Murder by Church Leaders or Their Staff – 2010 – 2019

Murder by Church Leaders of Their Staff – 2010 – 2019

These are just a few of the killing incidents we have identified. Most entries on these pages only contain arrests, charges, or indictments, which may eventually be reduced, dropped, or expunged, and as such, these actors may in fact be innocent in a court of law. These are just a few of the murders, attempted murders, and justifiable homicides we have identified. There are many more to be uploaded, so please check back.

Click on the link to read the report.

2019

Victor Mateo (pastor) charged for allegedly running his wife over with a car and then hacking at her with a machete. Christian Congregation of The Redeemer, Bronx, New York, NY. Pastor arrested for allegedly killing estranged wife in front of neighbors, grandchildren.
Keith Smith (lead Christian educator) arrested for murder of his wife; “conspiracy to commit murder, assault, and conspiracy to commit assault, as well as a dangerous weapon charge.” Helping Hands Ministries, Churchville, MD. Husband, stepdaughter charged in woman’s death they blamed on panhandler awaiting extradition from Texas.
James Eric Crisp (pastor) confessed to police he had killed a man for whom he had helped search. He had become a “believer” after the killing. The pastor had a history of drug offenses. He was charged with manslaughter stating he killed the man during an argument. God’s House of Hope, Monroe County, MS. Mississippi pastor confessed to killing a father – after pretending to help family look for him, daughter says.

2018

Kenneth Sharpton Glasgow (pastor) arrested for murder. The Ordinary People’s Society, Dothan, AL – Already charged with murder, Dothan pastor arrested again.
Robert Lee Harris (church elder) arrested for strangling his wife (associate pastor) and disposing of her body in trash bags. Repairers KC [church], Overland Park, KS. Overland Park minister was strangled by her church elder husband, court docs say.
Thomas Bruce (pastor) charged with first degree murder and other charges after he shot a woman in the head at a religious supply store. He also is alleged to have sexually assaulted two others. Calvary Chapel of Cape Girardeau (dissolved in 2007), Cape Girardeau, MO. Report: Suspect in murder, sex assaults at religious supplies store was a pastor.
Albert Weathers (pastor) arrested for shooting Kelly Stough (aka Keanna Mattel), a transgender sex worker. Unidentified church, Metro Detroit area, Detroit, MI. Pastor to be tried for murder of transgender woman.
Rickey Smith (deacon) charged with killing a victim in a road rage incident. St. Stephen’s Church of God, San Diego, CA. Chula Vista road rage stabbing suspect Rickey Smith charged.
Marco Antonio Moreno (parishioner) was arrested for killing one and stabbing three others during church services at their pastor’s home. 1 killed in church service stabbing at Corpus Christi home, suspect arrested. Kingdom Acts Ministries International, Corpus Christi, TX. Suspect arrested after stabbing multiple people at religious gathering.

2017

Matthew Phelps (aspiring pastor) pleaded guilty to stabbing his wife to death. He stabbed or cut her 123 times and had an obsession with serial killers. Studied at Clear Creek Baptist, Bible College, Pineville, KY. Victim was Sunday school teacher for Hope Lutheran Church, Wake Forest, NC. ‘I feel like a monster’: Raleigh man who once blamed cold medicine for making him stab his wife to death pleads guilty.
Lyndon Jerome Burkett (pastor) arrested for shooting his wife at their home. Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church-Sandtuck , Helena, AR. Police: Pastor kills wife, attempts suicide in Helena-West Helena.
Gene Autrey Morris, Jr. (associate pastor) was arrested after he shot a man in a park. Charges were later dropped and the death was ruled self-defense. Morris did however plead guilty for “unlawful carrying of a pistol” because he did not have a permit for it. Second Nazareth Baptist Church, Columbia, SC. No murder charge in Finlay Park shooting.
Christopher Gattis (youth ministry director) pleaded guilty for killing three family members on Thanksgiving. Grace Lutheran Church, Chester, VA. Ex-Virginia youth pastor gets 58 years in triple slaying.
Calvin Eugene Clopton (former pastor) arrested for feticide during a domestic assault of his pregnant wife. No current parish. Columbus, GA. Ex-Alabama pastor jailed in Georgia for kidnapping, assault, feticide.

2016

Timothy Crumitie (former pastor) convicted of shooting his former girlfriend execution-style (she lived), and killing his romantic rival. Charlotte, NC. He was also convicted of “attempted first-degree murder of Cherry, burglary, kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.” He tried to kill a Charlotte woman. She survived and helped convict him of murder.
Ted Merchant (pastor) arrested for shooting dead another pastor during an argument over scripture. Chicago, IL. Pastor charged in slaying of retired minister: ‘They always had little arguments going on.’
Raul Diaz Moreno (pastor) arrested for attempted murder of three victims. Victory Outreach Church, Merced, CA. Ex-Merced pastor guilty of rape, attempted murder of adopted daughters, jury says.
Daniel Randall (former pastor) shotgunned his daughter before killing himself. First Congregational Church, Bristol, ME. Maine police: former R.I. pastor, daughter dead in murder-suicide.
Ryan Riggs (pastor) arrested for “killing a fellow church [and choir] member.” North Lake Community Church, Lake Brownwood, TX. Pastor describes Ryan Riggs’ murder confession at Brownwood church.
Stephen Allwine (church elder) arrested for killing his wife by gunshot in the bedroom. He first is alleged to have tried to hire a hit-man. United Church of God, Cottage Grove, MN. The strange trial of Stephen Allwine, a preacher accused of killing his wife.
Shaun Harrison (street preacher) arrested for “shooting a high school student execution style,” with security video as evidence. He is alleged to have hidden a gang tattoo underneath his clothing and was in possession of “guns, ammunition and large bags of marijuana” which was discovered upon exercise of search of his home. Boston, MA. Popular street pastor speaks out from behind bars.

2015

Tiffanie Irwin (pastor) arrested along with several others for allegedly murdering a church member. Victim was murdered by a mob of church members who beat him for 11 hours in “counseling session” after he wanted to leave the church. His younger brother survived. Word of Life Church, New York, NY. Pastor of a secretive New York sect where a teen was beaten to death and another seriously injured is among seven church members to be charged with murder.
William Claude Pounds III (pastor) convicted of killing his girlfriend by gunshot. King’s Chapel Memorial CME Church, Perry, GA. Judge calls Macon pastor ‘outright charlatan,’ sentences him to life in lover’s murder.
Torace Weaver (former pastor) convicted for killing a 2-year old foster child. “20 separate blunt force injuries to Stanley’s head, face and neck, in conjunction with the disfiguring burns to his arm and buttock, and the fatal injury to the back of his skull.” King of Glory Worship Center, Dayton, OH. Prison for Dayton pastor, wife in foster son’s death.
Jeffrey David Brown (former senior pastor) arrested for murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter for helping his girlfriend kill her husband. Sardis Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL. Former pastor sentenced to prison for manslaughter in Morris man’s shooting death.
Gabriel Omogb (preacher) arrested for attempted murder, armed robbery and assault. He met escort women on Backpage.com and lured them into meeting for sex. Celestial Church of Christ, MD. Preacher accused of beating, robbing, raping escorts at area hotels.
Aracely Meza (pastor) convicted of starving a toddler to death to “rid him of a demon.” Unidentified evangelical nondenominational church, Dallas, TX. Dallas-area pastor gets 99 years in 2-year-old boy’s starvation death.

2014

Herbert Schaible (faith-healing pastor) arrested and “pleaded no contest for third degree murder.” First Century Gospel Church, Philadelphia, PA. Third degree murder. Faith-healing parents get prison for son’s death.
Lawrence McNeill Dowdy (former pastor) was arrested and charged with murdering his infant daughter. He suffered head injuries and signs of previous abuse. Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Proctorville, Lumberton, SC. Ex-pastor charged with killing Lumberton infant.
Charles Pittman (youth pastor) arrested for murder of his fiancé, which he staged to look like a suicide. Providence Baptist Church, Alamo, TN. Youth pastor Charles Pittman arrested for murder.

2013

Richard Lee Shahan (pastor) arrested for killing his wife by stabbing. Email allegedly showed he was “leaving his wife to marry a man in Europe.” First Baptist Church of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL – Pastor arrested in Tennessee for wife’s murder.
Donald Lafferty (former pastor) convicted of hiring a man to kill his wife and collect insurance money in an arson fire. She lived. Beach Grove (Baptist) Church, Dexter, MO. Ex-pastor gets 50 years in murder-for-hire plot.
Terry Lee Greer (pastor) was arrested for killing his wife and wounding his daughter, but was ruled “not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.” United Methodist Church, Gardendale, AL. Daughter of Terry Greer, former pastor who killed his wife, sues United Methodists.
Kenneth Allen Keith (pastor) pleaded guilty to killing three people inside a pawn shop during a robbery. Main Street Baptist Church, Burnside, KY. Burnside pastor pleads guilty.
Richard Shahan (former pastor) arrested for killing his wife, but not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. First Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL. Homewood minister charged with wife’s murder will not be prosecuted, AG announces.
Luther Jones (pastor) arrested for shooting his nephew in front of the pastor’s church. Belgrade Baptist Church, Newton County, TX. Jury to decide murder case against man charged with killing nephew in front of church.
Michael Elder (pastor) arrested for murder in a domestic dispute with his son-in-law who had just filed for divorce from the pastor’s daughter. The Cross Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, OK. OKC pastor accused in shooting death of son-in-law.
Everett James Morris (missionary minister) was convicted of killing by cutting teen prostitute (Jorge Olivarez) with a knife. Texas Court of Appeals, Morris V. Texas, Number 12-16-00323-CR.
Hans Schmidt (priest) was convicted for the murder of Anna Aumüller. “He slashed Anna’s throat while she slept, drank her blood, raped her as she bled to death, dismembered her body, and threw the pieces from a ferry into the Hudson River.^” St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, New York, NY. Michael H. Stone, & Gary Brucato, The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books), pp. 458-459. ISBN 978-1-63388-532-5.

2012

John Douglas White (pastor) pleaded guilty to killing woman to have sex with her dead body. Christ Community Fellowship, Deerfield Twp, MI. John Douglas White sentenced up to 85 years for October murder of Rebekah Jane Gay. and Wikipedia.

2011

Richard J. Beasley (street chaplain) convicted for killing three men and has extensive crime history. Unaffiliated, Akron, OH. Ohio churches deny Craigslist murder suspect is a chaplain.
Julio Cesar Perez (pastor) arrested in murder for hire case for killing his wife. Ministerios Manantial de Vida, San Benito, TX. Pastor arrested for hiring hit men to murder his wife – And recruited them from within his own church.
James Ty Flanders (former pastor) arrested for murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter of a polygamous wife by strangulation, and burying her body in the back yard. Calvary Emerald Coast Church, Fort Walton Beach, FL. Former pastor pleads in murder case involving missing woman.
Edward Fairley (pastor) arrested for attempted homicide for stabbing another pastor (former mistress) 28 times. Patterson, NY. Koinonia and Christian Ministries. N.J. pastor who tried to murder his ex-mistress loses appeal.
Derrick Trevor Griffin (associate-minister) convicted of killing his estranged wife’s new boyfriend in a drive-by shooting. True Vine Missionary Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN. Ex-pastor convicted in North High staffer’s slaying.
David Keith Allen (pastor) pleaded guilty to killing his wife in a first degree arson case. Shortly after the fire, Allen and his new girlfriend started “Final Victory Ministries in a hotel room.” New Life Church of Restoration, Gatesville, TX. Final justice: An in-depth look at the case of David Allen.
Jeremiah Fogle (former deacon) was arrested for allegedly killing his wife (Theresa Brown Fogle) by shooting her multiple times. He also is charged for attempting to kill a pastor and associate pastor of the church where he once served as a deacon. Greater Faith Christian Center Church, Lakeland, FL. Florida man accused of shooting wife, pastors had killed before.

2010

Tracey Bernard Burleson (pastor) convicted of paying his son to shoot his stepmother to collect insurance money. Mount Calvary Baptist Church. Houston, TX. Tracy Burleson, Texas pastor convicted in wife’s murder, sentenced to life in prison.
Scott Roeder was convicted for killing an abortion provider who was attending church. Reformation Lutheran Church, Wichita, KS. Kansas: Was the shocking murder of a brave abortion provider really the work of a ‘lone wolf’?
John Fiala (priest) convicted of attempted homicide in murder-for-hire of child who accused him of sexual assault. Dallas County, TX. Update: 60-year sentence for ex-priest who plotted to kill abuse accuser.
David K. Love (pastor) indicted for murdering a parishioner. Spartansburg County, SC. David K. Love: Missouri pastor charged with murder, presided over victim’s funeral.
Billy R. Turner (deacon) arrested for first degree murder. He has a long criminal record. Mt. Olivet No. 1 Missionary Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. Man arrested in 2010 murder of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright.
Sherra Wright-Robinson (minister) arrested for shooting murder and attempted murder (earlier episode) for the killing of her ex-husband. Memphis, TN. Mount Olive, Memphis, TN. Lorenzen Wright’s ex-wife has been charged with murder in his 2010 slaying.