Jeannie Bernstein
Appearances
20/20
The Last Text
We wanted to make sure that if there was any chance that Blaze was still alive, that we took it. I wanted to ensure that not one second was wasted.
20/20
The Last Text
We don't know what the conversations were that led up to his disappearance. So we want that information.
20/20
The Last Text
So if you're dealing with a situation like this, you don't want the person who you're hunting to know that you're onto them. Just help us find my brother.
20/20
The Last Text
I had a feeling as a mother. It was my intuition that something very bad had happened.
20/20
The Last Text
The kids like to goof off a lot. He would dress up. They love to dress up. They love to do puppet shows. And this is him at a school play when he was little. And we spent a lot of time at Disneyland. It's right here in our backyard. That's us sitting there. It was a great day.
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The Last Text
Around the clock. You know, it looked like war games in this house. We had terminals all over the dining room table and we were all just working.
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The Last Text
We had a lot of fun raising the kids together. It was fun. No one can take that away from us, so we still own that.
20/20
The Last Text
I see a lot of goodness here and I hope that we can bring more tolerance, more peace, understanding and love to everything that we do and make a better world for our children. Thank you.
20/20
The Last Text
This is a note somebody left us. Dear Lord, please watch over the Bernstein family and give them strength during this time. Please guide our police department to help them find the person or persons who took Blaze away. We still needed answers because we didn't have anybody in custody. In my mind, the hunt was still on.
20/20
The Last Text
This is the apartment building that my son moved into. He's on his first look at his mail. Five days before he came home to California.
20/20
The Last Text
And the kitchen was meticulous. We had every appliance and everything. I loved his apartment. It was so beautiful. It was so Blaze.
20/20
The Last Text
I'm delighted that Blaise had them in his life because I know that they all made him very happy.
20/20
The Last Text
I had an idea about it when he was probably early high school. I saw something on a phone that he didn't want me to see. And it kind of confirmed a suspicion that I had. And I think he knew that I had seen it.
20/20
The Last Text
Well, I remember that moment well. I was sitting in my room. I was watching it on television, and I just thought to myself, it's finally happened. Now what?
20/20
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He's the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. This can happen anywhere. You aren't safe from this type of hate.
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We are six and a half years since my son was killed. We are all going through our own personal hell right now. The prosecution rested last week, and we're now listening to defense witnesses.
20/20
The Last Text
I think that the first semester at school was difficult for him in terms of his social life there. He was used to being in a small school. You know, now he's a little fish in a big sea, and I think that he had to come to grips with that.
20/20
The Last Text
We are thrilled with the verdict, which holds Samuel Woodward accountable for the brutal, violent, painful murder of our son. Justice has been served. Thank you.
20/20
The Last Text
The jury said that they saw this as a hate crime and that hate was not going to get you anywhere in this world.
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They did. At the time, I thought it was infuriating because one of the things that they said in that letter was that both families are going through a hard time right now. I don't think that she had any idea how hard of a time we were having.
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The Last Text
This is a copy of a note that was left for us in the park by one of the jurors. She basically says in this letter to Blaze that she's really sorry that she didn't get to know him.
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The Last Text
He'd be doing something fantastic. I know that about Blaze and he'd be making people happy. That's what he did. Blaze is always on my mind. I think about him from the minute I wake up until I go to bed at night. He was my person.
20/20
The Last Text
This isn't just anybody. This is an Ivy League college student with his whole life in front of him.
20/20
The Last Text
I got up and the license door was closed and the housekeeper said, oh, don't wake him, let him sleep in. And I said, okay. I knew I had a dental appointment with him that day, so I decided I'd wait until my yoga class was over to try to contact him so I wouldn't wake him. And I tried getting ahold of him and he wasn't picking up, he wasn't returning my texts.
20/20
The Last Text
But I went to the dental appointment thinking he would show up, and I immediately called Gideon, and I said, he never showed up for his appointment. And he said, well, are you sure? He slept at the house last night. And that's when I... That's when we both kind of freaked out. I yelled. Oh, my God.
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The Last Text
Yes. Yes, we did. We had that, and I saw that the location services were turned off.
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He was adamant that 100% of the time that these kids are out on a booty call or doing something with, yeah, he told me.
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We would not have been able to figure it out without the help of kids his age that he grew up with.
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You become a sleuth. We would not have been able to figure it out without the help of kids his age. I remember showing the police, like, look what I have.
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And there were so many other pitfalls with this. I mean, if you take a screenshot of these communications because you think you're saving them, Well, that alerts the person that sent it to you.
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So if you're dealing with a situation like this, you don't want the person who you're hunting to know that you're onto them.
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This isn't just anybody. This is an Ivy League college student with his whole life in front of him, with a beautiful life waiting for him.