Man on Trial for Killing Wife Had Joked on ‘Family Feud’ About Regretting His Marriage

An Illinois man who appeared on Family Feud three years ago and made a quip to host Steve Harvey about how he regretted getting married is now on trial for allegedly killing his estranged wife.

Testimony in Timothy Bliefnick's first-degree murder trial began earlier this week in Quincy, Illinois. The 40-year-old stands accused of slaying Rebecca Bliefnick, who was 41.

Her father found her shot to death on the bathroom floor of her Quincy home in late February.

Bliefnick is also charged with a single count of home invasion for allegedly prying open a second-story window to gain access to Rebecca's home the night of Feb. 23, 2023.

The Family Feud episode featuring Bliefnick and members of his family was taped in 2019 and aired nationally on Fox in 2020.

"What's your biggest mistake you made at your wedding?" Harvey asked Bliefnick during the show.

"Honey, I love you, but, 'Said I do,'" Bliefnick replied. "Not my mistake, not my mistake — I love my wife. I'm gonna get in trouble for that, aren't I?"

A local Illinois paper, The Herald-Whig, has been covering the trial from inside the courtroom. According to the paper's report, prosecutor Josh Jones told jurors Rebecca was shot more than a dozen times.

"She looked up into eyes that she had looked into before and promised her until death do us part," Jones told jurors, the Herald-Whig reported. "She looked into the eyes of her murderer — her husband, the defendant — and the defendant looked down at Becky and he pointed a gun at her and he pulled the trigger."

Fourteen bullets riddled the mother-of-three's body, Jones said, adding that casings at the crime scene matched a gun found in Bliefnick's home.

When it was her turn to address the jury, defense attorney Casey Schnack spoke about the lack of her client's DNA and fingerprints at the crime scene.

"This case is dripping with reasonable doubt," said Schnack, according to the paper.

The couple had reportedly been in the midst of a contentious divorce, with a hearing scheduled in the days before Rebecca's death.