Richard Shahan, former children and families pastor of First Baptist Church, Birmingham, has been indicted in his wife’s murder, according to media reports Oct. 23. He has been on house arrest since being released on $100,000 bond in January.
The media reports cited court documents showing Shahan, 53, was indicted in August but the information wasn’t made public until Oct. 22.
Karen Louise Shahan, 52, was found dead July 23, 2013, in the home the couple rented from First, Birmingham, where Richard Shahan had served since 2009. Shahan told police he was out of town visiting the couple’s adult children during the time of the murder.
In August 2013 police held Shahan for 48 hours for questioning. Shahan was put on administrative leave from the church that same month and resigned in December 2013, announcing plans to move overseas to serve three years as a missionary.
He was arrested New Year’s Day 2014 at Nashville International Airport after a computer flagged his passport as a flight risk. A district attorney said at the Jan. 16 bond hearing that emails confiscated from Shahan’s computer indicate that once out of the country he planned to move to the United Kingdom and marry his boyfriend, had said goodbye to his family and planned never to return to the United States.
Shahan waived a preliminary hearing in February because in Alabama all felony prosecutions must begin with an indictment by a grand jury. (BNG, TAB)
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