They preached faith, led congregations, and occupied positions of spiritual trust. But behind the public ministries of these seven men were crimes that ended lives and brought their names into courtrooms on murder charges.
Over the past 20 years, their cases have involved staged accidents, fabricated suicides, a deadly plot involving a pastor's own son, and the killing of a church member whose wife was having an affair with his minister. Each case below resulted in a murder conviction or guilty plea, revealing how devastating the betrayal of pastoral trust can become.
Caleb Flynn: A Worship Pastor's Marriage Ends In Murder
Caleb Flynn's September 29, 2026, conviction brought a devastating conclusion to the trial over his wife Ashley's death. The former music pastor, who appeared on American Idol in 2013, was found guilty of all nine charges, including aggravated murder, following the February shooting at their Ohio home.
The case turned a supposed home invasion into a prosecution of Ashley's husband. Prosecutors argued that Flynn shot her and staged the scene, pointing to his affair with a fellow worship leader as a motive. His conviction placed the former performer and church musician among the pastors whose public professions of faith were followed by findings of lethal violence.
Sylvester Ofori: A "Prophet" Kills His Wife Outside Her Workplace
Sylvester Ofori presented himself as a prophet and led Floodgates of Heaven International Ministries in Orlando. In July 2024, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for fatally shooting his estranged wife, Barbara Tommey, outside her workplace in September 2020.
Barbara was killed outside a Navy Federal Credit Union, where she worked. Ofori received life imprisonment, bringing a criminal reckoning for a religious leader whose violence had taken his wife's life in a public setting.
Kenneth Allen Keith: Three People Killed Inside A Pawn Shop
Former Kentucky pastor Kenneth Allen Keith's case involved three victims rather than a single domestic killing. Michael Hockensmith, his wife Angela, and gold broker Daniel Smith were fatally shot at ABC Gold, Games and More in Danville in 2013.
On May 26, 2017, Keith pleaded guilty in Boyle Circuit Court, shortly before his scheduled trial. The plea resolved a prosecution that had connected a former pastor to a triple killing inside a local business, leaving two families to bear the loss of their loved ones.
Arthur Schirmer: A Car Crash Conceals A Wife's Killing
Arthur "A.B." Schirmer's account of his second wife's death initially centered on a car accident. But investigators concluded that the reported crash could not explain Betty Schirmer's injuries, and prosecutors argued that her husband had attacked her before placing her in the vehicle.
The former United Methodist pastor was convicted of first-degree murder and evidence tampering on January 22, 2013. Prosecutors said he struck Betty with a crowbar and staged a low-speed crash to conceal the crime; Schirmer denied killing her.
David Love: The Pastor Who Killed A Congregant And Spoke At His Funeral
David Love's betrayal reached directly into his congregation. The former New Hope Baptist Church pastor pleaded guilty in November 2011 to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Randy Stone, a church member found dead at his insurance office in March 2010.
Love had been having an affair with Stone's wife, Teresa. He also delivered part of Randy's eulogy-an unsettling detail in a case involving a minister who helped publicly mourn the man he later admitted killing. Love received life imprisonment.
Tracy Burleson: A Pastor Persuades His Son To Kill His Wife
Tracy Burleson's murder case exposed a plot involving his own son, William Fuller. A Houston jury convicted the Baptist pastor of capital murder on September 29, 2011, for his role in the shooting death of his wife, Pauletta, the previous year.
Fuller testified that Burleson offered him money from a life insurance policy to carry out the killing. The conviction held Burleson responsible for persuading his son to shoot Pauletta, and he received an automatic sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
Matt Baker: A Supposed Suicide Becomes A Murder Conviction
Matt Baker's wife, Kari, died in 2006, and authorities initially ruled her death a suicide. Her parents challenged that conclusion, helping prompt the renewed investigation that eventually brought the former Baptist pastor to trial.
On January 20, 2010, Baker was convicted of drugging and suffocating Kari with a pillow, then staging her death as suicide. He received a 65-year prison sentence, ending the trial with a finding that the apparent tragedy had been a deliberate killing.
These seven cases differ in their victims, circumstances, and courtroom outcomes, but all involve men who had held pastoral positions and were subsequently convicted of murder. The most disturbing details concern the intimate access some offenders had to their victims-as spouses, spiritual advisers, or trusted members of a church community.
Behind every notorious defendant's name are people whose lives were taken: Ashley, Barbara, Michael, Angela, Daniel, Betty, Randy, Pauletta, and Kari. Their deaths give these stories their weight, beyond the shocking contradiction between a minister's public calling and the violence established in court.
