Via MYFOXHOUSTON.com:
Did the preacher do it? A 5th Ward pastor, his girlfriend and his son are accused in a murder plot that ended with the death of the pastor’s wife. The murder happened a week after his church mysteriously burned down.
The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force arrested the trio Tuesday morning and brought them to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for questioning.
Pastor Tracy Burleson, 44, and his son, William Darnell Fuller, 20, are charged with murder. Burleson’s girlfriend Tyonne Palmer, 31, is facing a charge of tampering with evidence.
Burleson and Palmer were still wearing their pajamas when they were transferred to jail.
Last month, Fox 26 was there when Pastor Burleson delivered a message of hope to his small congregation during a Sunday service in the parking lot of his church. A suspicious fire had just destroyed the 93-year-old New Mount Calvary Baptist Church, a church that had reportedly fallen on hard financial times.
“In a couple services we were told that if we didn’t put more money in (the offering) the church would be closed,” said Edward Payton, a member.
Pastor Burleson went before our camera asking the city to help.
“We do need drums. We need keyboards. We need whatever,” he said on May 16th.
His wife of about a decade looked on during that Sunday service and prayed.
“God wants us to keep our focus on him. If we take our focus off God believe me world we have nothing,” Paulette Burleson told Fox 26.
A week after speaking to us, Paulette Burleson was shot and killed in the driveway of her home. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says Pastor Burleson told them he had driven to a convenience store to pick up some snacks. When he returned, his wife was dead.
“Common sense prevails a lot. A lot of things did not add up, but I refused to just say he was guilty,” said Earl Jackson, assistant pastor at New Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
Read more of this tragic story HERE.
