Monday, May 14th 2018, 6:03 pm
The Department of Corrections confirms that Michael Bever and his brother Robert will not serve their sentences at the same prison because they are siblings and committed the crimes together.
That news comes as a woman, who believes she’s one of the last people to see the Bever children in public before the murders, shares her memories from that day.
Donnetta Hearn, the general manager at Broken Arrow Lanes, says Christopher and Daniel Bever, as well as the surviving sister, were part of the Summer 2015 bowling league. She also says she saw Robert bring his three younger siblings to bowl the day of the murders.
“They only needed one more game to win the league,” said Hearn. “They were improving every week.”
She says she remembers their last day vividly.
“We’re pretty sure we were probably the last people to see them in public,” stated Hearn.
Special Coverage: Bever Family Murders
Hearn says Michael and Robert bowled in the youth league when they were younger, too, but Robert was just there to chaperone that summer.
“When he was bringing the little ones, he stopped me and told me, ‘thank you for everything you did for us when we were younger and used to bowl here,’” she said. “I thought, that was really sweet. He was a nice guy.”
Hearn describes both Robert and Michael as kind, polite, and considerate.
She also says Robert “interacted with us that last day with glow sticks. He had glasses on and put the glow sticks on the back of his glasses and participated in our fun that day.”
Even now, Hearn has a hard time holding back tears when she things about the day she learned the two brothers had attacked the young bowlers.
“It was sad,” exclaimed Hearn. “You get attached to your children. Our youth bowlers, they’re our family.”
Now, she says, she pays extra close attention to the last words she tells her bowlers as they walk out the front doors.
“You never know when anybody’s last day is going to be. Ever,” stated Hearn.
A jury recommended Michael Bever serve five life sentences with the possibility of parole for the murders of his parents and three of his siblings.
A judge will decide in July if those sentences will run consecutively or concurrently.
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