The Virginia man accused of murdering his mother, sister and nephew — the mother-in-law, wife and baby of a Tampa Bay Rays minor league pitcher — had been battling mental health issues and snapped after reaching a “breaking point,” a relative said.

A cousin of Matthew Thomas Bernard — who is facing three counts of first-degree murder — said the slayings stemmed from Bernard’s ongoing mental instability.

“Unfortunately he was suffering with mental illness and came to a breaking point,” Bernard’s cousin, Jenn Stallard, told DailyMail.com in a statement. “Matthew is my cousin and I will love him and be there for if I am ever able to because what the public has seen was not him at all and his family, we would never imagine this could have happened.”

Stallard said she was reluctant to share more as the tragedy was “still extremely fresh” for Blake Bivens, a 24-year hurler for the Rays’ AA affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits. The pitcher reportedly learned of the slayings allegedly committed by his brother-in-law just hours before a doubleheader scheduled for Tuesday night in Tennessee.

Bernard, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday while running naked through a Virginia town after authorities found the bodies of Bivens’ wife, Emily, the couple’s 1-year-old son, Cullen, and Emily Bivens’ and Bernard’s mother, Joan Bernard, inside a home in Keeling, Virginia.

“As this is all still extremely fresh for our family, I remain cautious for our words not to be twisted nor our family’s name, including Matthew’s, not to be turmoiled any more than it already has,” Stallard’s statement continued. “My main concern would just be pushing the fact that mental illness doesn’t have a type and awareness of help when needed.”

Bernard’s uncle, Bryant Bernard, said his nephew was a student at Danville Community College who went to church several times a week.

“In wildest dreams, I never could have imagined it,” Bryant Bernard told WSLS. “Not him. Of all the people in this world. I never could have imagined it.”

Matthew Bernard told his mother last week that he was having bad dreams, but his uncle did not elaborate, WSLS reports.

A call seeking comment from the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office regarding a motive for the killings was not immediately returned.

An online fundraiser set up to help Blake Bivens in the deaths of his wife, son and mother-in-law has eclipsed $20,000 as of midday Wednesday.

“We are devastated by the loss of our friend and fellow baseball wife,” the website reads. “Our hearts are with her husband Blake and her family during this unimaginable time.”