Pastor Murdered Inside Her Own Church
Posted by Media Outrage on August 27th, 2009
Pastor Carol Daniels was found murdered inside her own church.
Via FoxNews:
The body of Carol Daniels, 61, was found at noon on Sunday inside the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko, a town of about 6,600 people roughly 60 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown told FOXNews.com that Daniels had trauma to her body but declined to elaborate. An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted today, she said.
Brown said Daniels, who served as the church’s pastor for “many, many” years, was at the tiny, one-story building on Sunday for the off chance that a worshipper attended congregation.
“She was there just in case someone showed up, but there wasn’t a regular congregation,” she said. “We’re trying to find anyone who might have seen or heard anything unusual in the area and we’ll go from there.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” she told the Associated Press on Monday.
Investigators said they have no suspects in Daniels’ death and few leads to follow. Officials on Sunday spoke with several people who gathered around the building after word about the slaying spread. Many of them wept and hugged each other.
Brown said Daniels lived in Oklahoma City and drove to the church each Sunday for services.
Daniels was a graduate of Douglass High School in Oklahoma City and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. She is survived by her adult daughter, Raina.
Attempts to reach Daniels’ relatives were unsuccessful early Monday.
Mitchell Pendarvis, who lives next door to the church, was surprised to hear about the killing.
“I don’t know what to think and I’m trying to think,” Pendarvis told Oklahoma City television station KWTV. “I mean, who would do this to this woman?”
According to 2000 census data, roughly 6,645 people live in the Anadarko, Okla., earning a median income of $24,035. More than a quarter of the town’s residents lived below the poverty Iine, including 38 percent of those under age 18. Caucasians and Native Americans each comprise about 41 percent of the population, and African-Americans make up about 6 percent.
Two buildings near the church where Daniels’ body was found were destroyed during a fire early Saturday. The Anadarko Daily News, a daily newspaper, and the Tornado Alley bar — both one-story buildings — were reportedly destroyed in the fire.
UPDATE:
ANADARKO, Okla. — Whoever killed a pastor inside her small Oklahoma church “staged” the body, authorities said Thursday, meaning it was moved into an unnatural position after the murder.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown declined to elaborate on how the body of 61-year-old Carol Daniels was positioned inside the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko.
Brown also said investigators are reviewing video surveillance tapes from a nearby convenience store for clues in the brutal killing.
A preliminary autopsy found she died of “multiple sharp force injuries,” and a veteran local prosecutor described the crime scene as “the most horrific” he’s ever witnessed.
Law enforcement officials have been tightlipped about details of the crime or a possible motive, but held a meeting with pastors in Anadarko warning them to take security precautions at their buildings.
Authorities said they have not ruled out the possibility that the killer specifically targeted a pastor or a church.
Brown said that on the video, Daniels’ car can be seen pulling up to the church about 10 a.m. Sunday. She declined to say whether any suspect was seen.
“The most they’ve gleaned from the tape so far is to give them a timeline of when she arrived,” Brown said.
A visitor who arrived at the church shortly before noon saw Daniels’ car but found the door to the church locked, District Attorney Bret Burns said Thursday. The person walked to the nearby Anadarko police station and notified officers, who discovered Daniels’ body. Burns did not identify the visitor.
Burns, who met with local pastors Wednesday, did not say why the meeting was held just with them rather than the community at large, or what kind of a threat the clergy might face.
No arrests have been made and investigators have no suspects, Brown said. The agency is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“We’re still running down leads, conducting interviews and doing all the things we do in a normal investigation,” Brown said.
Daniels, who lived in Oklahoma City, made the 60-mile drive to Anadarko every week, even though the small, weather-beaten church had no regular congregation.
August 27th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
This is just so sick. Not only did you kill the woman, but then plant her body in the church. So they had to know she was a pastor. Shame.
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August 27th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Damn, shit was already crazy but, we living in a cold ass world now more then ever.
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August 28th, 2009 at 12:11 am
That’s just terrible. I don’t know what makes ppl think to do certain things. Wow!
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:48 am
This is passed being wrong!! I mean you have to be a sick individual to murder a Pastor! To kill a person at all is wrong! But one of God’s messengers?!! That ain’t cool! Not to mention she was probably somebody’s mother, grandmother, etc…
May she rest in peace! Condolences to her family and church.
Hopefully the police will find whoever’s responsible for this!
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August 28th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I wonder how much her income was? Still sad situation to kill the pastor, whoa!
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August 28th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I hope that catch the bastard(s). May her soul rest in peace.
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Absolutely horrible. The Almighty said “Touch not mine anointed”. They did more than just touched her though, so you can be sure that whoever is responsible put a grenade in their own hand and pulled the pin. Whatever they get is too good for them.
I’ll kill a man for whatever reason, but there are four types of people that I will never harm: women, children, the elderly and clergymen. Women make kids, kids are the future, and the last but certainly not least two advise us FOR the future. So whoever has done this will not go unpunished!
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August 28th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Most of the Christ Holy Sanctified Churches in Oklahoma are small congregations with huge hearts for God and people. I am not a member of the any of them but know people that are. I know how horrific a crime this is an as a fellow Christian living in Oklahoma my heart goes out to her family, but you can bet your life that what pastor Daniels would want for us to do is to pray for the person responisble and to pray that many come to know God because of what has happened to her.
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August 29th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Races in Anadarko:
* American Indian (47.7%)
* White Non-Hispanic (39.7%)
* Hispanic (9.1%)
* Two or more races (7.8%)
* Black (6.2%)
* Other race (3.1%)
Estimated median household income in 2007: $29,297 (it was $24,035 in 2000)
Anadarko: $29,297
Oklahoma: $41,567
Estimated per capita income in 2007: $15,100
Anadarko: $15,100
Oklahoma: $22,540
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $56,503 (it was $38,400 in 2000)
Anadarko: $56,503
Oklahoma: $103,000
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August 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I hope they catch his white ass, and burn him on a stake!! This country is getting sicker and more racist by the day!
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