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Police believe a body found in a small-time evangelist's home freezer is his wife and a mother of eight, and arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a south Alabama church. Evangelist Beverly Jackson of Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God In Christ in Jackson, Alabama told CBS affiliate WKRG-TV Anthony Hopkins had just preached about forgiveness Monday night when sheriff deputies placed him under arrest. When Jackson asked police why they were arresting Hopkins, she says they told her, "He murdered his wife." According to Jackson, Hopkins told her that his wife died four years ago while giving birth to their youngest son. "What in the world is going on? I had no idea that he was even capable of something like this," Jackson told WKRG-TV.
The news also came as a shock to others who say they knew Hopkins as a faithful Christian man who often took the pulpit.
"He appeared to be a real man of God," said Carl Richardson, pastor of the Jackson church. "So, to hear something like this, we have to be careful about who we trust in these days and times."
Hopkins, 37, was being held in the Mobile County jail Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing and appointment of an attorney.
Police said no one reported 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins missing, even though she hadn't been heard from in three years. The body was discovered covered in a freezer in a utility room during a police search of the home in Mobile after a relative of the preacher contacted police.
Mobile Police Chief Phillip Garrett said Hopkins was arrested Monday night at a revival in Jackson, a town in rural Clarke County where he has roots.
Police awaited results of forensic tests to determine the cause of death, but Garrett said authorities believe it is Hopkins' wife. The freezer was moved to a forensics lab.
Garrett said Anthony Hopkins, the father of six of the eight children, has been charged with rape and sodomy in a separate case involving the female relative and could face more charges related to another relative.
Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said the children who lived with Hopkins - who ranged in age from 3 to 19 - have been taken into protective custody by the Department of Human Resources.
Garrett said the Hopkins children were home-schooled. He said Hopkins "kept to himself," and apparently moved from place to place. Neighbors called him "Rev." because he attended church so often, loading the children into a van.
Police said he preached at various churches and did not appear to be affiliated with a particular denomination.
Clarke County Sheriff's Chief Investigator Sgt. Ron Baggett said he listened through the church door before assisting in the arrest about 10 p.m. Monday. About 25 people were in the congregation at the time.
Source: AP
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