Murder of Cheryl Flippo by Michael Flippo investigated on Cabin in the Woods

ID is re-airing the Cabin in the Woods investigation into the murder of Cheryl Flippo by her pastor husband, Rev. Michael Flippo, in Babcock State Park in Fayette County, West Virginia.

On the evening of April 29, 1996, married couple Cheryl and Michael traveled from Nitro, WV, to a cabin located in the state park. Michael had been in the park the previous month to baptize a member of his church in a stream.

In the early hours of the following morning, Michael dialed 911 from a payphone and told the dispatcher his wife had been murdered and their car stolen. A sheriff’s deputy picked Michael up at the payphone and drove him back to the cabin. Michael was dressed in only his underwear and had cuts on his legs.

The deputy found Cheryl lying between a bed and a wall; her skull had been bashed in, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputy noted that there were no footprints in the area around the cabin despite the ground being wet and soggy.

Michael told the police that he had awoken to find an intruder in the cabin. He said the man knocked him unconscious, and he later awoke to find the intruder sitting on him, cutting his legs with a knife.

The pastor said the man again knocked him unconscious, and when he awoke for the second time, the killer was gone, and Cheryl was horribly injured. Michael said he rushed to the payphone when he felt a heartbeat coming from his wife.

Cops didn’t believe Michael Flippo when he said an intruder killed Cheryl Flippo

Detectives claimed there was no sign of forced entry and that the scene looked staged and items looked out of place. They arrested Michael for bludgeoning his wife to death.

The cops learned that about a month before the murder, Michael and Cheryl had taken out a life insurance policy on Cheryl worth $100,000, making the pastor the sole beneficiary. Detectives accused Michael of killing his wife for money.

The police also found photographs at the cabin of the man Michael had baptized in the area the previous month. The photos appeared to show the parishioner taking off his trousers, which led the police to suspect Michael was having a homosexual affair. They speculated that Cheryl may have learned of the affair, which also contributed to her murder.

Michael Flippo sentenced to life for Cheryl Flippo murder

Michael was subsequently found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life. The Supreme Court later overturned the conviction after ruling the prosecution was wrong to use the photographs of the parishioner as evidence during the trial.

However, Michael’s conviction and sentence were later reinstated.

This episode of Cabin in the Woods re-airs Thursday at 8/7c on Investigation Discovery.