Birdie Dorville

Married a wheelchair-bound man. Went to IVF. Got twins.

Divorced in 2017. Had a relationship with a man who would go on to father two more of her kids.

Had a total of four children.

Self-described neurodivergent.

https://www.facebook.com/BirdsTheWord84/posts/10160527117311329

Went to Eureka Senior High. Graduated with Class 2003.

Lived in St. Louis, Missouri.

Missouri Teacher of the Year

Her final post on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/BirdsTheWord84/posts/10160780008206329

Author of the book “Making It Montessori”

Birdie Pruessner, Founder and Director of Chesterfield Community Preschool.

Bernadine Beache / Dr Birdie Beache

Her father is Cordell Beache.

FERGUSON, MISSOURI

The family killed in a house fire early Monday morning in Ferguson have been identified as a longtime area schoolteacher and her four children.

Fire officials said a neighbor called 911 at about 4:30 a.m. Monday when they spotted the fire at a home on the 500 block of North Clay Avenue in Ferguson.

A spokesperson with the St. Louis County Police Department said five people and three dogs were found dead inside the home.

The woman’s father, Cordell Beache, identified the victims as Bernadine “Birdie” Pruessner and her four children: 2-year-old Millie, 6-year-old Jackson and 9-year-old twin girls Ellie and Ivy.

Ellie Pruessner & Ivy Pruessner (twins), born March 2014
Jackson Spader 6yr
Millie Spader 2yr

The father of her twins was wheelchair-bound David Pruessner. After their divorce in 2017, she started dating Jared Spader, with whom she had two kids; Spader never married her.