After Their Son Is Murdered by a Neo-Nazi, a Family Turns Grief into Hope

The Silent Stones tell two sides of an epic story, the life and death of Blaze BernsteinThey are a symbol of violent murder, but also a promise of a better future. A monument to the best of humanity and the worst of human behavior.

The stones are located in a quiet corner of Borrego Park in suburban Orange County, California. There are hundreds of them, hand-painted with messages of tolerance, love and peace. “They come from all over the world,” says Gideon Bernstein. “It’s great to see the messages. They’re always positive,” adds Jeanne Pepper, Gideon’s wife.

Jeanne and Gideon are the parents of Blaze Bernstein. On January 2, 2018, Blaze, then 19, left his home. Sometime later that night, he was murdered in Borrego Park, stabbed 28 times; his body was buried there in a shallow, muddy grave.

By all accounts, Blaze was an exceptional young man: an Ivy League student at the University of Pennsylvania, considering a career in medicine, a writer and aspiring 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+.

They still live with that loss today. “I think about Blaze all the time, because when I see things, I wonder what Blaze would be doing today,” Pepper says.

Blaze died because of something much more fundamental. He was targeted and, investigators say, slaughtered because of who he was. was – a gay, Jewish man. Tony Rackaukas, then the Orange County district attorney, said it was a hate crimeAuthorities say Blaze’s killer was a neo-Nazi, a member of a small, violent hate group called “Atomwaffen,” whose beliefs were deeply anti-LGBTQ+ as well as virulently anti-Semitic.

The killer is Samuel Woodward. He had been a classmate of Blaze’s in high school. That’s about all Blaze and Woodward had in common, according to Raiah Rofsky, a classmate who tells Smith: “They were so different… as different as you can be.” Rofsky remembers Woodward’s unsettling presence. “He was very quiet, very withdrawn, he didn’t really talk to people.” Rofsky tells Smith that Woodward had a reputation. “Racist, homophobic, sexist.”

And when news broke that Blaze had disappeared while he was in California on winter break from college, and that the last person known to have seen him was Woodward, Rofsky’s reaction was immediate. “The only reason Sam met Blaze was either because he wanted to meet him or because he was planning to kill him.” That was in January 2018.

Detectives arrested Woodward just 10 days after Blaze disappeared from Borrego Park.

The past six years have been harrowing. There have been COVID-related delays and a series of defense attorneys raising questions in court about Woodward’s mental health and ability to defend himself. It’s left Jeanne Pepper and Gideon Bernstein frustrated and waiting for justice. “Slow justice is not justice,” Pepper said. “It’s not fair to the victims and it’s not fair to the deceased.” In 2022, Woodward was found competent to stand trial. Finally, in April 2024, The murder trial has begun.

Amazingly, after all they’ve been through, the couple has turned their grief into hope. They founded what they call “a kindness movement” – promoting “positivity” and spontaneous acts of kindness in Blaze’s name. They call their movement “BlazeItForward.”

In Borrego Park, where Blaze took his last breath, there is this extraordinary response: the hundreds of hand-painted stones, most left by complete strangers, in memory of Blaze Bernstein.

The Silent Stones is about tolerance and Blaze’s transformation into a kind of martyr; his murder is a sign of raging hatred. His spirit inspires LGBTQ+ people, wherever they live and with whom they love.

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

On July 3, 2024, Sam Woodward was convicted of first-degree murder with hate crime convictionHe faces a possible life sentence without parole. Sentencing is scheduled for October.