Murder of Second Wife Brings up Death of First

Arthur Burton "A.B." Schirmer is charged with homicide and evidence tampering in the death of his wife, as reported by the Associate Press for Yahoo News in Tannersville, Pennsylvania.

A judge in Tannersville said that Schirmer, 62, should face trial for allegedly murdering his wife, Betty, 56, and staging a car accident to hide the evidence. The early morning car crash on July 2008, that was presumed by authorities to take Mrs. Schirmer's life, is now thought to be a cover-up.

Police have reopened the case after learning that a man, who committed suicide, believed that his wife was having an affair with Schirmer. 

Forensic experts used photographs, taken by the vehicle's damage appraiser, which showed blood soaked into the passenger seat and dashboard. Betty Schirmer's blood was also found in the garage of the church parsonage.  From this evidence it was concluded that she was bleeding before the crash and prosecutors allege that Schirmer hit her with some kind of object.

Paramedics that responded to the car crash testified that they were unsure as to why Mrs. Schirmer had blood covering her head, large bruising above one eye, and more bruises on her leg, as there wasn't that much damage to the car.

Margo Warner, the paramedic on scene, said, "We couldn't figure out what caused the head injury.  There wasn't enough damage to the inside of the vehicle."

Schirmer, working as a pastor at Reeders United Methodist Church in the Poconos at the time of the accident, told the investigators that his wife had jaw pain that morning and he was driving her to the hospital.  He said that a deer crossed the road in front of him which made him lose control of his car.

While his wife suffered multiple fractures to her face and skull, Schirmer emerged unscathed.  She later died at the hospital, no autopsy was ordered and she was cremated.

Police Cpl. Douglas Shook reconstructed the accident, and he found that the car was not driving the 45 mph that Schirmer reported; it was less than 25 mph.  He also said that there wasn't enough damage to the car to warrant a fatal injury.  In looking at the road to assess the accident, Shook said, "There was no physical evidence of any avoidance maneuver in the roadway."

State police interviewed Schirmer for six hours several months after the accident. Schirmer admitted to not calling 911 immediately following the crash as he was holding his wife in the hopes that she would wake up.  He told Trooper William Maynard  when asked why he hadn't called 911 that "he didn't think of it."

Schirmer told police that the blood in the garage was from a pile of firewood that fell on them, but Trooper Phil Barletta, the forensics specialist, said that the evidence showed that the blood was in a "seamless trail" from the parsonage floor to the passenger's side of the car.

Investigators are also taking a second look at the death of Schirmer's first wife, Jewel, who was believed to have died as a result of a fall down a flight of stairs.

When Schirmer worked at Bethany United Methodist in Lebanon, Pa., his first wife, Jewel Schirmer, 50, died of a traumatic brain injury on April 24, 1999 at Hershey Medical Center.  The alleged fall that caused the injury occurred on a flight of stairs at their shared parsonage.

District Judge Thomas Olsen has refused to allow prosecutors to introduce evidence on Jewel Schirmer and said it would be an issue for the trial court to decide.

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