The heartbroken father of two children who were killed when their mother — a Missouri teacher of the year — set fire to their home in a murder-suicide mourned their loss and said his kids were “the greatest gift.”
Jared Spader released a heartbreaking statement about the loss of his children, Jackson Spader, 5, and Millie Spader, 2, who perished in fire that also killed their mother, Bernadine “Birdie” Pruessner, and two older siblings, 9-year-old twins Ellie and Ivy Pruessner, at their home in Ferguson Monday.
“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,” he wrote, according to Fox 2 Now.
“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,” Spader wrote.
“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,” he added.
Spader said he and the twins’ dad, David Pruessner, “have to focus on honoring these four beautiful lives and we plan to do that together.”
The St. Louis County Police Department ruled that the blaze, which was initially described as “suspicious,” was a murder-suicide.
“It is believed that Bernadine intentionally set a mattress on fire as that was the point of origin for the fire,” police said. “A note was also left stating Bernadine’s intentions to take her life and the lives of her children,.
Authorities did not disclose the contents of the note.
Pruessner also posted on social media about living “each day like it’s your last,” police said.
“All my kids, peacefully sleeping in my bed…Knowing they are loved so fiercely that I’d do absolutely anything for them,” the Lewis & Clark Community College professor wrote. “This is my favorite moment.”
On Sunday, she shared a grinning selfie of the young brood.
“Us against the world. I’m so blessed to be their mama,” Pruessner captioned the photo.
“Making today one of those live each day like it’s your last kind of days!” she wrote, while describing her plans to take the kids to a soccer game and a reptile show.
Pruessner had been in an “awful place” due to “ongoing litigation” with her ex-husband and the father of her twin daughters, according to a statement from her loved ones on GoFundMe.
She and her ex-husband, who divorced in 2017, shared joint custody of Ivy and Ellie through last year, when he filed to block Pruessner’s plans to relocate to Creve Coeur, a St. Louis suburb about 10 miles away, according to court records.
David Pruessner was concerned about his ex-wife’s proximity to her mother, whom she had allegedly described as “psychotic,” according to the docs.
“The first cast that I’ve ever had where the parent objected to the other parent moving closer to the other parent,” Bernadine’s lawyer, Nathan Cohen, told The Post.
Pruessner also was facing a custody battle with Spader, her ex-boyfriend.
“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,” the mom of four’s family’s statement said.
The late mom was awarded the Missouri Teacher of the Year Award from the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence in 2013.
