cinema ’s theatre director , Richard Linklater , as a condition of his release according toThe Washington Post .
Over the years , however , legal opinion in Carthage changed , and most local anesthetic now favored Tiede attend to his full sentence .
On April 22 , 2016 , following Tiede ’s resentencing , the panel imposed a new judgment of conviction of 99 years or life for Tiede . He ’s presently incarcerated in Huntsville Texas , and not eligible for parole until August 3 , 2029 , the solar day after his 71st natal day .
After learning about Bernie Tiede , read up on thereal - lifetime execution that help inspireThe Amityville Horror . Then , get word aboutDean Corll , the grampus who terrorise Texas in the early seventies .
