A California Family’s Journey: From Grief to Hope after Losing Their Son to a Neo-Nazi | Family

The silent stones inform each side of an epic story, the life and demise of Blaze Bernstein. They are a marker of a violent homicide, but in addition a promise within the perception of a higher future. A monument to the perfect of humanity, and the very worst of human habits.

You can discover the stones in a tranquil nook of Borrego Park, in suburban Orange County, California. There are a whole bunch of them, hand-painted, with messages of tolerance, love and peace. “And they're getting sent to us from all around the world,” says Gideon Bernstein. “It's great to see the messaging. It's always positive,” provides Gideon's spouse Jeanne Pepper.

Jeanne and Gideon are the dad and mom of Blaze Bernstein. On Jan. 2, 2018, then-19-year-old Blaze left his home. Sometime later that evening, he was murdered in Borrego Park, stabbed 28 instances; his physique buried there in a shallow, muddy grave.

By all accounts, Blaze was an distinctive younger man — an Ivy League scholar on the University of Pennsylvania, contemplating a profession in drugs, a author and budding chef. “I call him a unicorn,” Jeanne Pepper tells “48 Hours” correspondent Tracy Smith in “The Life and Death of Blaze Bernstein,” airing Saturday, Sept, 21 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Theirs is a loss they proceed to stay with to at the present time. “I think about Blaze all the time, because when I see things, I think to myself, ‘what would Blaze be doing now?'” says Pepper.

Blaze died due to one thing way more basic. He was focused, and in accordance to investigators, slaughtered, due to who he was – a homosexual, Jewish man. Tony Rackaukas, then the Orange County district legal professional, says this was a hate crime. Authorities say Blaze's killer was a neo-Nazi, a member of a small violent hate group known as “Atomwaffen,” whose beliefs had been deeply anti-LGBTQ + in addition to virulently antisemitic.

The killer is Samuel Woodward. He had as soon as been Blaze's classmate again in highschool. That's about all Blaze and Woodward had in frequent, in accordance to classmate Raiah Rofsky, who tells Smith, “They were so different … about as different as you could be.” Rofsky remembers Woodward's unsettling presence. “He was very quiet — very withdrawn, didn't really talk to people.” Rofsky tells Smith Woodward had a popularity. “Racist, homophobic, sexist.”

And when phrase unfold that Blaze had gone lacking whereas house in California on school winter break, and that the final particular person identified to have seen him was Woodward, Rofsky's response was instant. “The only reason I could think of Sam meeting up with Blaze is because either number one, he wanted to hook up with him, or two, because he was planning to murder him.” That was January 2018.

Detectives arrested Woodward simply 10 days after Blaze disappeared in Borrego Park.

It has been six painful years. There had been COVID delays, and a revolving door of protection legal professionals who raised questions with the courtroom about Woodward's psychological well being and talent to defend himself. It all left Jeanne Pepper and Gideon Bernstein annoyed and ready for justice. “Slow justice is no justice,” says Pepper. “It's not fair to victims and it's not fair to the deceased.” In 2022, Woodward was discovered competent to stand trial. Finally, in April 2024, the homicide trial started.

Remarkably, after all they've endured, the couple turned their grief into hope. They based what they name “a kindness movement” – selling “positivity” and random acts of kindness in Blaze's title. They name their motion “BlazeItForward.”

In Borrego Park, the place Blaze took his final breath, there may be that extraordinary response — the a whole bunch of hand-painted stones, most left by whole strangers, within the reminiscence of Blaze Bernstein.

The silent stones converse of tolerance and Blaze's transformation into a form of martyr; his homicide a marker of rabid hate. His spirit provides inspiration to LGBTQ + folks, wherever they stay and with whomever they love.

Jeanne Pepper tells Smith, “Blaze's life mattered and he has a legacy, to create good news, to inspire people to be better, to be kinder. And to work on repairing the world, because it's not too late and we can make it better.”

On July 3, 2024, Sam Woodward was discovered responsible of first-degree homicide with a hate crime enhancement. He faces a attainable sentence of life in jail with out parole. Sentencing is scheduled for October.