Marjorie Nugent was an elderly widow who fell under the spell of Bernie Tiede. Bernie was beloved by many in the town of Carthage, TX. He was actively involved with various community activities and was a well sought after mortician. He had a gift when it came to offering comfort to grieving families. Listen to the tale of an unlikely companionship that ended in murder.
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TuneInChildhood
Bernie Tiede was born August 2, 1958 to Bernhardt Tiede and Lela Mae Jester in Tyler, TX. Bernhardt Sr. moved with his family to the US in 1926 from Russia. He was a music professor and choral director working at various universities across TX. When Bernhart Sr. and Lela were married, she was 25 and he was 45. Bernie was born the next year. Sadly within the year, his mother died in a car accident. His father was driving and his mother was in the passenger seat.
Bernie says that his father never forgave himself for that accident and turned to drinking to soothe his sorrow. In 1963 Bernhardt remarried Clara Kathryn Wiley, 25. Bernhardt Sr. was 50 at this point. They had a child and moved to Abilene, TX. In 1973 Bernie’s father passed, leaving Bernie to live with his stepmother. To help support his family he started helping at the local funeral home after school. He started out doing yard work and later helped with services.
His sister says that he felt that it was his calling to help people which is why he liked working at the funeral home. He enjoyed being able to comfort people in their time of need. After high school, Bernie Tiede attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA. He also worked in a funeral home near there.
Carthage Texas
In 1985 Bernie moved to Carthage TX. Carthage is a small town of around 6,500 people close to the LA border. It is a fairly wealthy town. In 1995 it was voted as one of the 100 Best Small Towns in America.
Bernie Tiede always seemed to have a very warm personality and it seemed impossible for people not to like him. He was very involved in the First United Methodist Church and was a soloist in the choir. He taught Sunday school and sometimes he would fill in and give the sermon when the preacher was out.
His father passed down his musical talents and Bernie would perform in the community theater. He was often the star of the show. At Panola College, he was even asked to run performances for the drama department. “He’s just a super generous sensitive guy, and is everybody’s friend and just very helpful,” was the impression Richard Linklater got while researching for the film Bernie.
He was described as “peachy and sweet”. He had never shown a romantic interest in women and it was assumed and later confirmed that he was gay. Surprisingly, for a very religious and conservative community (we’re talking Texas conservative) this didn’t seem to cause a problem.
He began working at Hawthorn Funeral Home and he was very talented. Aside from preparing the dead for rest he would also perform and preach at the services. Again, he just had a warmth that allowed him to comfort families.
Marjorie Nugent
It was in 1990 while working in the funeral home, Bernie Tiede met Marjorie Nugent. Rod Nugent, Margorie’s husband, had passed recently.
Marjorie was born close to Carthage in 1915 and her father ran a grocery store. She attended LA Tech where she met Rod who had graduated recently with an electrical engineering degree. Rod took a job with Magnolia Oil which became Mobil Oil and moved around the South West throughout his career.
In 1989, at the end of Rod’s career, they moved back the Carthage so that Marjorie could be in her hometown. Rod bought a controlling interest in the local bank. They built a 6,000 sq foot home on the edge of town. Instantly they became one of, if not the richest family in Carthage. Their net worth was between $6 and $10 million.
Marjorie was well known in the town but didn’t have the best reputation.
“If she held her nose any higher, she would have drowned in a rainstorm.”
She seemed to be almost the opposite of Bernie, not participating in any civic activities or making contributions to local causes. She hated to spend her money around town. It seems that her reputation, like most things in a small town, was exaggerated. It was more that she didn’t go out of her way to be friendly, which meant a lot in a Carthage.
Often, he would visit the family of those who had passed in the days after the services to make sure they were coping and offer comfort. He did the same with Marjorie and that is where their friendship began.
Manservant?
It started with occasional dinner dates and as time went on, they spent more and more time together. Bernie was at her home pretty much full time caring for her. Marjorie wanted so much of his time that she asked him to leave his job and work for her as her business manager. At the time the townspeople tried to warn Bernie about what he was getting into by saying that she was already so possessive, what would happen when he was on the payroll?
Bernie accepted the position and the two did everything together. They started taking weekend trips to see Broadway shows and then began traveling the world. Bernie and Marjorie visited Germany, England, Scotland, and Wales. They went to Egypt to see the pyramids. Essentially, Bernie Tiede was acting as her manservant. He took care of her every need and in return he was getting cash, clothes, cars, planes, and flying lessons.
Bernie Tiede not only profited personally, but he took money to give back to Carthage. He provided scholarships and gave to local charities. Even before meeting Marjorie, Bernie had been a generous person, giving gifts around town when he could. Now that he had access to Marjorie’s funds, he could do much more.
He’d bought at least 10 cars for people around town, telling them to pay him back when they could. He bought a home for a struggling young couple and pledged $100,000 to the First United Methodist church for a new building.
Will is Changed
In 1993, Marjorie changed her will, leaving everything in her estate to Bernie and taking it from her son and grandchildren saying that they didn’t appreciate her. For years Bernie waited on her hand and foot, but by 1995 it was starting to take its toll.
He confided in his sister saying that he thought she was developing mild dementia. She had fired the gardeners because the flowers didn’t bloom at the right time and had Bernie shoot armadillos that were rooting up the yard while she would watch from the porch. His sister asked why he didn’t quit, and he said, “Because I am her only friend. I have to stay because I’m the only one she has.”
At Thanksgiving of 1996, Bernie went to see his sister and explained that Marjorie was in Ohio visiting her sister. At Christmas, he decorated the home for her but said that Marjorie was visiting in OH for all of the holiday season. In the early Spring, Marjorie wasn’t accepting visitors because she was ill and in bed, and in late Spring, she was in a nursing home recovering from a stroke. Everything seemed normal. Bernie was continuing to give to the community, and he performed with the local choir. He even took a trip with the Carthage Chamber of Commerce to view a Tex Ritter exhibit as he was a native of Carthage.
Marjorie’s Murder
Then in July 1997, a woman called the Carthage sheriff’s department saying she was worried and hadn’t seen Marjorie in a while. About a month later the Sheriff’s department spoke with Bernie who explained that she was staying in a hospital in Temple under a false name and didn’t wish to be bothered.
The deputies reached out to the hospital but there was no one matching Marjorie’s description. They called Marjorie’s son, who she hadn’t been speaking to for a while, and he came to the house with his eldest daughter to have a look around. His daughter noticed that the deep freezer in the garage had been taped shut and remarked how odd that was.
When they opened the freezer, under some frozen food was Marjorie Nugent, wrapped in a white sheet. Not wanting to disturb evidence the deputies lifted the entire freezer, hooked it up to a gas-powered generator, and put the whole thing in a pickup truck to drive it to Dallas for an autopsy.
Bernie’s Confession
Meanwhile, the search for Bernie was on. They found him with the local little league team preparing to take them and their families to dinner. He seemed surprised that the Sheriff’s department had questions for him and tried to keep his composure but quickly broke down.
He calmly admitted to shooting Marjorie on November 19th of the previous year with the gun she had bought him to shoot armadillos. When they asked Bernie why he shot her, he said that she had become hateful and possessive. Marjorie had been shot in the back 4 times. The first bullet hit her in the back and paralyzed her and she fell to the concrete. He then walked toward her on the ground and continued shooting.
Town’s Reaction
What do you think the reaction of the small town was to a man shooting this 81-year-old widow? The town was in an uproar of support for Bernie. The church prayed for him publicly every Sunday. A group of local women tried to raise the money for is $1.5M bond so the DA filed additional charges of theft (for having taken Marjorie’s money) to get the bond to $2.7M. The sheriff riled up the town even more when allegations were thrown around that Bernie had videotapes in his possession showing “misconduct” of local officials.
Defense
Some of his friends hired criminal defense attorney Clifton “Scrappy” Holmes who said, “Bernie’s ox is in a ditch.” His lawyer was trying to strike a plea bargain, which the DA was happy about because a lot of the locals were trying to find a loophole for Bernie.
In a later conversation with his sister, he said that there was no particular problem on that day. He started “thinking about having to live with her for the rest of her life, and I just couldn’t take it, I realized I couldn’t stand it another day.” Some question why he didn’t just get rid of the body, if she had just gone missing, they wouldn’t have been able to press murder charges. He also told his sister “I wanted to give Mrs. Nugent a proper burial. You know, everyone deserves a proper burial.”
The townspeople’s support was so great that the DA requested a change of venue and the trial took place in early 1999 in San Augustine. He said during the trial that he had never planned to shoot her, and when he did, it was like he had watched himself pick up a gun and fire. The jury took 90 min to convict him and he was sentenced to life in prison. The DA said, “We don’t forgive back shooters in Texas, especially someone who back-shoots a woman.”
Childhood Abuse to Blame?
After the movie “Bernie” was released a criminal defense attorney named Jodi Cole approached Bernie. From her perspective, she did not understand how someone so endearing and gentle could commit such a vicious crime.
When she investigated, she found multiple books about childhood sex abuse and coping. It was at this point that Bernie Tiede admitting to having been molested by his uncle from the age of 12.
Based on a report issued by Richard Pesikoff, a forensic psychiatrist who after interviewing Bernie said that “his ability to repress and compartmentalize the abusive events from childhood and adolescence was ultimately overwhelmed by the repeated and extensive psychological abuse he suffered from Mrs. Nugent. On November 19th he experienced a psychological dissociative experience.”
Davidson then had the original psychiatrist who testified at trial re-examine Bernie and he came to the same conclusion as Pesikoff.
New Sentence
Cole filed a motion for a new sentencing and Davidson backed her up explaining that if he had known about the sexual abuse he would have filed under “sudden passion” instead of premeditated which is the difference between 20 years and a life sentence. In May 2014 the original life sentence was set aside and Tiede was allowed to walk free on bond until the court of appeals made a decision.
The Nugent family was furious, saying that Davidson was swayed by celebrities and that is what changed his mind. Davidson responded saying, “My job is to follow the evidence, no matter where it leads.” Davidson recused himself for the sentencing trial, allowing Lisa Tanner and Jane Starnes to step in. The trial was moved from Carthage to Henderson to try to get an impartial jury.
The trial lasted 3 weeks and included over 80 witnesses. There was a mix of witnesses supporting Bernie but there was also evidence showing that over the years he had taken over $3M dollars from Marjorie and had faked deposit slips to make it look like money was going back into her account. Tiede’s attorney fought back stating that Marjorie made it clear she wanted him to spend the money however he wanted.
Verdict
On the final day of the trial prosecutors brought in their star witness, Michael Arambula. Arambula is a psychiatrist from San Antonio who interviewed Bernie Tiede weeks before the trial. He states that there was no connection between the sexual abuse and the murder. To him, Bernie had, “gotten over his episode of sexual abuse,” and the relationship with Marjorie, “didn’t resemble domestic violence.”
He went on to say that it was “cumulative intolerance” that led to the murder and that Bernie displayed signs of “narcissism” and “antisocial personality.” The jury deliberated for 4 hours and came back with a guilty verdict keeping the life sentence.
Resources
- Midnight in the Garden of East Texas
- Bernie in Hell
- Mortician Who Inspired ‘Bernie’ Movie Sent Back To Prison For Widow’s Murder
- Bernie Tiede case: The Mortician, The Murder The Movie
- Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede II
- Bernie (2011)