AL - Karen Shahan, 53, murdered, Homewood, 23 July 2013 #1

[SapphireSteel]

Thank you momrids6 for posting this article. I posted it the other day (yesterday) but deleted it because of the replys that were posted. I guess I felt like posting it was doing more harm than good. I'm a member of this church, so I didn't want anyone thinking I posted it just because I'm a member...anyway, just wanted to say thank you...and thank you Mod for allowing it.

Hi and thanks for sharing.

It certainly all sounds very strange.

I was wondering if you'd know how long the Pastor Shahan would be gone, and if it was common knowledge his wife was alone?

Also, is theirs the only church housing, or is there more close by?

Thanks in advance.

Also, I had no idea a church had a separate Pastor for children and families...you learn something new every day.

:twocents:

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Has it been mentioned if there were signs of forced entry?

:waitasec:

 

[ClemiFern]

Hi and thanks for sharing.

It certainly all sounds very strange.

I was wondering if you'd know how long the Pastor Shahan would be gone, and if it was common knowledge his wife was alone?

Also, is theirs the only church housing, or is there more close by?

Thanks in advance.

Also, I had no idea a church had a separate Pastor for children and families...you learn something new every day.

:twocents:

They have not released any information whatsoever regarding how long he was gone, whether it was common knowledge that she was alone nor anything else for that matter. LE has not let out a peep about anything at all.

As far as the church having a separate Pastor for children and families, this is a very large church and in the larger churches it's not uncommon to have several different and separate pastors over different areas of the church. Actually, the fact that this church only has 2 pastors, Mr. Shahan and Dr. Carter (interim pastor) is rather unusual. I would have thought it would have had more.

I do not know if theirs was the only church housing but the church does own all of the houses on the Shahan's street. I assume they rent them to church staff if a staff member wants/needs one of them. I do not know that.

Originally posted by IHAVENOCLUE
Has it been mentioned if there were signs of forced entry?

No it hasn't been mentioned whether there were signs of forced entry either. Basically NOTHING has been divulged about the circumstances surrounding this homicide...not a single hint of anything.

 

[always reading]

To the person that said they are a member of the church-was it known among the church members that the pastor would be going out of town?

 

[SmoothOperator]

IMO I believe this will be resolved rather quickly if it as many believe, not a random murder.. I am also of that same opinion in it not being a random crime, but rather this was perpetrated by someone known to the victim.. IMO that could be anyone from her close, inner circle of family and friends..all the way to someone who is merely a loose acquaintance. I believe LE have a suspect/suspects or even know who it is that is responsible for Karen's murder, yet as we all know too well the difference is great between LE "knowing" who perpetrated the crime..and..the DA having sufficient evidence to PROVE in a court of law who perpetrated the crime..

It is the latter that must be obtained prior to LE being able arrest and charge the perp for the crime.. At which time the clock begins to quickly tick leading to their right to a speedy trial in being prosecuted for the crimes they're charged.. So, IMO its these issues that are at play and are exactly why we see LE taking longer than we'd like for them to in arresting and charging the perps responsible for such heinous crimes like Karen's..jmo.

While I believe the perp is known to the victim that does not at all mean that its her husband. Yes, he is of course going to be first on the list of suspects for LE, as well as a majority of the public(it is only LE that is of importance while the public's opinion is not).. IMO LE already have the key information and knowledge indicating whether the husband is involved or is NOT involved in his wife's murder.. IMO its quite likely that this information was known very early on and the majority of info easily obtained through his adult son's and their wives.. IMO LE know if the times, travel, arrival, etc allow for even the possibility of the husband to have been present in Birmingham at/around the time of Karen's murder.(the whole murder-for-hire type of involvement is a whole other ball of wax and a completely separate issue)

These are all details that will remain unknown to the public and with the so very, very little that is known IMO there is almost every possibility still on the table wrt the who/how/why Karen was murdered..jmo.

 

[kahne9]

To be honest, even though I'm a member of this church....I haven't asked any questions because it's still so painful, also I have kids that Richard and Karen worked with every Sunday. He baptised my son. I don't want to have to lie to my children when they ask me what happened. Some of you may understand this, especially if you have kids. Our church is suffering more than you know. I know everyone has their own opinion about what happened to Karen and that some of you think I'm being unreasonable when I say that there is no way Richard hurt his wife. Plus he would never hurt his boys by taking away their mother or hurt their grandchildren. I saw them every Sunday and Wed for 4 years I also taught bible school with them a few weeks ago and talked to her the Fri before she was killed. If I did have any info, I don't think I would post it because without giving you proof...some of you may not believe me. I can understand that also. I can tell you that the church owns 6 ( I think) of the houses. We have them for missionaries, and other people who come to stay a few months.

 

[SmoothOperator]

kahne, I do not at all think you are being unreasonable in the very least..not one bit.. I cannot imagine the shock, disbelief, and pain that all of you are going through at this time..combined with the fact of there not yet being an arrest making it all the more chaotic and painful. I appreciate you're sharing with us about Richard and Karen and giving us insight that we would not have. The support you have for Richard is exactly what will help get him through what is likeliest the most difficult time of his and his family's life..

I am hopeful that the resolve for Karen's murder is in the very near future. I believe that crossing that particular hurdle of atleast having made an arrest for those involved will ease some of the pain that the family and community are in at this point..as well as to give answers to some of the difficult questions in everyone's mind and better able to know how to answer the questions that your children may ask at some point.. While I will not even dare say I understand what you're going through, I will say that I have a great deal of sympathy for what you are having to face.. It is proof positive of the fact that a single, horrific act of one human being on another has such a vast, wide reaching, continued rippling effect in negatively impacting the lives of SO VERY, VERY MANY PEOPLE.. One act, by one person on another person can and often does have a truly negative, life changing impact on the lives of many, many people..

My continued thoughts and prayers for you, your family, and your entire community, kahne:hug:

 

[kahne9]

THANK YOU SO MUCH Smoothoperator for your post and understanding. It means more than you know! I really do appreciate it. When and if I find out anything out...I will post it, because of people like you, who do not judge others before having all the information.

 

[Tulessa]

THANK YOU SO MUCH Smoothoperator for your post and understanding. It means more than you know! I really do appreciate it. When and if I find out anything out...I will post it, because of people like you, who do not judge others before having all the information.

Prayers for healing comfort Kahne9.

 

[meanmaryjean]

THANK YOU SO MUCH Smoothoperator for your post and understanding. It means more than you know! I really do appreciate it. When and if I find out anything out...I will post it, because of people like you, who do not judge others before having all the information.

Kahne9

We are not 'judging others' - we are taking what little information we HAVE, applying varying points of view based on experience in other, similar cases, and trying to come up with POSSIBLE scenarios to explain the circumstances. Honestly.

Take away the church aspect, and many of us have seen similar cases play out in similar manners. We ALL want justice for Karen, I promise you.


<modsnip>

Praying for comfort for you and all that loved Karen.

 

[SapphireSteel]

To be honest, even though I'm a member of this church....I haven't asked any questions because it's still so painful, also I have kids that Richard and Karen worked with every Sunday. He baptised my son. I don't want to have to lie to my children when they ask me what happened. Some of you may understand this, especially if you have kids. Our church is suffering more than you know. I know everyone has their own opinion about what happened to Karen and that some of you think I'm being unreasonable when I say that there is no way Richard hurt his wife. Plus he would never hurt his boys by taking away their mother or hurt their grandchildren. I saw them every Sunday and Wed for 4 years I also taught bible school with them a few weeks ago and talked to her the Fri before she was killed. If I did have any info, I don't think I would post it because without giving you proof...some of you may not believe me. I can understand that also. I can tell you that the church owns 6 ( I think) of the houses. We have them for missionaries, and other people who come to stay a few months.

Thank you for sharing with us at this horrible time. I hope that the perp is located and arrested quickly.

It must be very very difficult especially if you think the person may be known to your congregation somehow...maybe even someone the Pastor had reached out to.

On the surface she seems a very unlikely victim. I'm assuming pastors are not usually living extravagant type lifestyles which would easily tempt a thief so it is quite motiveless apparently.

I wish we had more details, from an official source.

I pray that you all get answers soon.

I'm reminded of the female pastor in Oklahoma who was horribly murdered in her own church.... Still not solved.

ETA Link http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88118&page=7&highlight=anadarko

 

[LambChop]

Sleuthing family members that are not suspects is against TOS. There are no known suspects that we know of presently. Discuss the case but be respectful of the family during the time of their loss.

 

[LambChop]

Thank you for sharing with us at this horrible time. I hope that the perp is located and arrested quickly.

It must be very very difficult especially if you think the person may be known to your congregation somehow...maybe even someone the Pastor had reached out to.

On the surface she seems a very unlikely victim. I'm assuming pastors are not usually living extravagant type lifestyles which would easily tempt a thief so it is quite motiveless apparently.

I wish we had more details, from an official source.

I pray that you all get answers soon.

I'm reminded of the female pastor in Oklahoma who was horribly murdered in her own church.... Still not solved.

It is very possible that whoever did this expected both the Pastor and his wife to be gone from the home and was surprised to find Karen asleep on the couch. Can't tell you how many times I have fallen asleep on the couch myself never making it to the bedroom. jmo

 

[meanmaryjean]

My apologies- I did not intend to do so. I was simply trying to explain WHY we sometimes go 'down the paths' we do. Mea culpa.

 

[MissJ]

While I do think that it is likely the perp knew the victim in some way, that covers a slew of people that could be responsible. I would not presume to know who might be responsible. I do think it was someone who knew her husband was out of town and took advantage of that fact. What a horrendous crime for her family, congregation and friends to have to deal with at this time. My sympathies to them all. JMO

 

[LambChop]

My apologies- I did not intend to do so. I was simply trying to explain WHY we sometimes go 'down the paths' we do. Mea culpa.

It is okay as long as someone is named a suspect otherwise it is and always has been against TOS.

She could have been killed brutally because she recognized the person and confronted them. It does sound as if whoever did this was beyond angry. I do think the fact that LE is not disclosing information is that they have an idea who did this and are actively working the case. Otherwise isn't it usual for LE to ask the public for help, such as did anyone see anything that night, etc. They often ask for the public's help. Have they done that in this case?

 

[MissJ]

I do think LE must have some clue who might be responsible or else I hope they would warn the community. We never really know what someone/anyone is capable of; someone I dearly loved and who had not ever been violent toward me became suddenly violent a few months ago. I'm sure in her job she came into contact with lots of people.

 

[TGIRecovered]

So am I understanding correctly that we can't even reference other cases or our own experiences? I don't see how that could be misconstrued as accusing anyone.

 

[LambChop]

So am I understanding correctly that we can't even reference other cases or our own experiences? I don't see how that could be misconstrued as accusing anyone.

Not in the context of which it was written. It is against TOS so we do not speculate and we do not make comparison's so there is no mistake. Talk about anything else involving this case but not that.

 

[txsvicki]

An older church couple probably wouldn't have a lot of money lying around or many things to steal. I wonder what the motive would be. Hope they get it solved soon. Just because they were involved in church doesn't mean it's in any way to any church acquaintances or people even if cops are keeping quiet.