expect it. when you're a young girl, you have all your dreams of what your life is gonna be and, somehow it just doesn't quite work out that way. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching! you for watching he is so good at understanding how to comfort other people. >> he was counseling women who are very vulnerable. >> he needed somebody to talk to. >> popular pastor, hiding something wicked. >> we had text messages. i love you. i can't wait to see you. >> it was like somebody just put a hold right through your heart. >> last, lives, a adultery. was there more? >> there was blood everywhere. >> there was something fishy. >> if you have a pattern of behavior. >> yes. >> wives that turnips especially dead? >> yes. >> how far had this man had

gone far? >> it's inappropriate, doesn't make him a murder. >> you have a wolf in sheep's clothing. >> sinister minister. ♪ ♪ ♪ the man of the cloth, inspired from the pulpit. >> we went away feeling that you had heard something. >> marrying the faithful. >> he officiated over my son and daughter in law's wedding. >> counsel the trouble. >> he is so good at understanding how to comfort other people. >> but one of the ministers is expected to have gotten it all. i >> believe it was all fraud. >> the minister? will >> the minister roll. i think he was hiding behind that hat. >> but whether a stranger in crown circle robes carrying out the devil's business. >> i believe he plays on the vulnerable people. >> laying hands where he

shouldn't. minister into more than a sole. >> he would basically council his way right into their bedrooms. >> just who was the reverend arthur burton sherman? >> reverend sherman, a.b. to his friends. was a small town methodist priest or in small town, pennsylvania. >> he was confident. he was an all-round guy. >> daryl cox sat alongside him for 20 years. he'd seen a fresh faced young pastor grow into a devoted preacher. >> one of the things he helped my family over the years, he was always there. >> he watched his friend, the pastor, raise his music loving family. him and his wife would perform together. >> they sang together many times, they were quite the dual and duets were considered in the church to seem like the all american couple. >> the couple's daughters, julie and amy. >> mom and dad were people who loved each other and took care of each other and very close family.

. >> but a deep sadness fell over the family when the wife of four years suddenly died. the daughter requires the farm to be when -- >> it was a hard year after. >> he was a sad guy? >> yes. >> but life goes on and her father did in time, meet somebody who would become their stepmother. a recently divorced woman named betty who shared his love for running and the outdoors. >> they did seem like they were best friend, they really seem like they had this closeness. i like betty. >> and betty was loved by and everyone, her sister gina remembers how she made strangers feel instantly comfortable. >> no matter who you were, it was always hello. and you got a hug. everybody got a hug. >> and out of everything in her life, that he was enormously proud of her grown son, nate. >> so if first impressions count. what's your first impression of

aviation armor? >> what i knew he was a pastor. so i thought he had respect right away. i thought he was decent for my mom. >> in fact, it was the reverend, who officiated that nate's wedding a few years later. a.b. had embraced his new wife's family. they were thrilled as either they sounds such happiness after coming out of a long marriage that soured. betty's mother, jeanne, was delighted that her daughter had found such a fine upstanding man. >> he was so nice, you, know he was just thinking that nobody was better than him. >> this fresh chapter in his life opening up, he took a new church posting as the pastor of the united church in the poconos of northeastern pennsylvania, about two hours away from the old church. >> nate said his mother was homesick at first. >> she was upset, i think, initially just being so far away from them and myself but also the rest of her family as well.

>> but he said they felt comfort in the congregation. the parishioners were happy to welcome them. the always funded friendly pastor's wife. >> very lively, very full of energy. always doing something. >> samantha had attended sunday school at the church from the fact she was knee high. and she remembers how close the pastor and his wife seemed to be. >> the church members always said oh, they never do anything apart. they're always together. >> and that's how it had been for seven years. a.b., betty, and the new expanded family. but death was stalking the pastor just yet again. >> we came down the road and spotted a vehicle. >> it was a warm july night, sometime close to 2 am, stanley and his girlfriend were driving down a deserted country world when they notice the ptc cruiser down off the shoulder, jammed against the cardwell. >> there's smoke coming from underneath the hood. we slow down next to the

vehicle. but being so dark, and the windows up in the car, we couldn't really tell what was going on inside. >> dickerson got out of his car and knocked on the driver side to see if he could help. the man rolled down the window, it was a be. >> he said i'm fine. but i don't think my wife, as i think she's hurt. >> dickerson asked the pastor to turn on the car's interior lights. >> when he turned it on, there was just blood everywhere in the car. >> that he was lying in the passenger seat. shivering and covered in blood. the pastor appear to be in shock. staring blankly straight ahead. >> i said what were you doing out here? >> and he said his wife had some sort of problem with her mouth. a tooth ache. and she had to bring her to the hospital. and that's what he was doing on that road. that road in the morning. >> dickerson called 9-1-1, they needed an ambulance fast. >> the car didn't flip over anything, they hit the guardrail. but she seems to be hurt pretty badly. >> emts arrived within minutes. and she was taken to the

regional trauma center. the sun away from home on a business trip, rushed to her bedside. totally unprepared for what he would find. >> it was shocking. she was a very bad shape? >> yes. i wasn't expecting, wasn't expecting her to look as bad as she did. >> could you even recognize her? >> no i couldn't. >> that bad? >> that that. yes. >> betty was on life support. and her family was being summoned. coming up! >> you touched her hand, her fingers, did you get anything back? >> no. and. as i took the picture in her hand, i respect in her ear that i loved her. and, hope that she could hear me. >> at betty's bedside, everyone was in tears. but according to her son, everyone except for her husband. >> no crying, no praying, or

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that. now betty's mom and her eight brothers and sisters had gathered at her bedside. she looked -- bandages, swollen bruising. >> we were all in shock. it was just horrible. >> betty's youngest sister, tina, was at her bedside in intensive care. just two weeks before they had celebrated the birthday they shared. they said their goodbyes after a nice lunch. >> do you remember with the last words were? >> we have to make sure that we keep doing this. every year on her birthday. and that she loves us. >> that is only son, nate, got to the hospital as fast as he could. bringing with him a holiday

photo of his mom in happier times. mother, son and the grandson that she doted on. >> she looks so happy with all of us together. they're on the couch. and i place that in her hands to hold. >> as you touched her hand, her fingers, were you getting anything back? >> no. and, as i put the picture in her hand out whispered in her ear that i loved her and hope she could hear me. >> a solemn village all began. a light heading away amid intensive care machinery. >> how are you comforting one another? >> hugging, crying together. holding on to each other. seeing some prayers. >> at the hospital, betty's husband of seven years, pastor sherman out, see to the family at times. obviously just friends. but perhaps, they thought he was still in shock. after all, he had walked away virtually unscathed. in a car crash that left his wife on cry life support.

>> but no crying. no preying or anything like that. >> but his daughter from his first marriage remembers that her father was beside himself with grief. >> he was upset he was crying. i saw him at her bedside sobbing. sobbing with one of betty sisters. holding on to her. >> according to official reports. the pastor said he had been doing about 50 in his p.t. cruiser when the accident happened. a dear, he said, had david out into the road. and into the garden. betty slammed into the windshield. and arriving officer noted that the airbags had deployed. a.b. told his sister in law, tina, that betty was not wearing her seatbelt. >> i questioned again. what do you mean she didn't have her seatbelt? she would never be without a seatbelt. >> but betty, moments before the crash had made the pay fateful decision to unbuckled our belt, the pastor told arriving officers. less than 24 hours after she had been rushed to the hospital she died.

nate's mother was gone. the woman who built sandcastles with him. who taught him how to write his bike. nate had loved his mother so much. >> i was overwhelmed with grief. crying. and i was putting my head on her chest. to hear something. but, there was nothing there. >> given the pastors account of a relatively high speed crash. and the arriving officers right above the wreck. the coroner ruled the death a head accident, caused by severe deaths injuries. they would be no autopsy. and they told them that they want to be cremated. >> she was cremated the next day. very quick. >> a decision that serve surprised her family, but it was properly the spouses. at the funeral, a.b. selected a container that caught his eye. >> he picked the one with a deer on it. >> a deer? >> the deer. >> the deer that was in the card railing? >> the one that caused the

accident. yes. >> odd choice, maybe. but nate reminded himself that his mother had loved nature. they went to local parks. a.b. said that she always enjoyed seeing the deer. his administrative assistant of the past two years, cindy, helped him take care of the funeral arrangements. her daughter, samantha, 16 at the time remembers it well. >> that morning of the service i went over early and was helping her with the last-minute details. >> the church was packed as people rose to eulogize the beloved betty. but nothing was heard that day from the pastor. he sat in the pews and listened. he presided over so many funerals and told friends that this was one that he couldn't bear to speak at. in the receiving line, the preacher's sudden x to his step son, nate, as the funeral doors. each paused briefly to offer condolences.

>> he said nate i would like to introduce you to my church secretary, this is cindy. and he said to me we have a little inside joke between us. the church here. and he said i go by a bee and she is known as cte. and then he said abc the. and they kind of chuckle together about it. >> did you think that was a cozy joke you think? >> i felt that was kind of odd at the time. >> while nate wondered about the relationship between the pastor and his assistant, cindy's daughter had some question of her own. she noticed her parents drifting apart in the months before the accident. >> did your mom seem different? samantha? >> yes. she seemed much more distant from my dad. >> her father joe, who struggled with alcohol had steadied himself on the foundation of the church. a skilled cabinet maker, he'd even made a desk for the pastor's office. >> was a fancy? >> very beautiful. it was terry and had three crosses on the front. >> but now he was back hitting

the bar. >> his demons were after him again? >> was the growing distance between cindy and her husband joe the reason why that she and her boss and seemed to spend so much time together. >> she needed somebody to talk to. what better than your pastor? >> but samantha would soon wonder whether the pastors minister-ing was not so much godly, as of close and personal? >> coming up. >> samantha plays teenage detective. in a surprised by what she finds. >> i was looking through my mind phone. and i found text messages. >> things like? >> i love you. i can't wait to see you. you look really nice today. and, i'm sorry. that isn't normal. >> when dateline continues! when dateline continues

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the pastor's wife in a car accident, samantha wondered why her mother was spending so much time with her boss, the reverend av sherman. what in the world was going on? >> i was being a nosy teenager and i was looking through my mother's phone and i found text messages. >> things like? >> i love you. i can't wait to see you. you looked really nice today. and, i'm sorry but that doesn't normal. >> even at 60, and samantha knew it wasn't right for her

mother to be treating for patients text with a recently widowed pastor and samantha became little miss fix it. she decided to do something irregular family like confronting her pastor in a roundabout way, using a fake email address she wrote one of those i know who you are and know what you're doing kind of messages. >> basically it just said that someone knew about what was going on and he should stop or he was going to take it to the church. and at that point, i didn't want to expose anybody or cholera kiss. i want to my family back. >> it didn't take the pastor long to figure out that his assistant, cindy's daughter, was behind the threat and samantha was summoned to a meeting in the pastors office. her, the reverend, and her mother. >> how tough was that session? >> very very difficult. because as a child i had to just keep my mouth shut and say yes ma'am no ma'am. >> two great authority figures in your life telling you you are out of line?

>> yes. >> did you misinterpret with that was about? >> yes. we're just friends. how dare you. >> samantha didn't believe a war that she was being told, but she didn't know where to turn with the suspicions of this affair between the mother and the pastor. >> and your dad's in the dark, you know, and he doesn't? >> yeah. at that point i don't have any other choice. i wasn't even gonna tell my dad. i couldn't at that point. i didn't have the nerve to break as a part. >> but she could only protect her that for so long. when cindy and a.b. went on a day trip together. joe got a wind of it. >> he called me and he said, what is going on? what is going on with a.b. and your mother? it's very, you know, what do you want? what do i say? and at that point, you know, he's like. is she in love with him? and i said, i think so. >> joe waited in the driveway for them to return. and confronted both his wife, and a.b.. samantha's mother came clean.

telling her husband while she felt an emotional attachment to the pastor, the relationship had not yet turned physical. >> she said, all right yeah. al and the affair. and i'll try to work on things. my dad was trying his hardest to work on things. and, get the marriage back on track. >> but joe no longer trusted his wife of 18 years. the sister rose found out later that he was monitoring her every move. >> he was tracking her cell phone messages. how long she was talking, and what numbers she was talking to. >> and joe did not like what he saw. >> even though she told him and knew that she was going to put an end to this? there she was calling him. >> joe drove his daughter out to the first loan for a top. >> he was having panic attacks, and said, i just don't know what to do. and i was young. i did know what to tell him. at that point, he knew that, i think he knew that things were just not gonna work out.

>> for a man who had struggled with depression all of his life the world was becoming an even darker place. >> i think at that point for my dad, family was very important. and, if it my belief is that he thought my mom was gonna leave him. his kids were gonna get taken away. and i think without his family he wouldn't have had any reason to live. >> the next afternoon, samantha said that her mother called her in a panic. the pastor reportedly told cindy that joe had called him. threatened to kill not only himself, but maybe samantha and her brother to. >> she told me that my dad had taken his gun out of his dresser and taken it to work. >> samantha says that cindy instructed hard not to go home that night. that she may be in mortal danger. the 16-year-old did not know what to think. she had always been a daddy's girl. loved him beyond measure. but she was frightened. and so she obeyed her mom, and took refuge at an aunts house. >> joe gets home that night and

the kids are gone. and cindy is gone. so he keeps calling cindy and begging her. you know i would never hurt you or the kids. you know this sydney. >> we can only imagine the stories that were thrashing in joe's mind on the night of october, 2008. alone. rooting. he drove to the methodist unitas church. he smashed a rock into the glass panel of the rear door of the church. then he sat down in the reverence chair. and took out his gun. >> set right at that desk? that he made? >> that he made. yes. >> is it possible that he was gonna kill the pastor? >> yes. or at least threatened him. >> but the pastor wasn't coming. cindy had reportedly phoned a.b. to warn him that joe was armed, and on the move. a.b. left town. >> and, so, he went to a motel. >> because he thought that the angry husband was looking for him with a loaded gun? >> right. >> who knows how long he they sat in the past or share before

they pull the trigger? but they found him the next morning. the bullets had gone through his skull and deflected off the upper part of a winter flame. joe's sister knew something terrible had happened when her husband walked into her office that morning. >> and he said, joe killed himself. what? how could that happen? it was like someone just put a hole right through your heart. and you're like, -- , i just couldn't believe anything like that could happen. >> cindy broke the news to samantha and her brother. >> she said, your dad decided that he did not want to be here anymore. and my brother said, where did he go? it didn't sink in. and then i said, wait what? and she said, your father took his life. >> at the office in the church? >> yes.

at the pastor's office. >> what a dramatic statement that is? >> yeah. the definitely the biggest statement that he could've made. >> samantha would learn later that her father in the last hours words on the verge of submitting a formal complaint with the church that could get a be fired. joe did not vote leave behind a suicide note. but there was something that he wanted people to know, especially his daughter. >> he put his briefcase with all of the south phone records, the contact for the bishop of the church, and his cell phone. his camera. under my bed. >> so kind of his case he was building against the pastor? >> yeah. i definitely took it as a sign. you know, figure this out. >> rose didn't need to see inside joe's briefcase to understand what had happened. she says that cindy shamelessly told her about the love triangle the night before joe's funeral. >> i watched her face, and i felt that she was a woman that was awake in some way. that had not felt that ever

before in her life. she evidently love this guy. >> rose could not believe it. >> this is a pastor. he cannot step back and let the two of them work it out? he can't help himself? how could he do? this what's wrong with this guy? >> the pastor was about to face more than just a crime of the heart. >> i was afraid for other parishioners. they should investigate him to find out if he has done this to other people. >> rose was about to take up her brothers dying wishes, and set in motion an investigation that could not only get ab bounce from the parson itch, but also could potentially put the him singing preacher away for a long time. had he not only broke in the second commandments, the one about adult truly. but the six commandment as well. the one forbidding murder. >> coming up! >> i just think he has no conscience. he has no, he doesn't care about anything but his own self.

>> row starts digging into the pastor's past. and is that why what she discovers. >> there were things that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up! when >> dateline continues! ontinues

hello i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. a new as bc news telemundo survey of latino voters shows the support from republican -controlled congress has increased. the top issue on the pole is the cost of living. ukraine's counteroffensive continues into occupied territories in the country's east. liberating le mans, the city of 20,000 is in the donetsk region which resident president putin complained as part of russia just last week. now back to dateline! rt of russia just last week ♪ ♪ ♪ cindy seem to be moving on pretty quickly after the suicide of her husband joe, in late october 2008. her family said it wasn't two weeks before she packed up her 's belongings and taking them

to the salvation army. the pastor's assistant was now free to be with the man that she loved. her boss, the reverend, a.b. sherman. he had been a widower since losing his wife on a car wreck that summer. cindy's daughter samantha says her mom and a.b. picked it up just days after the dead suicide. >> my mom went away the next weekend to go see him. it was very difficult to be hurting and have just lost your father. and have your mom go off visiting her lover. i guess. >> healing the wounds pretty quickly? >> yeah. very. >> joe's sister rose, the one-time counselor. tried not to judge her sister in law. she was obviously head over heels for the pastor. but still, she thought the pastor had a lot of explaining to do. basic things like, why hadn't you called the police? when joe threatened to kill himself. and possibly even his family. >> anytime he's threatened somebody's life.

are you threaten your own. you're supposed to call the authorities. >> -- >> so i picked up on that. and i thought, jeez. being a pastor. he didn't even do that. >> instead, rose says, they let the desperate husband spiral out of control. rose was haunted by her brother's final hours. >> he folded, he couldn't stand the pressure. and, i feel really bad that he said in that room by himself. because i knew how much his guts were turned inside out. >> rose was determined to give her dad brother a voice. seven days after joe's suicide she drafted a letter of complaint to the bishop. >> he has violated his pledge to be a man of god. she wrote. and as that the reverend be held accountable for his negligence. >> it wasn't a witch hunt, it's never we're out to get you. my aunt simply wanted it's investigated. there's something fishy when a pastor --

there's something wrong. >> a week later, a.b. was summoned for a meeting with the permission or. rose says that he didn't even try to defend himself. he resigned from the church. >> and he was a broken man when he left her office. >> and he was done with the church? that was it? >> he had to surrender his license. and he had to get out of the parson edge within a certain length of time. and he wasn't supposed to talk to any of the parishioners. no contact with, them or anything. he was just forced to leave, and that was that. >> but there was one churchgoer that he couldn't stay away from. samantha's mother. months after withdrawing from the pulpits, the one-time lever was dropping by city's house for dinner. >> she said oh, he's gonna come over for dinner. i think i have to work that night. >> you didn't like him? >> i had a lot of hostile feelings. i felt as if, you know, my family was invaded. >> and before samantha knew it, dinners were turning into overnight stays. >> he started bringing

overnight bags. and the overnight bags did not leave. that's when panic really set in for me. >> samantha's and, rose, would later view him with discussed. for spending more and more time with her dead brother's family. seemingly, without a thought of the man who had died by suicide at his desk. >> i was thinking, he has no conscience. he doesn't care anything about his own self. >> but what a.b. did not know is that rose did not just write him out to the church, a few days after she mail that letter to the bishop. she made a call to the police. she had a hunch, she told investigators, not about her brothers joe suicide. but about that car accident that killed the pastor's wife, betty. >> people file that away. hadn't they? >> yeah. >> that the reverend had lost his wife in a car accident? >> rose said it was cindy who told her about the accident that killed the pastor's wife. >> he was taken to her to the

hospital the duran, out any swerved. and i said, did the deer hit the car? and she said no. and i said oh. >> the story of the car accident that killed betty struck her as odd. and the more she uncovered, the more suspicious she became. >> there were these things that were really disturbing, you had the hair on your back of your neck standup. >> one of the cops to receive the call was detective james rag now. the -- who was assigned to investigate. >> i immediately thought that i need to look at this to see if there's any signs of foul play. >> the patrolman's report seemed cut and dry. betty had died after hitting her head during the car wreck. but the key witness had been betty's husband, reverend a.b. sherman. demand that detectives were told to take a look at. at the hospital, the pastor had a vivid account of the crash to tell the corner. >> what's the story as he tells? it >> he told a very similar story that he told to the oscars were sir investigator.

but he told the lead officer to try to investigate those severe injuries that had been sustained. he made it sound, to this corner, that the vehicle spun out of control. and went flying as an under strength passenger. >> well everyone can see that as a very interesting story. all of a sudden there is a dear, you try to swerve, you lose it and got awful thing happens. >> for a corner who's located 45 hours away who doesn't know anything about the accident itself. that would seem normal. >> and he's taken down the account of that methodist minister? >> that's correct. >> wagner kept digging and discovered the departments archives and a cache of photos from the crime scene. when he punched them up on his computer, the detective immediately notice that they didn't match the story told by the pastor. the car was only minimally backed up. their airbags had not deployed. it turned out that the officer who had written up the original incident report, had gotten that detail wrong. and the detective wondered why

he saw no tire marks on the road. >> there were no signs or evidence of abuse of maneuvers had all. >> there should've been. but there weren't. >> there were not. >> in his eyes there were zero evidence in the photos indicating a high speed collusion had occurred. and, yet betty's injuries had been simply horrific. she had suffered multiple skull fractures and two huge gashes on her head. it just didn't fit, said the detective. >> there is no way the person sitting in the passenger seat would sustain the kind of head trauma that she would. >> did you say this things? thanks >> yes. i did. >> coming up! investigators noticed something else odd about the cars change shoulder. >> the impact was so much that they would go flying out all over the place. >> so they were just where they had? ben >> correct. >> and it wasn't just the coins that didn't seem to add up. >> the guys would photograph with the blood in the seat and i immediately notice that the blood does not make sense. i had one of those moments where it's, oh my god.

this is it. >> when dateline continues! when dateline continues

it was hard to believe that this modest church in the poconos had become the setting for a murder investigation. detective james wagner was delving into the shimmers late night car accident. wondering why pictures of the supposedly high speed crash

didn't seem to match the account of the driver, reverend sherman, whose wife betty had died. he tracked down the pastor by who had called 9-1-1 the night of the accident. to see if he had any further information that would help explain the discrepancies. >> just looking at the car, there didn't seem to be any real damage. >> the good samaritan motorists confirmed what the detective had concluded from the photos. betty's injuries seemed way out of proportion to the minor fender bender that she experienced. >> she was shivering. she wasn't really con shifts. >> even at the time, he remembered thinking it strange that the pastor was staring out the windshield, making no effort to help his wife. >> he made no attempt to get out the car. or really, even speak to her. or comfort her. it isn't something that you would expect from somebody who is with their wife. who is potentially dying. >> and even more unusual, detective wagner realized that the pastor relied on a motorist

call for help. he could've dialed 9-1-1 himself. >> mr. schumer had of functioning cell phone. and, he never made a 9-1-1 call. >> wagner kept looking at the photos. the statements,. >> i got to a photograph of the plugged in the seat. and i immediately noticed that the blood does not make sense. i had one of those moments where it's, oh my god. this is it. >> betty's car seat was spattered with blood. but, the detective thought. it shouldn't have been. if she was initially injured while sitting in the passenger seat. how did it get under her? >> if betty did sustain a bleeding wound from that particular catch, she would've been bleeding on herself. there would be a void from her body. her legs. and her but. in that seat. >> the only logical way to explain the blood on the passenger seat, the detective thought was if betty had been injured and bleeding before she got into the car. >> what i saw was that,

evidence that told me immediately that she was bleeding prior to that crash. >> it had nothing to do with the deer slamming into the windshield? >> absolutely not. >> could a.b. have done something so monstrous as to stage a car accident as a cover-up for murder? it was shocking to contemplate. as the investigation was ramping up, members of betty's family were wrestling with the past. reliving betty's final days. things just weren't adding up. betty sun nate, was bothered by one of the last phone calls that he had. >> i could tell there was something wrong. i just couldn't put my finger on it. >> but when he sifted through a box of momentous the stepfather had given up after the funeral. he found a birthday card that a.b. had written to betty only a couple of weeks before she died. tucked inside of it was a post-it note. >> for the post it notes that for all of the pain i caused, you i am sorry. i hope someday you will be free to laugh again. free to soar. truly free. and the world free was

underlined. >> some sort of apology? what's going? on. >> obviously there was something going on behind the scenes. something no one else is aware of. >> and betty's family had been taken aback by what they saw is a beast lack of emotion at the hospital. >> did you see any tears that night? >> no. >> they thought at times he acted more like a party hosted a grieving husband. >> just out of the blue just like this. you go. hey billy, come see your sister. like they just had a newborn baby or something. >> and went two months after the accident, tina took a.b. out to lunch. she was surprised to find the new will owed valor in law so happy. >> he was texting. he called cindy, and said her name is ceedee and my name is a.b.. i'm having a good time with that. >> did you wonder who this woman was? >> yeah. it was, he just was having too much fun. >> two other things stood out

for betty's family. things that seemed out of character for their sister. a.b.'s story about her not wearing her seatbelt just didn't ring true. >> my mom would always tell me, seatbelts save lives. if i wasn't wearing a seatbelt, she always major i put it on before we go. >> so did it make sense to you when he said that she was not bought buckled up? >> i don't know what to. think that wasn't like my mom. >> it was a b's decision to have betty cremated. >> what did that surprise you? >> it did. my mother chose to be cremated. my sister, betty, did not agree with. it >> back in the poconos. the state police had pulled into help detective with the case. the team took a second look at the p.t. cruiser speed that night. the pastor had told the responding officer that he was traveling between 50 and 55 miles per hour when the crash occurred. but, in one of the accident photos, investigators noticed something odd. when they looked at the chain shoulder, they saw that almost all of the quarters remained neatly in place.

>> the impact was so minor that they didn't go flying out all over the place. >> so they were just where they had been? >> correct. >> and an expert and crash reconstruction looked at the case, they concluded that the ptc's speed at the point of impact wasn't nearly half of what sherbet had claimed. >> at the time that he collided with the guardrail, he was less than 25 miles per hour. >> this was at lower speed accidents? >> correct. >> investigators now believe that the pastor had staged the accident to cover up the killing of his wife. so five months after betty's death, one set of investigators asked the pastor to come down to the police station for a top. well a separate team of officers, and crime scene techs headed for the personage to have a look around at the place where a.b. had lived with betty. >> you want to hear what he had to say for sure but as important was putting him under a roof and knowing where he was? >> correct. we didn't want to compromise anything by him finding out that we were there and searching the personage. >> the cops were about to blow

the case wide open. >> who do you think he is? >> a very sick, sick man. >> do you think he's a killer? >> i do. yes. i do. >> coming up! a break in the case. >> i walked in the back door of the garage, it was unlocked. and i immediately notice passive blood drops near the post. right above the stairwell. and i was shocked. i could not believe it. >> but it turns out there is someone who doesn't think the pastor is a killer. and his opinion may account for a lot more. >> the forensic pathologist said, that the injuries were what he would expect to see in the motor vehicle collision. >> when dateline continues! when dateline continues way to say "shrimp me!" ultimate endless shrimp is back, now with argentine red shrimp. welcome to fun dining.

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singing pastor who had preached for the pulpit about good and evil. now investigators wondered if

he was the hypocrites of all hypocrites. >> it's hard to believe that somebody in that position would commit violent crime such as this. >> in december, 2008. about a month after investigators began reviewing betty's death. they asked the husband to meet with them at the state police. he thought he was gonna answer questions about the suicide in the church office just two months before. investigators had other ideas. >> the two operations or going on. you have this man in first down. meanwhile, you're going a crime tech way to see what happened to the person. >> yes. >> well a.b. was in an interrogation room, detective wagner and a team of crime scene technician swept into the parson itch in the methodist shirt. video cameras rolling. they were looking for any evidence that betty had been attacked before she got into the car. a.b. had moved out about a month before. they were concerned that he could still get access to the percentage. they cased the kitchen, the

bedrooms, scoured every inch of the percentage basement. and found nothing incriminating. but what they discovered in the garage, they say, was jaw-dropping. >> i walked in the back door of the garage, it was unlocked. and i immediately noticed passive blood drops near the post, right above the stairwell. and i was shocked. i could not believe it. >> do you say whoa, timeout. you have to get in here. check it out. >> i did. i called one of the troopers who was nearest. i say i have blood here. and they, we all could not believe that there was visual blood there. >> and not just one or two blood drops. wagner could see clusters of blood. visible to the naked eye. and it looked to him, as though someone had been trying to clean it up. >> i could see evidence of washed blood. >> how did it show itself? >> it looked diluted. it looked faded from water. or cleanup efforts. >> investigators sprayed the

garage with luminol. a chemical that grows with blood. they set a ghostly trail of blood appeared, leading from the backdoor, to where the car would've been parked. detective wagner could also see the crime lab in front of them. >> you could see them already injured. you brought them to the garage door. >> he brought in the garage door. and, physically loaded and put it into the passenger seat. >> but just because there was blood on the garage floor, didn't mean that it was necessarily better. yes state trooper phil, now retired, was also at the seat. >> now you have to find out whose blood it is you're seeing? >> yes. >> and the blood is documented. and then collected for dna testing. >> and it comes back from the lab? as >> betty's. it's all her blood. >> but even before they had that lab confirmation, the investigators at the personage called the troopers interviewing sherbet, the pastor, to tell them of their breakthrough discovery. >> as he sitting across from detectives, your phoning in and

say we have blood out here? >> yes. >> he first denies that betty ever blood in the garage. that she ever blood anywhere in the personage. but when confronted about this bloodshed, in the garage. he comes up with a story about how she cut herself moving wood. >> farmer told police that betty had helped her move -- betty so badly that she needed a badge. and sure enough, he confessed that they did in fact find the pile of wood on church grounds. but what they found hidden beneath the pile would only raise more questions about avs version of events. coming up! did a.b. make a freudian slip during his interrogation? and >> he subconsciously throughout the statement of putting her in the car. which, is what i believe, he did. he put her bleeding body into that car.

>> and then, another wife. and then another suspicious accident? >> there were rumors. all kinds of rumors about her death. >> investigators dig into the details. and make a troubling discovery. >> what i found out was very shocking. the case was left still pending and undetermined. with no outcome. >> when dateline continues! >> dateline continues >> step 1: greet your shrimp step 2: bid your shrimp farewell. repeat! ultimate endless shrimp is back with new parmesan-bacon shrimp scampi. welcome to fun dining.

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just look around... this digital age we're living in, it's pretty unbelievable. problem is, not everyone's fully living in it. nobody should have to take a class or fill out a medical form on public wifi with a screen the size of your hand. home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it. and now a lot more people can. so let's go. under questioning, pastor a.b. the digital age is waiting.

schumer told police that there was a simple explanation for his wife's blood on their garage floor. betty qatar self all moving wood from the garage to a pile in the backyard. forensic troopers are meticulously going through, it looking for potential blood evidence. what they found at the bottom of this paul was a stack of newspapers. and, the newspapers were dated september 2008. >> so, help me on, that was the newspaper important? >> because, betty died in july.

15 to 2008. and it is impossible for body to have helped him move this firewood. but he was dead at the time that that would was deposited in that location. >> investigators believed they had caught the pastor in an outright lie. and there was one more incriminating statement that a.b. schirmer made during the statement, according to the detective. something so small that schirmer possibly didn't even notice. >> he subconsciously threw out the statement of putting her in the car. he use that term, like put her in the car. which was, what i believe, he did. he put her bleeding body into that car. >> investigators told schirmer, he was free to go. they were done with. them for now. after seven hours of interrogation, the by, then former pastor was apparently rattled. >> next message -- >> he tried to get betty sister, tina and sandy on the phone to alert them that the police

would be called. the call to sandy went to voice mail. >> [inaudible] please give me a call. it's very important. it's very important that you call me. please. thank you. by. >> we called him back and we said, a.b., you can't meet leave a message like this for heaven's sakes. you've got to meet. us >> they met with a.b. the same day. >> did you ask him, that did you kill our sister? as >> soon as we sat down, he asked if we want to call for anything. and he said, sandy, i did not kill your sister. detective wagner called betty sisters the day after the interrogation. and, was surprised to find out that a.b. had already contacted them. >> i just thought that was very interesting that he was already playing that manipulation game and beating us to the punch, so to speak. >> the detective thought a.b. was certainly acting as though he had something to hide. but, as convinced as investigators were that the pastor had staged a car accident to cover up the real causes that these death, there

was still huge holes in the case. >> so, now you have a theory that but he was killed. here on the grounds of the church. did you have a weapon? did you know where? >> we did not. i had no idea where it took place or what instrument might have been utilized to cause those injuries. >> and, there was a huge setback when investigators brought buddies hospital records to a medical and examiner for review. >> the forensic pathologist said that police injuries are what he would expect to see in a motor vehicle collision. >> a motor vehicle accident, just as the pastor said. an investigative stumbling block. but, there was another lead for the detectives still to explore. remember, betty wasn't the only wife a.b. had lost. his first wife of 30 years, jewel, had also died. >> there were rumors, all kinds of rumors about her death. >> the pastor had told some of betty's family that is first wife had died after an illness. >> he had told me that she had

passed away from cancer. >> his first wife died of cancer? >> yes. >> but, other family members heard it differently. they believe that jewel had died after tumbling down a flight of basement stairs. >> i didn't know what it happened down there. and i needed to find out whether jewels death was suspicious in anyway. >> kathy segers knew the story better than matt. a good friend of jewels, she was in the pews for most of a beast ten year at the bethany united church in lebanon pennsylvania. >> how did the congregation receive? >> great, great, they loved. and they locked him. and he was reinstated over and over again. >> and, a.b. angela's daughters remember their parents being devoted. not only to the church but to each other. >> did you see little affections, holding of hands. >> yes. >> a soft voice across here and there. >> yes, yes, definitely. >> and their dad, adored them. julie and amy remembered how he was the one who got them off the school in the morning.

>> he would come in and he would say, amy, year -- he didn't do that for you? >> he kind of touch me and run. >> and run. >> and yet, beyond their devoted dad, maybe there was a sight to a beat that is daughters and even most of the church members did not see. kathy secrets husband and maybe were bowling buddies. >> he often would come home and say what a horrible temper he had,? really, the reverend,? >> he said he would kick the house where the ball came back if he bowled badly. >> and it wasn't just the reverend supposed temper at the bowling alley that cost the eyes of a beast buddy. kathy, said his constant flirting with women slowed the game down. >> when it was history tumble, he wasn't there. and, he'd have to weigh the round. that would make the guys upset because it made them later to go home. >> so, the men had a different perspective on a.b.. >> yes. so, my father to was there. , and he would say things are fishy, something doesn't feel right. >> referring to what as you look back at it? >> with a b and they'd see him

with more than one woman there. that was fishy. >> and, even at church, kathy noticed a.b. overly attended to female members of the congregation. in the months leading up to jules's death, he said that there was one woman in particular commissioners were whispering about. >> at that point, one female in the church that you would see him with in a corner talking wall jewel was taking care of everything else in the church. >> meanwhile, what kathy saw, her best friend jewel was frozen out of the pastors affection. >> i never saw anything affectionate from him to jewel. i don't think i ever saw kiss. he never hugged her. i don't know if i ever saw him hold her hand, actually. >> one disappointment towered over the others. for months, kathy, said joel had been looking forward to a big 30th-winning anniversary treat. a trip to new york city to see

the phantom of the opera. she'd bought tickets to surprise a b. but, when the time came, he announced that he wasn't going. a.b. had a wedding to officiate. >> did that broke her heart a little bit when he said, i'm not going? >> i think, pretty much. she called me up and she said, i can kick and stream all i want and he's not going to care. and he's not going to come. so, will you come with me? >> sure, i will. >> during drills's favorite song in the broadway show, kathy remembers jewell calling a b so he could listen in. but, she couldn't reach him. >> she tried to call him to see where he was and to tell him that this is the song and this -- is you, know i want to do to be here. he didn't answer. and that was later in the evening. and she asked, me do you think that if he did have a wedding and was invited to the dinner afterwards that he would be home by now? and i just agreed with her, yes. i would think he would be. >> was the mouse playing while the cat was away?

kathy had her suspicions. >> did you ever talk to jewel about the things that you were starting to think yourself were going on with a b? >> i did not. i did not. i didn't want to hurt her. >> but, the whole issue of a.b. suspecting cheating, sued became mute. not long after that trip to new york city, julia was found sprawled at the bottom of the basement steps at the parsnips. a bathroom cleaner cord wrapped around her lead. a.b. told the emts he discovered her when she came back from running. drool was taken to the er with multiple fractures to her skull. kathy immediately went to the hospital. >> how did she look? >> terrible. her head was huge and it was all wrapped up with gauze. you really couldn't have known it was her. >> her daughters kept vigil at her mother's bedside. >> it was horrific. it was terribly shocking. >> like, i guess you knew there wasn't going to be a good

outcome. >> yeah, pretty much got that feeling. i still prayed for miracles but, yeah, i had that feeling. >> there would be no miraculous recovery for the 51 year old wife and mother. drills injuries were -- julian amy remembered their father falling apart as the decision was made to turn off the life support machines. >> he and i walked outside and i remember, it was a sunny day. and he said it was a beautiful day but it was not a beautiful day and he wanted his wife back. for some reason, that just really sticks out in my mind because i think it was the way it was said. he was just so sad. joe was buried and mourned by the congregation. sundays at the church were never quite the same for kathy without dual behind the organ. she and her sister told abc, a few weeks, on how much the mr.. >> we talked about how sad it

is that she is not there. and we miss all the music and everything that she did. and, his statement to us was, well, you're just going to have to get over it. >> and, the reverend, apparently, took its own advice. two years later, he decided there was time to move on. a new chapter of his life with the new parish in the poconos and a new wife, buddy. kathy met her just one time. >> she was joking with him and i was thinking, wow! maybe she's good for him because joel didn't like to dog. and he found someone that has his likes. but, as i walked away i thought, wow! already? >> yet, the rumors about a.b.'s first marriage, the freefall down the stairs, didn't mean much to detective wagner until he called his counterparts down at -- with the question. and anyone there ever required about general sherman's death? >> what i found out was very shocking. they told me that the case was

left still pending and undetermined with no welcome. >> and, the closer he looked, the more he started to see some chilling parallels with betty's death. >> what do you think you've got here? >> this is very surprising for a minister. >> what with the story of the autopsy reveal about how jules schirmer died? >> coming up -- >> they didn't rule it an accident, didn't rule it a homicide. they ruled it as we don't know. >> but, perhaps there was one person who did know. when dateline continues. dateline continues.

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wave but, he had to come to multiple head injuries in 2000 and. eight, and investigators were curious to learn that so had his first wife, jewel, in 1999. >> you have a pattern of behavior. >> yes. >> the wife who turnip suspiciously that. >> yes. >> assistant district attorney,

mike mancuso, found the all-jewel shimmer case troubling. something about the story just did not at up. >> it is weird that this woman jewel, with according to her son, vacuum the steps twice a week, every week for 14 years. one step at a, time nice and slow. and then she, not only fell but suffered 14 different impacts to the head on her way down. >> according to the authorities, two hours away from lebanon pennsylvania, where joel, died an autopsy had been performed a decade before. after she had said to have tumbled down a set of basement stairs. the forensic pathologist was doctor wayne roth. >> you did the original autopsy. >> i did. >> what was your opinion about what had happened to her. >> dramatic brain injury. >> doctor roth's report, told the prosecutor that even back then, there had been doubts that jewels industries, a massive trauma to her head, were consistent with the story of a -- >> jewels manner of death had been listed as, undetermined.

>> they didn't ruled an accident. they didn't call it a homicide. they ruled it, as we don't know. >> in fact, the pathologist have been so concerned about his finance that he had suggested authorities take a closer look. but, that never happened. a local coroner, mistakingly as it turned, out till police that dual had fallen down the stairs after suffering a heart attack. >> it was a heart attack. they decide to close the investigation. >> a decade later, that old case was suddenly very relevant. and, later in the investigation, prosecutor would make it interesting move. he'd ask dr. ross, the pathologist, to perform jewels autopsy to analyze both duel and betty schumer's records. there wasn't much for doctor ross to work. with unlike drill, but he hadn't been autopsy. but, cat scan images of her brain have been taken at the hospital. the pathologist would be definitive in his conclusions. >> the industries noted to buddy schirmer are inconsistent with the traffic accident, with

no airbags deployed in which mr. schumer had absolutely no injuries at all. >> doctor ross said there were two wins on the right side of but he said that could not have been caused in that car accident. and, an opinion that became even stronger when he examined these computerized 3d models of betty skull. >> these two images here are huge. >> doctor ross was convinced betty had been murdered and brutally so. >> she got fractures on the right side of the skull. and, directly underneath that, she has swelling and bleeding to her brain. that's a lot of force going through there. >> and, what kind of murder weapon with the killer have used? >> doctor ross had an idea. >> it was my opinion that she had been struck, multiple times on their head with elon surgical object with a lot of weight to it, a crowbar, something. and he was suing for the fences, essentially and hitter hard. at least twice. in this area. and caused that damage. >> and, the real stone, or for the put david, just injury was

eerily reminiscent of that other schirmer case that he had seen so long ago. >> i mean, it's self evident. there were two lacerations, oh my goodness it looks exactly like jewels schirmer. >> doctor ross compared the two injury saw the's side. >> when you compare the two of them, the similarities are striking. the similarities are to the right side of the head on both jewel and betty. in terms of the lacerations, -- >> it's all happening right here, in both women. >> it's all happening right side of the head, both women. >> in, death the doctor thought, there could've been twins. and, investigators also found what they believe are other similarities between the two cases. signs the thought of a cleanup. scrubbed bloodstains on the first garage in the poconos and the story of scrubbed bloodstains at the foot of the basement stairs in jewels case. back in 1999, detectives learned, drills brother had been stolen by the side of his sister in the icu that he went

over to the parchedness to see just what it happened. he thought the blood had been cleaned up. >> he confronts schirmer. what happened to all the blood? >> and jeremy says the emptied stay behind and cleaned it up. and he said that's bull. i ran an ambulance, i know that didn't happen. and schirmer doesn't respond. >> investigators thought, the other big similarity in the two deaths were the rumors in both about a.b.'s behavior with other women. >> your opinion is that jewel -- >> yeah. >> the wife was aware of his infidelities. >> painfully aware. >> and, the prosecutor thought divorce could've been a problem for the pastor. >> i think it would've been maybe stained on his reputation. you know, and he was very conscious of how he appeared to others. because, remember, he's up on high. he's counseling youth. he is everybody's person that he's looked up to. so, he certainly would've wanted that. >> and, when detectives look at the pastor's computer, they saw that he had a secret life.

was a part of a motive for murder? a reason to get rid of not one but two eyes? >> coming up -- >> a strange pastor for a pastor. he was addicted to pornography. obsessed with sex. obsessed with it. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues

i'm dara brown, here's what's happening, the community in california is facing a possible serial killer between july and late september. five men shot and killed just miles apart. police say that we're looking for this person of interest. and brazil, president-elect, shen is headed into a runoff vote afternoon -- got more than 50%. a former left-wing president, came out five points ahead, and still need to face incumbent jair bolsonaro on october 30th. now, back to dateline. back to dateline. he stood before his congregation as a man of the --

at that these devoted husband. but behind closed partners doors, authorities believe that maybe schirmer had been keeping some dark and tawdry secrets. >> he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. >> for a, year team of investigators have been working to build a case against the former pastor, a.b. schirmer. deeroak oxalis tell sitting with the reverend, out on the gospel circuit. and said, his friend did not understand why he was being targeted by investigators. >> a.b. would tell, me they're investigating. and he told me, he didn't know why. he said, there is nothing there. that they won't find anything. there's nothing to find. >> but, investigators thought they were finding plenty. by now, they were tried to connect the dots between the death of the second wife betty and his first wife jewel. and, zeroing on the motive for murder after they examined a hard drive on the reverence computer. >> obsessed with sex. obsessed with thousands of point sites. >> more than playmate duty

pictures. >> we run it back on other perverse behavior. >> and, seasoned investigator, trump or phil barr little says that the sheer volume of a.b. searches was tallied. >> he was addicted to pornography. it was evident by his computers. addicted to the chase of sexuality. >> and, as they dug deeper, they found emails indicating to them that abc sexual targets were not virtual but sometimes very -- to female church members. >> kathy, -- , we'll tell them about a.b. suspected efforts during the first marriage to. juul and, detective wagner said it was proved that a.b. had gone around on betty too. >> he was counseling women who are very vulnerable for many different grievances. maybe troubled marriage, alcohol abuse, something of that nature. , and he would basically council his way right into their bedrooms. >> investigator wendy sir facts said that she could see the

trail of women extending back for decades. >> there was never appeared in this man's life where he's not got some women on the hook. we look back, you know, into the 70s and is the 80s and it's a constant, you know, you could see the pattern right pleading itself over and over again. >> but, even if the pastor was a chronic philanderer as investigators thought, why was that a reason for killing his wives? it seemed to them that he had been cheating on them for years. why resort to murder? investigators speculated something must have changed. whatever, was there was a sense but he was a troubled woman just before the car accident. >> well, a month or two before her death, there was a noticeable lack of a growing this with the church that they took note of. >> and, remember this posted note, the pastor had a touch to betty's last birthday card. the one her son, nate, had come upon as we look through a box of keepsakes. the one that, said he was sorry for all the pain he had caused her but soon she could soar free. >> how do you read that?

it could only mean, out of the context that there was an understanding that the marriage was about ten. that was day double to her last birthday. which was the end of june 2008. , and she was anxious by july 17th. >> but, still, they had to, wonder if they believe the pastor had staged a car crash in a dark rural road, and, by now they did, then why? maybe they theorized that timing had to do with -- was buddy on to her husband's interest in his assistance? what if she asked the pastor for potentially career crushing divorce. >> he's wrapped up in the or of the poll. he's a man of the cloth. he doesn't want to jeopardize it. and the breakup of this marriage and divorce anything nasty, affair he didn't want to tolerate that. and the prosecutors, thoughts in these affection for the past or were becoming, maybe,

dangerously apparent. she was infection waited with the reverend. just mentioning his name, a big smallwood come across your face. >> and, two days after bodies car exodus in the summer of 2008, cindy center condolences to the pastor. sounding her email, love you. the mushy ceedee. a.b. replied, love you too. prosecutor van cuzzo was also struck by this photo of schirmer he said was taking the weekend of betty's memorial service. >> you don't see a man who's distraught and devastated lost in a long. he smiling. there's one photo in particular where he was cooking up a lot of -- and he has a very selfish weird look on his face, relaxed, i.d.s. >> but, a few months later, things would get more complicated on that october night when sydney's husband, jones, shot himself at the pastors desk, heartbroken that the wife was involved with the reverend. his suicide allowed cindy and the pastor to finally be free together. but going through the pastors

records, investigators surfaced and tracked what she saw as the couples increasingly steamy relationship following joe's death. >> it's just, it seemed to, me to sudden. i don't understand how you could -- work or do you grieve? where was your grieving time? >> she said, their credit card receipts revealed one davis and local hotels. >> they're having an intimate relationship. we also see, then, there's hotel stays overnight, hotels stays in and out. >> there was also smoldering emails to each other. >> cindy, wrote unimaginable is the only word that even comes close to describing last night. i have occupied this body for 40 something years and trust me, this is not normal for me. and a.b. road, i'm very hungry for you. your body is fantastic. and, schirmer even confidence in the how happy was with her. he said his relationship with betty had been missing something. for the last two years, we did not have sex, he wrote. >> betty this menopausal.

not interested in sex. they were not intimate. >> he was tired of her. >> she was no good anymore. >> so, goodbye betty, hello cynthia. >> that would be the timing, yes. >> and, it was not only hello cindy but hello samantha and her little brother. the children came to. more than a year after jewel suicide, samantha remembers the pastor being there almost all the time. >> what was he like around the house? >> very moody. very kept to himself. he didn't really want to be bothered with my brother or i. >> roads, cement this, and watching from afar was distressed by the thought of the pastor living with her dead brother's wife and children. >> he has my brother's house. and he can be with his son. and he could sleep in his bed. the decision sees making and his behaviors don't add up. because, you just don't do that. >> but, the new couple was making big plans. later that summer, in august 2000, ten cindy and a.b. announced their engagement.

the daughter samantha was terrified. she called the police. frantic that her mother would become the third late misses a.b. schirmer. >> investigators agreed. and decided they couldn't wait any longer to arrest the former pastor. with what they saw as another potential women at risk, they decided to make their move. on september 13th, 2010, detective wagner knocked on the front door of cynthia's house. >> cindy -- came to the door and i asked where mr. schirmer was, and she said, he was in the kitchen. and as i started to approach into the kitchen area, he went out the back door and ran right into the -- >> he was trying to make a getaway,? >> it appears so. >> but, a.b. schumer did not resist. he was cuffed and read his rights. charged with the murder of his second wife, betty. the deepest secrets of the reverend schirmer we are about to be revealed to all. he would stand trial and a case that would leave a small pennsylvania town abuzz with

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the pastor a.b. schirmer was a dangerous character. i >> believe he was a sociopath who will do whatever he wants to do. and he has. and i concluded murder. >> in his term of the century courthouse in the pocono mountains, a.b. schirmer would stand trial for killing his wife, betty. he pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. and, sitting behind him in the courtroom would be his daughters, they had no doubt that their dad was innocent. >> your four scores behind your dad. people should miss, that is

that right? >> that's the -- >> you never had to -- >> know. >> it had been more than four years since amy and julie step mom, betty shimmer, had been found bleeding and unconscious in her dad's car. >> now, it was time for jury to hear the evidence against a.b. schirmer, and decide whether he was a murderer. a lot of the prosecutor's case was circumstantial. there was no murder weapon, no eyewitness, no confession to the crime. but, even though the case had its challenges, the prosecutor had one key victory before the trial had even started. now, the former pastor wasn't on trial for juul's death. but, a judge ruled that the prosecutor could still tell the jury about it. and, point out the similarities between how she and betty died. >> blunt force trauma to the head, brain damage, brain dead, injury patterns, remarkably similar. it was from the same type of object. along cylindrical object. >> listen to the deck of cards being turned over again and being played out. >> right. >> while the prosecutor would

describe for the jury the crushing blows, he believed killed both wise, this trial would focus mostly on betty. all in all, it was tough testimony for betty's family to listen to without going to pieces. >> i just couldn't stop crying. how long did she sit and suffer in pain. >> the prosecutor asked the jurors to use their common sense about a.b.'s version of events. he played them these computer animations of the car crash as reconstructed by experts. remember, a.b. had told police he had been traveling at around 50 miles per hour when the accident happened. >> at the -- 35 miles an hour, the car would completely travel right through the guarding. real >> sailed through the guarding well into the -- >> correct. >> the prosecutor said the action reconstruction prove the pastor was driving slowly when the car struck the guardrail. too slowly for betty to have been fatally injured. more proof -- than the so-called accident had been staged by the pastor, who attacked his wife somewhere else. >> a bogus rep would also

explain his strange behavior in the car. no call to 9-1-1. no attempt to aid his injured wife. the answer was, his inappropriate behavior at the hospital the prosecutor said. like, this remark tuners. >> the defendant says, what a pretty woman bets was. and, then he makes the bizarre statement, and she had a nice asked to. >> the prosecutor declared that the reverend met anyone's test of a sinner on a frequent basis. his computer was waited downward searches for point, according to a prosecution or investigation. one person testified that she had an ongoing affair of many years with him. >> it was just a shock to me. one of them, he actually was still sleeping with two weeks after he murdered my sister. >> the woman's, or the in motion will entanglement with his -- all added up to a crumbling marriage, the prosecutor still the jury. and, maybe he said, responded the only way he knew how.

>> there's underlining violence with him in that while masked that comes out. >> violence that had been mapped out on the floor of the -- garage, according to the prosecutors. he had a theory about how the crime occurred. >> she was beaten in the house. beaded to the point to bring death,. . . . . at the back door, along the cemetery line and into the back door in the garage. >> and, what happened next, the prosecutor says became increasingly clear when investigators pulled a pre-sea cruise, or the type of car the reverend had been driving into the garage. they parked the current plays unmarked pink dots or blood had been found. later, investigators created this diagram. it shows a trail of blood leading right from the garage door to the cars passenger side. >> he walks or around the side of the car, the passenger side. sutter down, opens the door,

puts her in the car, then he backs, out he goes off and he concocts his little crash. >> but, after seven days of testimony, it was finally the pastor's defense attorney's turn to present his case. >> he's innocent. >> you think you didn't do it? >> right. >> brandon -- says that sometimes accidents just happen. and, he argued that some of the prosecutions forensics analysis wasn't based on sound science. the blood evidence in the car, he said, didn't even match the prosecution version of events. >> if there was so much bleeding that body schirmer was loaded into this car after being bludgeoned with a crowbar, there should've been blood sprayed across the entire windshield. >> the defense's own pathologist told the jury that betty's head injuries were inconsistent with the blow from something like a crowbar. and, that betty had suffered internal injuries, unique to a car wreck. >> there is this deep injury to the right along that can only be caused in a car accident. this is from a test, the right

side of a chess hitting the dashboard. there is no explanation for that -- >> as for the blood on betty's passenger seat, the defense maintain that it was in blood from a beating that occurred from -- in the, car as the prosecution. charge >> when you heard the testimony from the emts who estimated body, there was a point in time when their head was clearly on that, see then there was a point in time when there was active bleeding. >> and, the defense attorney assailed the prosecutions analysis of the blood in the garage. if a.b. schirmer had in fact clean up after cleaning but he, argued the pastor would've done a much better job. what he really have left blood drops in the growth of the world to see? >> you could've really clean this up if you wanted to clean this up. they weren't cleaned up. >> what's more, he said, the prosecutions experts had exaggerated the amount of blood these blood found on the garage floor. >> they took luminol photos that were out of focus. >> miss representative to the jury of what they had. >> yes. >> and the defense attorney argued that the investigators had been too quick to discount a.b.'s explanation about betty

getting a scratch from the wood paul. and, he said, it didn't matter that the wood paul examined by investigators was sitting on a newspaper dated after betty's death. they were simply looking at the wrong stack of wood. >> mr. schirmer told them to look in the woodland for the. would they didn't do that. one of the troopers said that he did that but, if you look in the background of his own photo, you can see a wood pile in the treeline. >> what's more, the defense attorney maintained that everyone was misconstruing a.b.'s behavior at battey's bedside. a.b.'s own daughter told the jury how it was their father's work as a reverend that accounted for his demeanor, that day. >> he had been a pastor to many people who had gone through tragedy. he is so good understanding how to comfort other people. >> they, said their father was overcome. >> we walked with him through the grief. >> we walked with him through. it we saw him. >> and, remember that photo of a.b. smiling while he cooks -- just days after betty was gone? it was far from being evidence

the lawyer argued of his indifference to betty's death. >> that's a snapshot. that's not a total picture of the whole time. >> no. >> it's taken out of context. >> in fact, petit and a.b.'s marriage was strong, argued the defense. >> the relationship seemed good and we were able to establish that there wasn't a problem. >> there were no allegations of violence in that marriage. >> no. >> but, remember that posted note that a.b. had written to betty, apologizing for being pain he caused? her and hoping he would set her free? well, the prosecutor's had -- that the marriage was on the brink -- the defense attorney said that they reminded the words of a caring husband. one who knew that this job was preventing his wife from seeing her family as much as she'd like. >> a.b. schirmer's description of why you put that it was simply because that he wanted to express her that i had caused her hardship and pain by having this job and readers.

yourself are away from your children, your grandchildren. >> bottom line, argued, the defense attorney, a.b. loved his wife. and had no reason to want her dead. >> i argued that there was no motive. made no sense. >> we talking about a ton of money from insurance or something? >> there's no life insurance. >> and, the only thing a.b. was guilty of, his lawyer said, were some all too human mistakes. but, that, in his opinion was not a motive for murder. >> he did a lot of things that one appropriate, it doesn't make a murder. >> we'll do the walk of shame but it doesn't make him a killer, is that the argument? >> right. >> and, perhaps the best person to convince the jury of that was known other than maybe schirmer himself. he did what defendants don't often do in criminal cases. he took the stand in his own defense. the pastor turned history to face the jury. perhaps, the last opportunity he'd have to preach. he admitted to being a center. having an affair. but, he denied killing his wife. his daughter's watched. >> how do you think he told his story? >> i think he did well.

sincere -- >> truthful. >> by the sun, nick novak, was less convinced. >> i was full of anger. i knew he wasn't telling the truth. >> truth, the finding of facts, that was the jury's job. the time was a -- to see what evolved. >> coming -- up >> the verdict. but first, the prosecution offers one final clue to prove the pastor was a killer. >> it's something that mr. schirmer forgot, being a typical -- >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues and in the dark. but what if you could begin to see the signs of hope all around you? what if you could let in the lyte? discover caplyta. caplyta is a once-daily pill, proven to deliver significant relief from bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and bipolar ii depression. and, in clinical trials,

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accused of a brutal crime. bludgeoning to death, his second wife. and staging a car accident to cover his tracks. in his closing argument, the prosecutor, as the jury to

expulsion schirmer, the sinister minister. >> he's kind of like a predator. and he looks at people's vulnerabilities and help manipulate them and getting their good graces and play with their heads. >> and, the prosecutor offered the jurors one final clue, he said, was a death blow to the pastor story. >> it's something that mr. schirmer forgot being a typical male. >> look closely at the photos of the accident scene, the prosecutor said. his investigator, when the surface, had noticed something was missing. something bad he would've had with her. >> right, she's going to the hospital, what would she do? she gets dressed, grabs her purse. and then i stopped and i said, women it, she has no purse. >> it was a crucial prop the prosecutor argued that maybe had forgotten to throw in the car when he staged the car accident. but, the defense attorney, in his final statement, told the jurors this was no vaccine. he urged the jurors not to punish the reverent because of a self confessed sense. murder, he said, was not on

that list. >> they needed to focus, if they were willing, on the forensics and not be brought into the idea that he's a bad person and therefore he did a bad thing. >> now, it would be up to a panel of strangers to decide the pastors faith. while the jury deliberated, betty and duels children waited. maybe stepson was convicted of guilt. >> the evidence was just there. it's overwhelming. >> but a.b.'s daughters were adamant to convinced and his innocence. they had lost their mother jewel, that they would not lose their father too. >> what's happening to your family? do you say, why? sdf self pity? >> now, we don't have self pity. god is good, he's walked with us through everything regardless of what's happened. >> a.b.'s fiancée, cindy, waited anxiously to. so did the prosecutors. >> i never know what the jury is going to. do >> you always worry when the jury's out, right? >> yeah. >> your line of work? >> yeah. >> anything could happen. >> absolutely. >> after an hour and a half of deliberation, the jurors had reached a verdict. but his family took their seats

in the courtroom. >> we're all huddled together and in seats and we all had our heads down. >> then, the verdict. guilty of first degree murder. >> we immediately hugged, a few of us shut it out and started crying. >> for betty's family, the moment was bittersweet. fresh waves of grief were bodies and the brother in law, a bees betrayal. >> so, he was a stranger to all of you. this was the secret from the beginning, you think. now >> yeah, i do. >> setting -- sitting at your thanksgiving's table, stopping, by senior grandchildren, it was all a friend. >> i think it was. >> sandy, what did a.b. schirmer do to your family? i >> think he physically broke our hearts. and he put a mom in help without a daughter. >> she really cared for that guy. and it has to turn out to be like this. >> on the other side of the

courtroom, a.b.'s daughters could not believe it. >> it was -- it was another tragedy to hear that. i just -- i'm still -- i was just so sad. i just cried, devastated. i still hear it in my head, replaying. >> the verdict. >> the verdict! and i don't agree with the decision. >> we know regardless of what any jury said he'd never heard betty. >> how are you feeling right now? >> the pastor's fiancée, cindy, had no comment for reporters after the verdict. >> no reaction at all? >> she was still standing by her man. >> she still loves him. give him $600 a month while he's been incarcerated. >> matt -- says her relationship with her mother's strained. >> samantha, how do you conjure up a new mother daughter relationship? >> i love her, she's plain and

simple. she's family. she could run me in every way possible but at the end of the day she still my mother. >> you love? >> yeah. >> but, the paris semantic is really living for the status or father. she said, she dedicates every day to making him proud. >> everything i do is for him now. you know. i hope he's proud of me. >> in a sense of getting justice? >> yeah. everything, going to school. being successful. anything i wanted to do he believed i could do it. >> samantha said she has found forgiveness for the man who could've become hernia step that. but, betty's son nate wasn't there yet. >> i don't think i'll be able to say those words. >> who is this guy, nate? >> the sinister minister. presented himself as a pastor, pillar of the community. but, we all know now there was skeletons in the closet and

things going on behind the scenes. >> a.b. schirmer was sentenced to life in prison without parole. his defense attorney appealed the verdict. arguing, among other things, that the death of a beast first wife jewel should never have been allowed to be a part of betty's trial. >> i think the admissions of the first wife circumstances surrounding the death of jewel schirmer really did prejudice the case. >> what do you have to see -- >> the pennsylvania supreme court denied his appeal. but, as the former pastor was being taken off to jail, prosecutors said he told deputies he felt strangely calm. >> and we couldn't understand why he felt so relaxed. and, i mean, i know why he felt so relaxed. i mean he's been carrying this thing with him for many years. you know, -- >> the old terrible things will set you free. >> -- >> forgiveness is the providence of the church. justice is the duty of the state. in 2014, a.b. schirmer, the

disgraced pastor, received an additional 20 to 40 years in prison for the murder of his first wife, jewel. he pleaded no contacts. but, still insist he is innocent. saying he took the plea disperse family, the pain of a second trial. second trial (woman) oh. oh! hi there. you're jonathan, right? the 995 plan! yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right.

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