Pastor Accused of Murdering Wife Arrested on Way to Marry Boyfriend

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

An Alabama pastor accused of stabbing his wife to death was on his way marry his boyfriend in England when he was arrested at an airport earlier this month, according to prosecutors.
Richard Lee Shahan was arrested January 1 at Nashville's airport, approximately five months after his wife was stabbed to death in the couple's home. After going through 3,000 of his emails, prosecutors say they learned of Shahan's plan to meet his boyfriend in Europe, traveling first to Kazakhstan—where he'd told relatives and friends he was going on a three-year mission trip—and then settling in the UK.
"He planned to become a citizen there and begin a new life with his boyfriend... who he intended to marry," Deputy Jefferson County District Attorney Leigh Gwathney told AL.com. "He had no intention of ever returning to the United States. He had no home to return to and he had said his goodbyes to his family."
Shahan's bond was set at $100,000, on the condition that he remain under house arrest until his trial.
"They are doing everything they can to try to manufacture a murder case," his attorney John Lentine told AL.com.
Shahan was jailed for "investigative purposes" after his wife's death in July but was released after 48 hours. Not long after his release, he took a paid leave of absence from his job as Children and Families Pastor and the Facilities Director at First Baptist in Homewood, Alabama. He resigned from the job on December 31.
It's not clear what caused prosecutors to finally press charges.

Taking that love thy neighbor thing a bit too seriously I see

 

[TX85]

Honeymoon and new life..Denied!

 

[Pink Ranger]

A clear example of how the legalization of same-sex marriage (in another country, across the Atlantic Ocean) generates evil and leads to the disintegration of heterosexual marriage.

 

[webhead9707]

I guess he didn't get the whole "Thou shalt not murder" memo...

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Sounds like a Garth Ennis character.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Hypocrisy Level: Expert

 

[Siby]

I wonder how the boyfriend can overlook the fact that your significant other murdered someone to be with them. Or does that not even cross their deranged minds?

 

[Hobgoblin]

Did the boyfriend know he was married to begin with? The pastor could have been lying to him too.

 

[Xeno]

I wonder how the boyfriend can overlook the fact that your significant other murdered someone to be with them. Or does that not even cross their deranged minds?

The BF lives in England so he might not know about the murder. Or he could buy the pastor's claims of innocence, the way so many people do when they're supposedly in love with a murderous bastard.

So many of these so-called "men of God" are completely ungodly. Why not just get a divorce and run off with the boyfriend? I guess he just wanted to kill her more than he wanted his freedom. He did it down in Bama so his next stop is probably Death Row. Even though I'm against the death penalty I won't shed any tears for this guy.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Reminds me of the end of the movie American Beauty.

 

[Siby]

The BF lives in England so he might not know about the murder. Or he could buy the pastor's claims of innocence, the way so many people do when they're supposedly in love with a murderous bastard.

So many of these so-called "men of God" are completely ungodly. Why not just get a divorce and run off with the boyfriend? I guess he just wanted to kill her more than he wanted his freedom. He did it down in Bama so his next stop is probably Death Row. Even though I'm against the death penalty I won't shed any tears for this guy.

This is something I just don't understand either. Why people in these situations can't just leave without hurting or killing the person they don't want to be with.

 

[KevanG]

Divorces are bad mmmkay?

 

[Anubis]

And expensive.

 

[KevanG]

He may have thought of the original way divorce was handled a la Henry the VIII. If it's good enough for a king it's good for anyone else.

 

[Xeno]

And expensive.

Paying for a decent defense attorney is a lot more expensive. Death row appeals don't cost a thing, though. But appeals won't do anything more than draw out the agony.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

A clear example of how the legalization of same-sex marriage (in another country, across the Atlantic Ocean) generates evil and leads to the disintegration of heterosexual marriage.

Seriously though, I wouldn't put it past some people to say that and mean it, even though you can pull up millions of examples of straight people doing the exact same thing, except to be with a member of the opposite sex.

 

[redhawk23]

Seriously though, I wouldn't put it past some people to say that and mean it, even though you can pull up millions of examples of straight people doing the exact same thing, except to be with a member of the opposite sex.

A man from my hometown had a cushy job with a megachurch near St. Louis, MO. He would lose his job if he tried to file for a divorce, which he wanted to do in order to marry a woman he was having an affair with. Rather than just take the job hit or break off the affair, he instead murdered his wife and two children.

But yeah obviously Same Sex marriage would dilute the meaning of marriage or whatever.

 

[Quasimod0]

Man he really fell off the wagon.