Shooter was a troubled man
More details released in murder-suicide
By SUZETTE PORTER and THOMAS MICHALSKI
| Article published on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007 |
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PINELLAS COUNTY – Oliver Thomas Bernsdorff, 36, told people he might kill his family and himself, and he asked for help from his church on Father’s Day to live up to the meaning of his name – bringer of peace.
Bernsdorff’s life did not end in peace. It ended in violence and tragedy.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 14, police believe that Bernsdorff went to his e-wife’s residence at Monterey Lakes Apartments in Largo where he shot and killed two women with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
The dead were identified as Bernsdorff’s ex-wife Jennifer Davis, 27, and Andrea Pisanello, 53.
Lt. Michael Loux, commander of Largo Police Investigations Division, was unable to release further details about the shooting.
“The number of shots, where the victims were shot and where they were in the apartment is not going to be released,” he said in an e-mail. “Our investigators believe that the two victims lived together as a couple and were involved in a relationship. Further comments will not be made in reference to their relationship.”
Bernsdorff also is believed to have killed his two children, Magnus Bernsdorff, 2, and Olivia Bernsdorff, 4, at his home on Powderhorn Drive the same morning.
Lt. Michael Loux, commander of Largo Police Investigations Division, said it would be some time before it was known whether he killed the women or children first.
“Investigators are obviously working under the assumption that Mr. Bernsdorff committed the homicides in our city and also in Clearwater,” Loux said. “It is not known which pair of homicides was committed first. This information will not be available any time soon.”
On Monday, police identified the man who shot himself on the Sunshine Skyway Friday morning as Bernsdorff.
Loux said during the course of investigating the deaths of the children in Clearwater later in the morning on Dec. 14, investigators received notification that the Florida Highway Patrol had attempted to stop a mini-van on a traffic stop. The mini-van had been reported to be driving erratically. The van pulled off the roadway and continued to drive into the mangroves and then into the water.
Police found the man inside dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
“It is also believed that the man who committed suicide during the Skyway Bridge traffic stop is Mr. Bernsdorff, however due to circumstances involved in the suicide it is quite possible that positive identification will have to be determined by DNA testing, which will take some time,” Loux said.
Bernsdorff and Davis divorced in October and he was given custody of the couple’s two children. Local media reports allege that there may have been marital abuse and financial problems.
“Our detectives spoke with persons, during the course of their investigation, who told them that Mr. Bernsdorff had made statements to the effect of ... if he could not have his family back the way they used to be, he would kill them and his self,” Loux said.
Police are still piecing together the set of circumstances that triggered the tragic chain of events over the weekend. No motive has been released.
Portrait of a troubled man
Bernsdorff had a master’s degree in education, a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice and was working on his doctorate degree. He taught adult education GED prep courses.
He describes himself on his My Space page as an “Instructor at SPC, Hippyish Spirit (you might have seen my multi-colored "happy bus" around town), lover of the ocean, laughter, cooking, and intellectual (and other types of) stimulation, SCUBA Diver, Writer, and stand-up philosopher. Single Custodial Dad of two great kids, (ages 2 & 4) who are simply amazing little human beings. Live in N. Clearwater, swim in my pool or the ocean every day, and am trying to get the hang of one day at a time.”
Local media reports point to a possible abusive marital relationship and one report said that Bernsdorff had blamed his wife for his problems. The couple’s divorce papers also show a history of financial problems.
In a sermon delivered to the congregation at the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater on June 17, Bernsdorff spoke of his early life and his relationship with his parents, particularly his father.
He was born Oliver Basil Schkolnik. His father was an international businessman, who had fled the Nazi persecution in Danzig and moved to New York. He was an international businessman. His mother was a native of Berlin Germany. They met in Columbia where his father ran a foam and rubber factory.
At age 1, his family fled from Columbia to the United States. He grew up in Omaha, Neb., and south Florida.
Bernsdorff told the congregation that he “never quite felt like an American,” during his youth. He said he had no sub-group to identify with and that his house was a “gumbo of art, music and philosophy from around the world.
“American culture was viewed as too materialistic and shallow. The message was there – ‘We’re not like them.’ OK, fine but then who the hell were we? And why were my parents raising me here if this wasn’t what it was all about? If I was to reject American culture, what was I to replace it with?”
According to the sermon, his father was away from home much of the time, and Bernsdorff described him as more of a “houseguest than family member.” Bernsdorff said he resented the time his father was away from home.
His parents divorced amiably “at some time, but I hardly noticed, as the amount of his presence in my life seemed unchanged,” Bernsdorff said.
His father died when he was 14 and he dropped his father’s name of Schkolnik and Basil from his own shortly after.
“My father was dead. I had actually hardly known him. What did it matter? I was angry … I rejected him and his name.”
When Bernsdorff delivered his Father’s Day sermon, his father had been dead for 22 years, yet he spoke of how his spirit still haunted him.
“This past year his ghost kept bumping into me,” he said.
He had recently read a letter from his father that his mother had shared with him years before but he “had made some excuse not to see it.” He said after reading the letter he was able to “accept his father’s humanity. Is it possible that for over two decades, I have seen my father through the eyes of that 13 year old boy?”
In high school, he rejected his first name of Oliver and tried several others before deciding he would go by Thomas, the name he had chosen to replace Basil when he was 14. He said he did not use Oliver again until 15 years later, when he met his wife, “and then at first only with her.
“She would be allowed to see the real me, even when the world out there and even I, could have “Tom.”
He said his relationship with his father haunted him as he became a father himself. He said he had decided that being a father would be the most important role in his life.
“I will not have my son and daughter try to piece together who I was through artifacts,” he said.
He said he wanted to give his children strong roots and heritage.
“Roots without wings tether a child to the ways of the parents. Wings without roots can often lead to freefall,” he said.
He gave his son the name of Schkolnik “an acknowledgement that has come almost 20 years after my rejection of it,” he said.
He ended his sermon that day, just about a month before he filed for a divorce from his wife, that he was content with his name of Oliver, which he said meant bringer of peace.
“May I do this not only in the world around me, but in my family and in my own heart and mind. May I always live up to this name, may my life reflect it, and I implore each of you, my brothers and sisters, to help me do just that.”
Revision: Updated to identify the man who committed suicide as Bernsdorff.
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Article published on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007
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