A Wolf in Shepherd’s Clothing

A shocking suicide at a church in 2008 led detectives in Pennsylvania to investigate the deaths of not one, but two wives of a well-respected pastor. When Joe Musante killed himself sitting at Reverend AB Schirmer’s desk, his family had to wonder why Joe had chosen this place to take his own life. Joe had been an active member of the church. He was also a carpenter.  In fact, he had built much of the church and the desk where he ended his life. The loss was heartbreaking, but it was also mysterious and haunting. There was something symbolic in this desperate and final gesture.

Reverend AB Schirmer had also suffered a recent loss in his life.  His wife Betty had died just months earlier in a tragic car accident.  Joe’s wife Cynthia was Reverend Schirmer’s assistant.  And, Cynthia and Schirmer had been having an affair for several months before Betty and Joe’s deaths.

It turned out that Schirmer’s affair with Cynthia Musante was not his first.  He had a history of infidelity.  And his wife Betty was not the first wife he had lost in a freak accident.  What are the chances of losing two wives in two freak accidents?  Many people wondered.

Join us at the quiet end for the story of a man of God with a pattern of losing his wives in strange accidents.  Although his wives’ deaths were suspicious, he had been given the benefit of the doubt, quite possibly because he was a reverend thought to be beyond reproach.