10 Shocking Cases of Pastors Who Killed Their Families

As leaders within their religious congregations, pastors hold a position of trust, guiding individuals on their spiritual journeys and disseminating divine teachings. Yet, some have tragically strayed, leading lives contrary to the virtues they preach. These are accounts of pastors who perpetrated the gravest sin, taking the lives of their loved ones.

Matt Baker

In 2006, Matt Baker reported his wife, Kari Baker’s supposed suicide to the police. He claimed he was at a video store around 11:15 p.m. When he returned home around midnight, he found Kari unresponsive. Authorities found her near wine coolers, sleeping pills, and a suicide note. Matt stated he moved the body to try to revive her.

The incident shocked many, as Matt was a renowned preacher at Crossroads Baptist Church in Texas. Initially ruled a suicide, Kari’s parents grew suspicious. Investigators found pornography and searches for overdosing on sleeping pills on his work computer at his second job.

Further investigation unveiled an affair with the music minister’s daughter, who testified against him. She recounted Matt saying, “I killed my wife for you.” Jurors found Matt guilty in less than eight hours.

Arthur B. Schirmer

In 2013, Arthur B. Schirmer, a Pennsylvania pastor, received a life sentence for his second wife’s death in 2008. He was convicted of first-degree murder for hitting her with a crowbar, placing her in a car, and staging a wreck. Following his sentencing, the investigation into his first wife’s death was reopened.

Arthur, then a pastor at Bethany United Methodist Church, reported his first wife’s accidental fall down the basement stairs, finding her with an extension cord around her leg. She died in the hospital the next day due to skull fractures.

Upon reopening the case, it was found that her heart damage resulted from brain trauma, not the fall. He was convicted of her death and sentenced to 20 to 40 years.

Nick Hacheney

Nick Hacheney, a youth pastor in Bainbridge Island, Washington, was considered a devout man. In 1997, his wife Dawn died in a house fire the day after Christmas. The church community believed it was an accident and supported Nick, who continued his work, including marriage counseling sessions.

Hacheney’s counseling sessions, where he met separately with the wives of couples, led to his downfall. He told one woman that God wanted them to have sex as part of the counseling, and he began having affairs with other women in the church, including Dawn’s mother.

Dawn’s mother believed she was helping him cope with her daughter’s death. One of the women, Annette, told her husband, who alerted church leaders, initiating an investigation. Hacheney had confessed to one woman that he killed his wife to be with her, and this testimony contributed to his 2002 murder conviction.

Eugene Keahey

Eugene Keahey, a pastor at Mount Zion Church of Sandbranch, shot his wife and two daughters before setting their house on fire and killing himself. The fire killed his wife and one daughter instantly, while the other daughter died the next day from her injuries.

Authorities found evidence inside the burned home and heard reports of gunshots during the fire from neighbors, raising suspicions. It was later revealed that Eugene had shot himself after murdering his family. Financial problems were believed to be his motive.

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins, a pastor at Inspirational Tabernacle Church in Alabama, secretly abused his own family while preaching at revivals. In 2004, after his wife discovered him sexually abusing his stepdaughter, he murdered her and hid her body in a freezer. The body was not found until four years later when the oldest stepdaughter came forward.

The children testified that the couple fought the night the mother died, and she kicked Hopkins out of the house. He reentered through a window, holding a hammer according to one child. The oldest stepdaughter said Hopkins asked her to help dispose of the body.

Hopkins denied the murder, claiming he found her dead and panicked, placing her in the freezer to prevent decomposition. Although authorities could not determine her cause of death, it was ruled a homicide. Hopkins was convicted of murder, rape, sex abuse, sodomy, and incest.

Edmund Lopes

Edmund Lopes confessed to his Washington church congregation that he was a former hired killer with over 28 victims but claimed that past was behind him. Despite his claims, authorities wanted him back in Illinois for parole violation. After being arrested and posting bail he returned to the pulpi, confessing to lying about being a mafia hitman or finding God on death row. His true crimes involved strangling his wife and nearly killing his companion.

Lopes was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 1972, paroled in 1983, and rearrested in 1997 for bigamy. He died in an Illinois prison at 77.

Earnie Stokes

In 2005, Earnie Stokes reported a home invasion, claiming intruders threw gasoline in his face and hit him with a brick. His wife, Syble, was found dead in their bed with a gunshot wound to the head. Despite their 35-year marriage, authorities found inconsistencies in his story.

Earnie, a retired preacher in Alabama, was discovered to have had an affair with a church member and admitted to a friend that he and Syble had lacked intimacy. Stokes was arrested in 2006 after authorities found that he had purchased bullets the day of the murder. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2008.

Terry Greer

In 2013, Suzanna Greer, 18, hid from her father, Terry Greer, in a closet after he shot her mother. He shot Suzanna in the chest and arm before she wrestled the gun away and fled to a neighbor’s home. Police found the mother dead from gunshots to the head, neck, and hand. Terry had unsuccessfully attempted suicide by stabbing himself.

Greer testified to not remembering the events due to medication, brain injury, and depression. Charged with his wife’s murder and his daughter’s attempted murder, a judge found him not guilty due to mental disease in 2014. He was released to a group home with strict conditions after being initially sent to a state institution.

Fred Neulander

Fred Neulander was the founding rabbi of Congregation M’Kor Shalom Reform Temple in New Jersey. Twenty years after opening the temple, his wife, Carol Neulander, was murdered. Due to the high-profile nature of the case, Fred resigned a year later.

In 2002, Fred was convicted of hiring two men to murder his wife for $30,000. Details of his affair with a radio personality also surfaced. After a hung jury in his first trial, he was convicted in a retrial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Fred died in prison on April 17, 2024, at 82.

Michael Tabb

Michael Tabb, a pastor at a Methodist church in Texas, beat his wife, Marla Tabb, to death in the parsonage. She was found in a pool of blood with blunt-force trauma and a broken jaw, just six weeks after giving birth to their second son. The murder weapon was never found.

Tabb maintained his innocence, but authorities found blood on his shoes and in his truck. He accepted a plea bargain for 50 years to avoid a trial, but the sentence was increased after he attempted suicide on the day of his guilty plea.