BY LINDA JUMP, FLORIDA TODAY
May 7, 2005

PALM BAY – A memorial fund has been established for the four hearing-impaired children of a deaf Palm Bay couple slain in Pennsylvania earlier this week.

Steven and Marilyn Bergman were shot and killed, and Marilyn’s brother Thomas Simich Jr., who also is deaf, is accused of killing them after a family dispute over the sale of their parents’ home.

Donations for their children, Eric Bergman, 23, of Melbourne; Amelia “Amy” Bergman, 19, who attends a Florida college; Ryan Bergman, 18, who attends the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine; and Britta, 15, who attends the National Deaf Academy in Mount Dora can be sent care of the Washington Mutual Bank, 115 Palm Bay Road N.E., West Melbourne, FL 32904.

Virginia Bergman, Steven’s mother, said the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary would have been June 7. “They complemented each other and did everything together,” she said.

She said the two were active with the Deaf Ministry at Ascension Catholic Church in Melbourne, and her son, a retired postal clerk, enjoyed weightlifting, fishing and carpentry. “He built his own shed,” she said.

Marilyn ran Marilyn’s Superior Cleaning Service.

One of Marilyn’s clients for five years was Carol Hoffman of Indialantic. “The language barrier was always there, but she was a lovely person,” she said.

Bill Vidonic and Robyn Russo, Times Staff
05/04/2005

FREEDOM – Tom Simich Sr. watched in horror Monday as his son raised a
20-gauge shotgun inside their Freedom home and in quick succession shot his
brother-in-law once in the back and then his sister in the chest, according
to Rochester police.

The frail, elder Simich, 80, was able to wrest the gun from his son, Thomas
Jr., 46, before he could fire again, and then tucked the gun between the
refrigerator and a cupboard while his son calmly walked into his bedroom,
according to Rochester police officer Sam Piccinini.

When police and medics arrived a short time later, Piccinini said, they
found Tom Simich Sr. and his wife, Dorothy, 83, wandering around the living
room, while the life of their daughter, Marilyn Bergman, 43, ebbed away and
that of their son-in-law, Steven Bergman, 47, had already ended.

“I don’t think reality had set in yet,” Piccinini said Tuesday. Police and
medics scrambled to get the shooting victims and the elder Simiches out of
the home, starting a tense 90-minute period that ended peacefully when Tom
Simich Jr. walked outside and surrendered.

The younger Simich remained in the Beaver County Jail on Tuesday afternoon,
charged with two counts each of criminal homicide and reckless endangerment,
and has confessed to the shootings, Piccinini said.

“He wrote, ‘We had an argument, I got my gun, and I shot them,’ ” Rochester
police officer Jim Siget said.

What police can’t figure out is why, said Piccinini and Sgt. Joseph DeLuca,
acting police chief. The Bergmans had arrived from their Florida home on
Friday to discuss the possibility of the Simiches selling their home at 239½
Fifth Ave. There were no decisions made, DeLuca said, and they don’t think
there was a fierce argument, as Simich Jr. indicated.

As the family discussed several possibilities, including whether the
Simiches would move to Florida with their daughter or buy a smaller home in
Beaver County, Tom Simich Jr., without warning, went into his bedroom around
3 p.m., retrieved the shotgun and began firing, police said.

“Dad was two feet away and watched his daughter and his son-in-law being
killed by his own son,” DeLuca said.

And police said that all indications were that no matter where the Simiches
would have moved, they had always planned to take their son with them,
DeLuca said.

“He loved that spot,” DeLuca said, “and he obviously didn’t want to leave.”

Piccinini said Simich, who is deaf and does not speak, is able to
communicate by writing, and investigators are using interpreters from the
Center for Hearing and Deaf Services in Pittsburgh to help in the
questioning at the Beaver County Jail.

Simich’s parents are also deaf and nearly mute as were his sister and
brother-in-law, police said, and that presented several problems in the
response to the shooting and the aftermath, police said.

When Medic Rescue employees Dominic Banscchini and Michael Guraly responded
to the house for a report of a person having difficulty breathing, they
found the Bergmans shot, and the elder Simiches initially did not
communicate that their son was still in the house.

Once the house was safely evacuated, Piccinini said, Simich Jr. refused to
answer the phone or communicate by computer, but then appeared outside the
house around 4:30 p.m. and was arrested.

DeLuca said that when Simich’s father was asked why his son shot the
Bergmans, a bewildered Simich indicated he didn’t know why.

Piccinini said as far as police could determine, officers reported to one
minor domestic disturbance at the house several years ago, but did not have
additional information on the incident.

Simich Jr. has only one criminal case in Beaver County. In 1994, he pleaded
guilty in a case involving the illegal sale of a prescription drug. The
details of that case, and Simich’s sentence, were not available Tuesday.

Siget said that Simich told police he was a custodian at an area car
dealership and had graduated from a Pittsburgh school for the deaf.

Simich’s cousin Rich, 38, of Monaca said that the whole family was still in
shock Tuesday. Hudock said that while he knew Simich was taking medication
to treat mental illness, he hadn’t shown any signs of aggression in the
past.

“I know they changed his medication recently, but we don’t know if that was
the cause of it.” Hudock said. “I know he had problems and I know he had
issues, but when you are family, you tend to overlook those things.”

Piccinini would not say whether Simich was suffering from any mental
illness. He said Simich did not appear to be intoxicated or under the
influence of drugs when he surrendered Monday, but blood test results were
not available Tuesday afternoon.

Hudock said the family had discussed moving before – possibly to an
assisted-living facility nearby – and while Simich had seemed upset, he
showed no signs that a move could incite him to violence.

“I know he didn’t want to leave his home where he grew up – maybe he thought
they were going to take them far away,” Hudock said. “I don’t know how to
explain it. He just wasn’t in his right mind.”

Liz Bell, the wife of Tom Simich Jr.’s stepbrother, Warren Bell, said
Tuesday that Simich has suffered delusions and other mental problems for
years, but she did not know what medication he had been taking or know a
specific diagnosis.

Liz Bell said that the elder Simiches would rarely be home during the day,
spending time walking each day at the Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township
and running errands. Tom Simich Jr., on the other hand, Bell said, would
sleep all day and stay awake all night.

Bell, of Rochester Township, said Simich, who once lived in California, is a
divorced father of two children in their late teens or early 20s. She did
not say where his children or ex-wife live.

Court officials are preparing for Simich’s preliminary hearing Friday, with
Piccinini saying that two interpreters would be made available, one for
Simich and one for his family.

©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2005

Bergman, Marilyn Ann
05/05/2005

PALM BAY, FLA. – Marilyn Ann Bergman, 43, of Palm Bay, Fla., died
unexpectedly Monday afternoon, May 2, 2005, in the emergency room of The
Medical Center, Beaver.

Born June 16, 1961, in Rochester, she was the beloved wife of the late
Steven Morris Bergman, and a beloved daughter of Thomas F. Sr. and Dorothy
Alice Pitzer Simich, of Freedom. She was a graduate of the Western
Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and was the owner and operator of Marilyn’s
Superior Cleaning Company in Florida.

In addition to her parents, she is survived by her father-in-law and
mother-in-law, Jack Morris and Virginia M. Twele Bergman, of Palm Bay, Fla.;
her children, Eric, Amy, Ryan and Britta Bergman, all of Palm Bay, Fla.; two
brothers, Thomas F. Simich Jr. and Warren Bell; a granddaughter, Emma
Bergman, and nieces and nephews.

Friends will be welcome Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. in the HALL
ROCHESTER FUNERAL HOME INC., 378 Jefferson St. at Ohio Avenue. Additional
visitation and services will be held in Florida at the Palm Bay Funeral
Home, 950 Malabar Road S.E., Palm Bay, Fla. 32907.

A memorial fund will be accepted at Washington Mutual Bank, Palm Crossings
Financial Center 1710, 115 Palm Bay Road N.E., West Melbourne, Fla. 32904.

©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2005

Bergman, Steven Morris
05/05/2005

PALM BAY, FLA. – Steven Morris Bergman, 47, of Palm Bay, Fla., died unexpectedly Monday afternoon, May 2, 2005, in Freedom.

Born Oct. 9, 1957, in Wilkinsburg, Pa., he was the beloved husband of the
late Marilyn Ann Simich Bergman and a beloved son of Jack Morris and
Virginia M. Twele Bergman, of Palm Bay, Fla. He was a graduate of the
Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and was a retired director/clerk
for the U.S. Postal Service.

In addition to his parents, he is survived by his father-in-law and
mother-in-law, Thomas F. Sr. and Dorothy Alice Pitzer Simich, Freedom; his
children, Eric, Amy, Ryan and Britta Bergman, all of Palm Bay, Fla.; two
brothers and their wives, Mark J. and Connie Bergman, Fort Pierce, Fla., and
Barry P. and Suzanne Bergman, Palm Bay, Fla.; a granddaughter, Emma Bergman,
and nieces and nephews.

Friends will be welcome Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. in the HALL
ROCHESTER FUNERAL HOME INC., 378 Jefferson St. at Ohio Avenue. Additional
visitation and services will be held in Florida at the Palm Bay Funeral
Home, 950 Malabar Road S.E., Palm Bay, Fla. 32907.

A memorial fund will be accepted at Washington Mutual Bank, Palm Crossings
Financial Center 1710, 115 Palm Bay Road N.E., West Melbourne, Fla. 32904.

©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2005

May 4, 2005
Robyn Russo , Times Staff

They lined the sidewalks, waiting for news. And as they heard reports that Thomas Simich Jr. had shot and killed his sister and brother-in-law, curious neighbors tried to piece together information about the family.

Was it that quiet, older couple? They were deaf, weren’t they? They always seemed nice, people said, but no one could remember much about them. Even though many residents milling around the scene said Freedom is a safe, tight-knit town where everyone knows everyone else, it seemed no one really knew the Simich family.

“We knew them, but only to wave ‘Hi,’ ” said Bob Golletti, who lives across the street at 236 Fifth Ave. and has known the family since 1975.

Since the Simich family is deaf and does not speak, neighbors said the family kept to themselves, somewhat cut off from other residents. Professionals who work with the deaf and hearing-impaired say that such language barriers can leave the deaf feeling isolated.

Don Rhoten, superintendent for the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh, which Thomas Simich Jr. attended, said that students often choose to enroll in the school because they are lonely in public schools.

“Many of our students enroll in middle school years because they feel isolated in their usual schools,” Rhoten said. “We get kids from all over the state. They were just dying for some social interaction. And they thrive here.”

Rhoten said that while he wasn’t working at the school when Simich attended, he doesn’t think frustrations or isolation would be the main impetus for his actions. Rhoten said School for the Deaf students usually adjust well to life in a mainly hearing world after they graduate.

Rhoten said he cautions people against connecting the Simich family’s deafness with Monday’s shootings.

“You hear about these situations every day on the news, and most of the time, it’s a hearing family,” Rhoten said. “But it’s a tragedy, and it’s a tragedy whether it is deaf family or a hearing family.”

Dianne Gallagher, director of the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services in Pittsburgh, said language barriers can become especially problematic in such emergency situations. Her organization located one of their certified interpreters for Rochester police Monday evening so Simich could give a statement.

“In an emergency situation, translating becomes a very big responsibility,” Gallagher said. “We try to send the most skilled person we can because they are more likely to understand a deaf person in the throes of an emergency.”

Gallagher said the National Association of the Deaf and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf both offer certification, although the organizations are bringing their certification programs together. Gallagher said her organization relies mainly on free-lance interpreters and sends out approximately 80 interpreters a month.

Robyn Russo can be reached online at rrusso@timesonline.com.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005
By Gabrielle Banks and Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Thomas Simich 1979 senior picture

For some who have known the Simich family of Freedom, the saddest part of Monday’s double slaying was that the man who is charged with fatally shooting his sister and brother-in-law was so close to them for most of his life.

Thomas Simich Jr., 46, is being held in the Beaver County Jail on two counts of criminal homicide and two counts of reckless endangerment. He is charged with fatally shooting his sister, Marilyn Bergman, 43, and her husband, Steven, 46.

Simich has admitted to the shootings, according to a police affidavit.

What makes the tragedy even more unusual is that virtually everyone involved, including Simich’s parents, are deaf or partially deaf.

But what has stunned relatives and family members even more is that Simich was close with his sister and had been friends with Steven Bergman since grade school.

When they were teenagers, they raced cars and worked out together. Later on, Simich Jr. introduced Bergman to his sister.

Don Rhoten, superintendent of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood, said several members of the Simich family have links to the school.

Thomas Simich Jr. graduated in 1979. Simich’s sister, Marilyn, graduated in 1980 and her husband graduated in 1978.

In 1981, Simich Jr. married Lisa Hlavay, a 1979 graduate of the school. They were divorced in 1986. They had two children, who both attended the school.

Simich’s parents, Thomas Sr. and his wife, Dorothy, also attended a senior citizens’ group that met regularly at the school, Rhoten said.

Marilyn Simich Bergman (’80) and Steve Bergman (’78)

Reached yesterday at her home in Palm Bay, Fla., Steven Bergman’s mother, Virginia, said she and her husband and the couple’s four children were still trying to grasp what happened on Monday.

“We can’t seem to get out of our minds what they both went though when it happened,” she said.

Steven Bergman was born in Wilkinsburg in 1957 and spent part of his childhood in Turtle Creek. He is survived by two brothers who are also partially deaf.

In Florida, Bergman worked as sorter for the U.S. Postal Service and his wife ran her own business cleaning beach homes. He lifted weights and liked gardening. His mother Virginia Bergman said “he had just built a beautiful shed with this own hands.”

“They were in tune with each other, talking and signing,” she said of her son and his wife.

A cousin, Richard Hudock, spent most of his childhood hanging out with Simich Jr., his sister, Marilyn, and Steven Bergman.

“I never really knew two people that were more in love than Marilyn and Steve were,” Hudock said.

Hudock said the Simich siblings had a typical sister-brother relationship: “They had their spats and they both aggravated each other equally.” During the decades the siblings lived apart as adults, they maintained regular contact through TTY technology.

Marilyn and Steve Bergman had been visiting her parents, Thomas Simich Sr., who is partially deaf, and Dorothy, who is deaf, since Friday. At the time of the shooting, the family was discussing plans to sell the family home on Fifth Avenue.

After half a century in the house, the elder Simiches were planning to move to an assisted living facility in Beaver, Hudock said, because the steep front steps were hard for his aunt, Dorothy, who is 83.

In the midst of this discussion, Simich Jr. pulled out a 20-gauge shotgun and began firing. His parents witnessed the entire scene from close range. Marilyn Bergman’s blood splattered onto her father’s shirt.

Hudock said Simich Sr. told him that Steven Bergman’s last act was to try to shield Marilyn from harm.

When the shooting ended, Simich Sr. grabbed the shotgun and ran next door with his wife to get help from a neighbor.

According to a police affidavit, paramedics found Marilyn Bergman on her back with an apparent bullet wound to the neck. She was taken to The Medical Center, Beaver where she was pronounced dead. Steven Bergman was found dead at the front door of the home.

On Tuesday, the steps to the home were still covered with what appears to be a trail of blood.

Hudock said that Simich Jr. was beaten up and mugged about 20 years ago, while he was living in California and suffered brain injury. He later “got involved with the wrong people and he got addicted to drugs,” he said.

When his marriage ended in 1986, Simich Jr. moved back home with his parents. Hudock said he last saw Simich a few weeks ago but said Simich did not recognize him.

He had been going to therapy and was taking “lots of medication,” Hudock said. Simich’s parents told Hudock the doctor recently changed his dosage.

“His dad thinks that’s what caused [the shooting].”

Dr. Douglas Chen, director of the hearing and balance center at Allegheny General Hospital, said it was unusual for a number of close family members to have hearing impairments.

Michael Karchmer, director of the Gallaudet Research Institute in Washington D.C., said about 5 percent of deaf children have at least one deaf parent, though the percentage is higher if hard-of-hearing children are included.

A 2001-2002 Gallaudet survey of school children with impaired hearing found that about 9 percent had at least one parent who was deaf or hard of hearing. About 13 percent of children surveyed had deaf or hard-of-hearing siblings.

When multiple family members have impaired hearing, “it’s more than likely a hereditary type of problem,” Chen said.

A number of genetic factors can produce hearing problems, he said.

Often, impaired hearing occurs in a child when neither parent has a hearing problem, Chen said. In those cases, each parent typically carries a recessive trait for impaired hearing.

Hudock said he believes the possible move from his boyhood was too much for his cousin. “I think it actually hit Tommy that they were going to move.”

“I honestly don’t think he understands what he did and how bad it is,” Hudock said.

(Gabrielle Banks can be reached at gbanks@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1370. Joe Fahy can be reached at jfahy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1722.)

Tuesday, May 03, 2005
By Gabrielle Banks, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rochester police officers escort Thomas Simich Jr. to his arraignment yesterday.

After a brief standoff, police yesterday afternoon arrested a 46-year-old man who cannot hear or speak in the shooting deaths of his sister and brother-in-law at the family’s home in Freedom.

The shooting occurred in the home where the suspect, Thomas Simich Jr., lived with his parents, Thomas Simich Sr. and his wife, Dorothy, who are in their 70s. The parents, who were in the house at the time of the shooting and who also cannot hear or speak, fled the home after the shots were fired and were not injured.

Rochester police Sgt. Joe DeLuca said Simich became upset while family members were discussing the possibility of selling the family home so the parents could move to another location.

“It was about selling the house, and he wouldn’t have it,” said DeLuca.

DeLuca said an argument began and Simich Jr. grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun and, from close range, shot his sister in the back and his brother-in-law in the chest.

Marilyn Simich Bergman (’80) and Steve Bergman (’78)

The victims were identified as Marilyn Bergman, 43, and her husband, Steven, 46. Like Simich and his parents, they could not hear or speak. They were visiting from Palm Bay, Fla. DeLuca said Simich Sr. and his wife tried to get help from the next-door neighbor but had difficulty explaining what had happened.

Due to the communication problems, paramedics responded to a call from the neighbor that somebody at 3291/2 Fifth Ave. was having difficulty breathing. When they arrived at the scene, they found the body of a male gunshot victim at the threshold to the house.

They found Simich’s sister inside, and rushed her to Beaver Medical Center where she died shortly afterward.

Police then converged on the scene, fearing they may be facing a hostage situation. DeLuca said officers tried to communicate with the suspect by phone but to no avail.

After learning about Simich’s hearing problems, they summoned an interpreter from the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services in Pittsburgh and stayed outside. Simich, who is known around the neighborhood as “Tommy,” eventually came outside and surrendered without incident.

“He saw us out the window and surrendered,” DeLuca said.

DeLuca said police also had difficulty communicating the news to the victims’ four children, who also cannot hear or speak and who reside in Florida. They are ages 14, 16, 18 and 23.

Simich and his sister had grown up in the house overlooking the Ohio River. A neighbor, Merle Waddingham, said the family had lived there for more than 50 years.

A cousin, Richard Hudock, 38, said Simich Jr. taught him to play baseball and football and “was like a brother to me.” Hudock said he learned sign language when he was 4 years old, so he could communicate with his older cousin.

Thomas Simich 1979 senior picture

Simich Jr. did not have a job but was received disability. He also was an avid hunter and fisherman.

Freedom Mayor Donald Zahn, who lives two blocks away from Simich home, said he cannot remember the last time there was a homicide in the Beaver County community.

He knew the Simich family but he and several other neighbors said they kept to themselves.

“You live in a small town and a crime-free part of town and you never expect something like this,” Zahn said.

Deaf Day at Kennywood
Hosted by the Alumni Association of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

July 10, 2005

Ticket cost: $22.00 each person – you save $7.00
$15.00 Seniors (55+)
Free: 2 years old and under

Where: Pavilion #2 (All day)
Optional: Bingo with prices, catered meals, unlimited drinks, and desserts