New details on how 'Sinister Minister' A.B. Schirmer killed his second wife
Pastor jailed for murdering his second wife in staged accident is now charged with killing his first who 'fell down the stairs'
- A.B. Schirmer used to be the pastor at a Methodist church in rural Reeders, Pennsylvania
- The deaths of his first and second wives were both considered tragic accidents until police took a second look in 2008
- The suicide death of congregant Joe Musante, whose wife was having an affair with Schirmer, spurned police to reopen the other two cases
- While Schirmer was cleared of any wrong-doing in Musante's suicide, he was charged with murdering his wives
- Last year, Schirmer was convicted of Betty's death and is currently serving a life sentence while he waits to face trial in Jewel's death
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Preacher man: Former Methodist Pastor A.B. Schirmer is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his second wife and has been pleaded no contest to murdering his first wife
New details shed light on how a Pennsylvania pastor nicknamed the 'Sinister Minister' staged a car accident to kill his second wife, as he started dating one of his married congregants.
Police in rural Reeders, Pennsylvania started investigating Methodist Pastor A.B. Schirmer, after the October 2008 suicide of congregant Joe Musante, who had recently learned that his wife Cindy was having an affair with the pastor.
While the pastor and his married mistress were ruled out as suspects in Musante's death, the suicide put enough attention on Schirmer that police decided to re-investigate the mysterious 'accidental' deaths of his two wives.
Schirmer's second wife Betty died in a car accident just three months before Musante's death, and his first wife Jewel died falling down a set of stairs in 1999.
Pocono Township Police Detective Jim Wagner believes it was Schirmer's position in the church that kept him from suspicion.
'Who would suspect a minister of doing such, such awful things?' Det Wagner told CBS News.
Schirmer has since been charged with murder in both of his wives' deaths. He was convicted of killing Betty, wife number two, last year and is currently serving a life sentence while awaiting trial for the death of his first wife, Jewel.
A new CBS News report sheds more light on Betty and Jewel's gruesome deaths and how those close to the victims championed to bring Schirmer to justice.
Interest in Schirmer started with Musante's suicide in October 2008.
Questions: Schirmer's first wife Jewel (left) died in 1999 after an alleged fall down the stairs while Betty died in a car crash which the disgraced pastor allegedly staged two years ago
The church: Schirmer was pastor at Reeders Methodist Church where Joe Mustante was found dead after committing suicide
Joe Musante has struggled with alcoholism his whole life and finally decided to turn to the church for solace. As a carpenter, he helped with repairs and jobs around the Reeders Methodist Church where Cindy, his wife of 18 years, worked and where Schirmer was pastor.
It was Musante's daughter Samantha who discovered the affair between her mother and their pastor after reading inappropriate text messages on her mother's phone.
'There was no doubt. It wasn't 'I love you in Christ' type of text message,' Ms Musante said. 'Not something that you'd expect your employer to be sending you.
She confronted Schirmer about the affair in an anonymous email, but somehow the pastor and her mother were able to trace the email back to her .
Caught: Samantha Musante discovered the affair between her mother and the pastor by reading inappropriate text messages between the two
'They took me into his office and told me that I was wrong, that nothing was going on and how dare I accuse them of an affair,' she said.
She believed them at first, but changed her mind when her father asked her if she knew about an affair.
'And then he said, "Does she love him?" And I just said, "I think so." That's probably one of the most horrible things that you can hear,' said Samantha.
Musante confronted his wife and made her promise to end the affair, but soon learned she was making secret phone calls to the pastor behind his back.
The day before he died, Cindy took the kids to stay at her sister's house and wouldn't let anyone answer her husband's calls.
Justice: Rose Cobb pushed police to investigate the death of Schirmer's wives after learning about her brother Musante's suicide
The next morning Samantha checked her voicemail and found a message from her father saying 'If you love me at all, please call me back'.
That same morning, Musante was found slumped over in a chair at the church, having shot himself while sitting behind the pastor's desk he crafted.
Attention turned to Schirmer as a possible suspect in Musante's death when sister Rose Cobb arrived in town for the memorial service.
Ms Cobb found sister-in-law Cindy's behavior strange, saying she seemed 'giddy' in love with the pastor and totally unbothered by the deaths of his two wives. .
While Schirmer and Cindy were eventually ruled out as possible murderers in Ms Musante's death, the suicide triggered investigators to take a second look into the deaths of Betty and Jewel.
Investigators first turned their attention to Betty's car crash and discovered several inconsistencies in Schirmer's side of the story.
Stan Dickerson discovered the wreck and said Schirmer seemed 'indifferent' to his wife's condition and hadn't even called 911.
Schirmer also gave out different stories about why his wife wasn't wearing her seat belt, telling some that she had just readjusted to get comfortable while telling police she never put the seat belt on to begin with.
Betty's grave state also didn't line up with the damage on the car. There weren't any skid marks on the road, no sign of braking and little damage to the front end of the car. The airbags hadn't deployed and the car was functioning to the point that Schirmer could have backed up and driven his wife to the hospital .
Convicted: Schirmer was sentenced to life in prison for the 2008 murder of his second wife Betty and will now face sentencing for the death of his first wife Jewel
The blood stains in the car didn't make any sense either. Blood stains were found on the passenger seat where Betty was sitting which wouldn't have happened had she started bleeding in the car.
'If I'm sitting in a car being thrown around there might be blood all around here, but there wouldn't be blood on my seat,' Det Wagner said.
'And the fact that it was absorbed and saturated meant that she was … placed in it,' he added.
Detectives got a warrant to search Schirmer's parsonage and that's where they found the evidence that solidified their case
Blood drops stained the concrete right next to where the passenger door would open, and tests revealed that the blood belonged to Betty.
'She was bleeding prior to getting in that car. And she was assaulted and put in that car and placed in that car seat,' Det Wagner said.
Unmoved: Schirmer didn't even call 911 after getting into an 'accidental' car wreck with second wife Betty
Investigators continued to build up their case against Schirmer, but sped things up when he proposed to Cindy.
Samantha remembers getting the text message from her mom, telling her the news that he had bought her a ring. The very next thing Samantha did was call police, afraid for her mother's safety.
'I was worried for her safety at that point,' she replied. 'She was gonna be wife number three. And the first two...didn't have a whole lot of luck.'
The Monroe County Police agreed. In September 2010, just a few weeks after Schirmer's proposal, he was arrested and charged with Betty's murder.
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ShareWith Schirmer safely in custody, police turned their attention to the pastor's first wife.
Jewel, the mother of Schirmer's two daughters, died in 1999 after allegedly falling down a set of stairs in their Lebanon County, Pennsylvania home while vacuuming.
Doctors initially pegged Jewel's death to a heart attack, but the autopsy told a different story.
Dr Wayne Ross was the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy back then and he says he found it strange that the only injuries Jewel suffered were several skull fractures.
If she had actually fallen down the stairs, Dr Ross says she would have had other broken bones below the neck so he classified her cause of death as 'undetermined'.
'Undetermined means it's open...and it certainly could be a homicide,' Dr Ross said.
Supporters: Schirmer's daughters Julie and Amy refuse to believe that their father killed their mother and step-mother and were unaware he planned to plead no contest until shortly before the trial
At the time, he urged investigators to look more into the death, but they never did since it wasn't considered suspicious.
In September 2012, while still in custody for Betty's murder, police had amassed enough evidence to charge Schirmer for Jewel's murder.
Schirmer faced trial for Betty's murder last year and the jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree. He was handed a life sentence without the possibility of parole and is currently waiting to stand trial in Jewel's murder.
Despite the evidence against him, his daughters Julie and Amy still believe their father is innocent.
And so does Cindy, whom Schirmer was never able to marry. Schirmer's daughters say she has become a grandmother-like figure to their children who call her 'Mimi' now.
Meanwhile, Cindy no longer has a relationship with her own daughter Samantha who discovered the affair.
'I don't have a relationship with her,' Samantha said. 'I can't really say that she is my mother. She is not the woman that raised me. … I wish she could see A.B. for who he really is.'
Separated: Cindy Musante has become a part of Schirmer's family, despite never getting the chance to marry him
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