(Chatham) — Five years after a high-profile triple homicide in Pittsylvania County, the suspect has been indicted.
WFXR reports a Chatham grand jury Monday handed down six indictments against 22-year old Matthew Bernard. Last month, the presiding judge ruled Bernard had been restored to competency and was now eligible to stand trial.
On nine previous occasions, he had been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial for the 2019 shooting deaths of three family members in Keeling. Bernard has been treated the past four-plus years in an effort to restore him to competency.
Bernard faces three first-degree murder charges and three weapons counts in the murders of his 62-year old mother, Joan Bernard—his 25-year old sister Emily Bernard Bivens and her 14-month-old son, Cullen Bivens. It happened in August of 2019 at the family’s home.
Hours after the murder, Bernard emerged naked from a wooded area shortly after police had given a media update. He ran to a wooded area and was arrested a short time later.
No trial date has been set according to the Circuit Court online docket.