The case of the executed pastor

Dec 16, 2018 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

It was Sunday night, December 2nd, 2007, and four members of the Prophecy One Deliverance Ministry were gathered in the church, located at Lot 45 Hadfield Street, Lodge. Among them were 41-year-old church leader/pastor Ian David, his fiancée, Kendra Dalrymple, his adopted daughter, Shondell Williams, and Williams’ husband, Pastor Alwyn Williams.
The congregation had already left and the small gathering was counting the night’s offerings. It was then that a stranger entered the open western door. The man was wearing a cap, he had a rag around the lower portion of his face, and he was carrying a gun.
“All o’ y’all lie down on the ground,” the gunman said.
It must be a prank, Shondell Williams thought. Some church member is pulling one on us. But when the man with the gun repeated his order, she realized that he meant business.
All of the church members immediately lay face down on the floor; everyone, that is, except Pastor David. He was backing the door when the man entered. But on hearing the command, Pastor David turned to the stranger.
Some of the eyewitnesses would later reflect that the man of God appeared to recognize the gunman.

“The blood of Jesus,” the pastor said, still standing. He then began to speak “in tongues”. This appeared to infuriate the gunman, who responded by hitting the pastor on the head. This silenced Pastor David, who joined his members on the floor.
After ensuring that no one else was in the building, the gunman began to rummage through his victim’s bags and pockets. He removed $35,000 from Shondell Williams’ bag, and a gold bracelet she was wearing; $17,000 from her husband’s wallet, and a substantial sum of cash that Pastor David was carrying in the event of an emergency.
The gunman then collected all his victims’ cell phones and switched them off.
He’s leaving now, Shondell Williams thought. But then, inexplicably, the man walked over to Pastor David’s fiancée, Kendra Dalrymple. He placed a chair on her head.
Two gunshots then rang out in the church, followed by silence. Williams could feel her heart pounding as she lay on the floor. Those shots were not in the air, she thought. A human being was shot!
Several minutes passed before the small gathering was certain that the gunman had left. Eventually, they scrambled to their feet, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight.
Pastor Ian David lay face down and motionless on the floor in a gathering pool of blood. Williams immediately ran outside and raised an alarm. A nearby resident transported the injured pastor to the Georgetown Public Hospital. He was accompanied by his fiancée and other church members, who prayed for his recovery.
But at 01:45 hrs on Monday, December 3rd, 2007, doctors announced that Pastor Ian David was dead.
An autopsy revealed that he had been shot at close range in the back of the head and between the shoulder blades with a .32 pistol. Crime scene detectives recovered two .32 shells from the scene.
Investigators soon concluded that robbery was not the gunman’s primary motive. All evidence suggested that the pastor was the victim of an execution-style killing. They began to look into the victim’s background.
Detectives learned that Pastor David had moved out of his matrimonial home six months before he was murdered. He had divorced and had intended to get married in February 2008. Information reaching the detectives suggested that jealousy over the relationship could have led someone to pay a hit-man to kill the pastor.
All investigations suggested that the killer was a professional, since he had appeared to be unhurried and unflustered during the entire ordeal.
Acting on this information, investigators questioned the pastor’s ex-wife, but learned nothing that could assist them in their case.
Ballistic tests on the recovered .32 shells failed to help them trace the murder weapon. Reflecting on that fateful night one year later, his adopted daughter, Shondell Williams said that she still had no idea why anyone would have wanted to kill her father. But she remembered some puzzling things that caused her to wonder whether her father somehow knew of his fate.
Mrs. Williams revealed that her father had appointed her to be Assistant Pastor, and placed her in charge of the church for a month. She also recalled that on the fateful night, Pastor David shook the hands of several members of his congregation and informed them that he was “passing on the mantle”.
And she suspects that her father knew the gunman’s identity.
Mrs. Williams and her husband subsequently took over the operations of the church.
But she said that at first, several church members were afraid to return, and some even left the congregation. However, many later returned.
And she was convinced that the man who committed the brazen execution will eventually face justice in a higher court.

If you have any further information on this case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street office or by telephone.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8473, or 225-8491. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan on :645-2447, or via his email address: [email protected]

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