Kristie Evans, the wife of the late Pastor David Evans of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church in Arkansas, now faces first-degree murder charge following her confession of guilt last month.
Evans and her accomplice Kahlil Deamie Square have been formally charged of first-degree murder last week, and that their next appearance in court is scheduled in May, reports The Christian Post.
In March, Evans confessed to the Ada Police Department that she plotted her husband's murder and that she colluded with her lover Square to execute the plan. The pastor was shot dead inside his home. His wife, Kristie, then called 911 to report the incident.
In the broadcasted portion of Evan's 911 call shared by NBC news, she sounded frantic while describing the scene.
"Someone shot my husband. He's in a pool of blood, and I heard a loud pop," Evans told the dispatch.
She also denied seeing the shooter in their vicinity in her initial claim of innocence from her husband's murder.
Within a week of investigation, Evans soon confessed her crime to the investigators. She told them that she and her husband's killer, Square, were together on March 17, 18 and 19 while the pastor is away on a mission trip to Mexico. She also revealed their secret life as swingers from which they met Square who soon became the couple's lover.
The motive for the murder, according to the police's affidavit, is Pastor Evan's demeaning words toward his wife. He reportedly called Kristie a "sl*t, fat, ugly and wh*re."
To convince Square to do her bidding, Kristie Evans told him about her husband's tendency to be verbally abusive and an insinuation that she wanted "to have more freedom."
These revelations shocked members of the Harmony Free Will Baptist Church where the Evans serve. A spokesperson from the church told KFOR that they were greatly saddened to hear details behind their pastor's death.
"We are greatly saddened. We serve a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us. These revelations do not diminish that truth and we will continue to serve Him," said the spokesperson.
On their pastor and his wife's alleged secret life, the spokesperson said that they are aware how "even pastors can succumb to human frailty." The church's representative asked that their privacy be respected for now while they and the pastor's family "grieve and process all these events."
On his last Sunday at the church, Pastor Dave Evans have preached on the final days of Jesus' ministry on earth. He used the several accounts where the Pharisees plotted to kill him and Lazarus whom he raised from the dead as illustration to point out that the devil would always come after believers.
"Sometimes, I just stop and think," he told his congregation. "If the devil is not attacking you with everything he's got in trying to destroy and kill you, maybe [it's] because you're not the reason anybody is believing in Jesus. And as a pastor and just as a Christian, what a waste," he said.
