True Story Of Abilene Man Turned Convicted Murderer Hitting The Big Screen
By: Marlisa Goldsmith
Updated: May 4, 2012
Bernie Teide, a person no one would have ever guessed would be convicted of murder.
His former boss, Jack North, recalls, "Bernie was a real easy going guy."
His classmate, Judge Thomas Wheeler remembers, "He was always nice. Very even tempered and just always had a smile on his face."
Now there is a movie coming out that will allow the rest of the world to know the real Bernie Tiede.
"Bernie and I were involved in some of the same activities. We were on the speech team together and some drama productions together," says Wheeler.
Wheeler has nothing but good memories of the time the two shared at Cooper High School, so when he heard from a former Cooper teacher about what Bernie did, he was at a loss for words.
Reenacting the conversation, he says, "Did you hear about Bernie Tiede knowing that Bernie and I were friends and it was surreal through the call. It just didn't make any sense. It didn't match up, the way that I knew Bernie."
Just like Wheeler, North also got the news through phone, when a reporter called him from Carthage.
North says, "Told me that there had been a murder and I said Bernie got murdered? He said no, Bernie murdered somebody. That really shocked me."
The murder happened about 5 years after Tiede left North's Funeral Home.
He had moved to east Texas for mortuary school, the same place he met a woman that not many favored.
North says, "I think where he got in problems was he started giving some of the lady's money away. Made contributions to the college over there and bought people cars and things like that."
For the ones who remember Bernie being a charismatic individual, there are so many pieces to an incomplete puzzle.
That will soon change once his story hits the big screen.
Related Links:
His former boss, Jack North, recalls, "Bernie was a real easy going guy."
His classmate, Judge Thomas Wheeler remembers, "He was always nice. Very even tempered and just always had a smile on his face."
Now there is a movie coming out that will allow the rest of the world to know the real Bernie Tiede.
"Bernie and I were involved in some of the same activities. We were on the speech team together and some drama productions together," says Wheeler.
Wheeler has nothing but good memories of the time the two shared at Cooper High School, so when he heard from a former Cooper teacher about what Bernie did, he was at a loss for words.
Reenacting the conversation, he says, "Did you hear about Bernie Tiede knowing that Bernie and I were friends and it was surreal through the call. It just didn't make any sense. It didn't match up, the way that I knew Bernie."
Just like Wheeler, North also got the news through phone, when a reporter called him from Carthage.
North says, "Told me that there had been a murder and I said Bernie got murdered? He said no, Bernie murdered somebody. That really shocked me."
The murder happened about 5 years after Tiede left North's Funeral Home.
He had moved to east Texas for mortuary school, the same place he met a woman that not many favored.
North says, "I think where he got in problems was he started giving some of the lady's money away. Made contributions to the college over there and bought people cars and things like that."
For the ones who remember Bernie being a charismatic individual, there are so many pieces to an incomplete puzzle.
That will soon change once his story hits the big screen.
Related Links:
