Today we are going to discuss the deaths of two entire families at the hands of the person who they trusted most, their mother.
The first case we are going to discuss is that of Birdie Pruessner and her four children. Birdie set their home alight with them all in it in February 2024.
As some background, Bernadine ‘Birdie’ Pruessner was 39 at the time of this incident. She had four children – her twin 9-year-old daughters Ivy and Lillie Pruessner, and her children 5-year-old Jackson Spader and 2-year-old Millie Spader.
This is some info from Birdie’s online bio :
Birdie is an author, educator, urban farmer and mother of four. She’s been sharing advice with parents and caregivers about healthy eating habits, the Montessori method, and inviting kids into the kitchen for over ten years. She has lived in St. Louis county most of her life, Ferguson being home for the last 5 years.
Birdie is an adjunct professor and current EdD doctoral student with a Master’s Degree of Education (Early Childhood) and Master’s Degree of Business Administration. She is a Highly Qualified MODESE teacher, certified to teach Agriculture: 9-12, Elementary Education: K-6, English Language Arts: 5-9, Early Childhood Education, and Family & Consumer Science: B-12. Birdie is also a New Skills Academy Certified Health and Wellness Coach, endorsed by the American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence, and completed H.M.E.I. AMS Montessori (3-6) Training and Certification. She’s a recipient of the American Board’s Missouri Teacher of the Year award and author of Making it Montessori a Modern: A Modern Mom’s Manual. Birdie has partnered with Juice Plus+™ for nearly 8 years and loves sharing nutrition and teaching resources with children, parents, and fellow educators. Her dream is to make her non profit, Root Cause Agricultural Education Group, into a children’s farmstead where future first generation farmers can learn about the world of agriculture in a hands on environment.
Birdie has a small Clover kids chapter and wants to continue to serve the community through the Extension. A quote close to Birdie’s heart is from Maria Montessori, “There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature.. That the child may better understand and participate in the marvelous things which civilization creates.
“Her smile would light up the room. She was just one of those people that if you were in a bad mood and you talked to her, she would make you feel a lot better,” said Tyler Justice, a relative of Birdie’s said.
Tyler also spoke about Birdie’s children. “They were some of the smartest, brightest kids you could have, and full of life just like she was,” he said.
Birdie has two Facebook accounts, with the most recent being under the name Birdie Dorville.
There was a court case pending between Birdie and her ex, the father of the twins.
On February 19, 2024 there was a fire at Birdie’s home in Ferguson, Missouri.
A neighbor said he woke up at 4:30 a.m. and saw the glow of the flames through his window. The neighbor said he ran to the house and banged on the door to try to wake the family while his wife called 911.
Neighbor Jamie Young spoke about the fire.
“It felt like my heart just fell to the bottom of my stomach. And all I could really do was just pray,” she said.
No smoke detectors were heard going off during the fire.
Firefighters from four municipalities were called to combat the blaze, which was so powerful they had to back down several times. There are rumors online that the doors had been barricaded from the inside, making it harder for first responders to gain access.
Nobody in the house was able to survive the fire. Birdie and her four children all passed away. Three of the family dogs also perished. An animal rescue organization was able to rescue 11 rabbits and two cats.
Neighbors said that at first they didn’t think anyone was in the home when it caught fire as Birdie’s van was not parked in the drive.
The St Louis Police Department quickly called the fire suspicious and launched a criminal investigation.
‘We don’t really know the circumstances of what occurred here, but we are investigating,’ St. Louis County Police spokesperson Tracy Panus said.
Birdie and her children all died from smoke inhalation.
On February 22, 2024, it was announced that this was a murder/suicide and that Birdie had intentionally lit the fire that killed her and her children.
Police Sgt. Tracy Panus said in an email that investigators believe that Birdie set fire to a mattress. “A note was also left stating Bernadine’s intentions to take her life and the lives of her children,” Sgt Panus said.
The note had been left in the minivan.
Chief Troy Doyle of the Ferguson Police Department released a statement. This is an excerpt:
“The first responders met with a situation that no training manual could ever prepare them for. It was a stark reminder of the unseen battles some of our neighbors are fighting and the critical need for empathy, compassion, and support from all of us. This incident has profoundly affected those who served that day, showcasing the vulnerability we all share as human beings.
“In honoring Birdie and her children, let’s pledge to forge a community that’s not just safe but deeply connected, where every person feels valued and heard. It’s time for us to come together, to support each other, and to heal as one.”
Birdie’s family made a statement on their GFM page:
Tragically, the life of a wonderful mother and a brilliant educator and her four beautiful children were lost this week. They want to share with you that their daughter was happy, enjoyed life, was a success in all of her endeavors including her career as a professor in Early Education. She excelled most in her compassion and care for her children. Birdie lived for her children, and focused only on their happiness.
Birdie got to an awful place, one that resulted in tragic consequences. The family wants you to know that she got to that darkness as a result of spurious litigation and unfounded allegations by her ex-husband and her former boyfriend. When Birdie requested to relocate closer to her ex-husband’s residence, as her younger children became school age, her ex-husband filed a motion to prevent relocation. Her boyfriend who had not even established legal rights to the children, joined her former husband to prevent relocation. Along with those motions allegations and requests to change or diminished Birdie’s capacity as a woman and as a mother ensued.
She saw her children being used by their fathers as foils and she viewed the process and system for resolution of that those claims as cumbersome, tedious and never ending. Each day that Birdie would score a step forward, her ex-husband and or her former boyfriend would undertake an action to denigrate or undermine her role as a mother. Her ex-husband and former boyfriend were well funded by their incomes and assets and demonstrated a No Holds Barred when it came to attacking our daughter Birdie.
Birdie’s spirit succumbed to the inexorably demeaning process. She saw her children slowly and steadily suffering. She viewed the children as being used by their fathers as a means to hurt Birdie at their expense. Tragically, she made the wrong choice. Birdie was fiercely independent, rejecting our support accepting only our love.
The family believes that Birdie would never have gotten to this place without the unending attacks on her by her ex-husband and her former boyfriend. We wish that pretty would have reached out and received help. We hope that Birdie’s untimely death can be a reminder that even the strongest of us can use help in moments of crisis.
We hope that even those who think they have it handled understand that they are not immune from suffering and doubt. We are grateful for all the outreach from this community, law enforcement and First Responders. We have been lifted by the messages of Birdie’s friends, her community and everyone who knew her. We are especially grateful for the GoFundMe account and all efforts to assist us in this tragic loss. We will never get our daughter back. We will never see our grandchildren again. But if this tragedy could direct people to seek help in times of anguish and crisis, then perhaps Birdie’s life and not her death will stand for something.
Birdie’s lawyer, Nathan Cohen, was surprised at the tragic turn of events, stating that he never suspected Birdie to be a danger to herself or her children. “It’s really strange,” he told the NY Post.
“This entire week I’ve been asking my staff, did I miss it? She was one of the rare clients you get in family law that is not only upbeat, but was not putting on a show,” he added.
“Last week, the ex-husband pulled another move. The last thing I said [to her] was ‘Don’t worry, Birdie, we’ll kick this one down, too’…apparently I missed every sign,” the lawyer said.
Jared Spader also released a statement on behalf of himself and David Pruessner, according to KSDK.
“What I would want everyone to know about my two wonderful children is they are the greatest gift that a father could ever ask for. Jackson was the most incredible older brother—kind, intuitive and gentle. He loved his sisters, being outside, sports, art, and he was always so in tune with the needs of others. Millie was a funny, charismatic, sweet, and kind little sister who brightened every moment of every day for all of us.
“They were the two most beautiful souls that a father could ask for, and they were a gift to our lives in every way.
“As dads right now, we have to focus on honoring these four beautiful lives, and we plan to do that together. Our thanks go out to the community, people we know, and many we have never even met, who have shown us incredible amounts of support. We will continue to need it.”
There is a similar case out of Canberra, Australia.
In February 2018, Anne Wachera Muhoro killed her children, eight-year-old Ezvin Munene Mugera and five-year-old Furaha Murathime Muhoro, before starting a fire at their home and taking her own life.
Anne had been described by family and friends as intelligent, resolute, very determined and having a strong Christian faith, believing in using prayer to solve her problems or concerns.
Friends said Anne had lost weight and seemed aloof and depressed in the month leading up to the fire and spent most of her time working from home or on leave.
As some background into Anne’s relationship with the children’s father George Munene, she met him on a trip to Kenya in 2005. She then
sponsored his visa application for travel to Australia. They were married in
Canberra on 10 February 2007.
The relationship seemed volatile and the broke up and got back together a number of times. Anne did not believe in divorce due to her religious beliefs.
The couple went back and forth in the courts and by 2012, George had been given supervised contact with both children.
In May 2013, the Family Court made an order by consent between Anne and George, giving Anne sole parental responsibility for the children. George was
permitted to communicate with his children on specific days and times and was granted
supervised and unsupervised visits.
Anne’s friends said that she withdrew from the Kenyan community in Canberra due to her fear of George. She grew distrustful of other people in case they were friends with George.
In August 2015, during an unsupervised visit with George, one of the children fell and broke her arm. Anne notified police after and insinuated that George had assaulted the child. She also accused George of ‘trying to burn the house down and steal the children.’ George was investigated and cleared and the injury was determined to be an accident.
This back and forth continued on and on. By November 2017, Anne was refusing to give George access to the children. The last time he saw them was 21 October 2017. In December 2017, George filed a Notice of Risk in the Family Court. He asked for shared parental responsibility of the children and the matter was scheduled to be heard on February 19, 2018.
Anne’s friends said that from February 11, 2018, onwards, she seemed like she had become happy, joking, more relaxed, and
at peace. Some remarked that her behaviour was ‘out of character’ and ‘unusually happy’. They said that she did not display any of her usual anxiety about the upcoming court proceedings.
On February 16, 2018, Anne made a will.
This info about the contents of the will is from an inquest held in the case:
- the will appoints executors and trustees;
- those executors and trustees are also appointed ‘to be guardian(s) of any child of mine who is a minor at my death’; and
- the will gifts the sum of $5,000.00 to each of Ezvin and Furaha ‘if he [she]
survives me’.
On February 17, 2018, Anne took the children to Kmart to buy fun toys for them. Friends and family said that Anne usually only purchased educational toys and that this seemed out of character.
Anne dropped off a bag of documents to her pastor on that day. The pastor has said that he kept the bag sealed but believed it was full of documents that needed to be kept safe.
Later that day, after returning home, Anne called her mother in Kenya. Anne’s mother said that the call was not placed at convenient time for her, but Anne insisted that she speak with her grandchildren. This
was the last time the children were heard or seen.
There was a Samsung tablet found in the home. The last activity on it was
recorded as occurring at 8:56am on 18 February 2018, indicating its likely last time of use. The device was restricted to ‘child mode’ and contained applications for children’s games and education.
Computer records show that at about 3:37am on 19 February 2018, Anne
powered up and entered the password on her laptop. From then until 3:53am, she
used her laptop to remotely access her work computer and securely erased all her
workplace computer files. Police were not able to subsequently recover the deleted
files. She then logged into her bank account and paid a number of bills by internet
transfer, before logging off and powering down the laptop at 3:53am.
At 8.45am on February 19, Fire and Rescue responded to reports of a fire at Anne’s property in Bonner.
The bodies of Anne and her children were found inside. Anne died from the effects of fire – inhalation of products of combustion and burns. The causes of death for the two children were unable to be determined.
The Professor who conducted the autopsies said this about the deaths of the children:
I am unable to exclude possibilities such as more subtle forms of neck compression
and blockage of the oral and nasal orifices as a result of suffocation or smothering… I
emphasise that there is no specific evidence for such mechanisms in [these cases],
[although] no specific pathological features need be seen [in such cases]. This would
especially be the case in the setting of a fire with burns to the body which could mask
injuries … in association with upper air passage blockage.
Anne was found in the main bedroom of the house. She was found on the floor.
Ezvin was found in another bedroom. He was laying on his back in bed, holding a stuffed toy in his hands. The fire in this rom had been limited to the area of the bed and the wardrobe
Furaha was found in another bedroom. She was also in her bed, holding a stuffed toy in her hands. The bedding was pulled up over her waist. The bedroom had not been engulfed by fire and it appeared that there was mainly fire in the vicinity of the bed head and her head as her legs and feet were largely untouched.
Police conducted an investigation to determine who had started the fire.
They determined that there were no signs of forced entry and the house had been locked from the inside.
The electricity to the house had been turned off prior to the fire and the smoke detector battery had been removed.
Police also viewed CCTV from the neighborhood and Anne could be seen at 4.32am, going to the fuse box of the home. She did something at the box before she went back inside.
At 4.39am, there is a glow that can be seen in a window of the house, indicating that a fire was started. Within a minute, the lounge room was on fire and was consumed by smoke at 4.44am.
Police found torn up photos of the family in garbage bags at the residence.
Police examined the fuse box and found only DNA from Anne on it.
Read the inquest in the Muhoro case here:
SOURCE LIST
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13105255/missouri-mother-dies-house-fire-ferguson.html
CLIPS USED IN THE PODCAST