Coconino County Sheriff's Office
Editor’s note: This story includes disturbing content and graphic language.
A man told FOX 10 that the pastor he claimed to have killed — New River Bible Chapel’s Pastor William Schonemann, whose body was found April 28 with arms stretched out and pinned to the wall, as if he were crucified — was the first of 14 Christian leaders, including two priests at the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, that he intended to kill in that manner.
The 50-year-old suspect cited his religious beliefs — that Christian pastors lead their flocks away from God — as the reason for the murder and others he had planned.
Adam Christopher Sheafe made those remarks on camera in an interview with reporter Lauren Clark at Coconino County’s jail, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Sheafe told Clark on camera that on the day that he was going to “execute that priest” by trying to get into the backseat of the priest’s car and demanding to go to his house, an “older lady” on a small bicycle “got in my way.”
Sheafe said in an interview with True Crime Arizona’s Briana Whitney that if he had a vehicle, he would have been able to kill the priests.
True Crime Arizona reported June 12 that Chris Sheafe, Adam’s father, said his son is “obsessed” with the Old Testament. Adam has a Yahweh tattoo on his neck.
According to the article, Sheafe said that he was going to kill people in Las Vegas, Portland, Oregon; Seattle; Billings, Montana; Detroit; New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas; and El Paso, Texas. He would have begun and ended his killing spree in Arizona, where he was born.
“Where it starts is where it ends, like the Garden of Eden,” he said, according to the article.
He said he’s unrepentant.
“Not only do I have zero remorse, I plan on fulfilling what I started,” he said. “If my father puts me in an authoritative position on this earth, I will execute every single priest and burn every church to the ground.”
Whitney reported that Sheafe said that Pastor Bill also wasn’t the first pastor he planned to kill. He said that in Phoenix, he followed a priest home after Easter Sunday service but two women were present.
“I’m not interested in executing anyone other than the pastors or the shepherds leading the flocks astray,” he said. “I need to find pastors or priests that live alone.”
Sheafe also said, “I want the death penalty because I want to show that you can’t kill God’s son. The whole story is B.S.”
Sheafe has not been charged with homicide in Maricopa County, but he is the only suspect, Sedona Red Rock News reported June 27.
Sedona Police Department officers and a Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested Sheafe, a 50-year-old man suspected of homicide and burglary, in Sedona on April 30, according to Sedona Red Rock News, which shared the footage of the arrest.
Sheafe faces several charges related to burglaries of two homes in Sedona on April 29 and 30 and actions law enforcement officials said he took around that time, the article said. Cottonwood Police Department, using a drone and K-9 units, joined the Verde Valley Regional SWAT Team in helping law enforcement officials find and apprehend Sheafe in the Coconino National Forest, according to the article.
Sheafe is being held on a $150,000 bond — he hasn’t yet been charged with the murder. Prosecutors are preparing a first-degree murder charge and requested at a June 30 court appearance to transfer Sheafe from Coconino County to Maricopa County where he allegedly killed the pastor. Because Sheafe’s legal team objected to the transfer request, a new court date was set for July 15 to give Maricopa County two weeks to submit the request.