Samuel Booth had been minister at his popular church for over a decade when he was brutally murdered by James Wood, Shattered examines a case that shocked the minister’s flock.
Baltimore on Christmas Eve, 1994, and 55-year-old Rev. Samuel Nathaniel Booth Jr. was found stabbed to death in the mobile home behind the church where he was the minister.
James Thomas Wood, 24, handed himself into police on Christmas Day and was charged with murder and robbery, with police believing he stabbed the pastor to death with a 6-inch kitchen knife. He also admitted to stealing a small amount of cash and crack from Booth.
At his trial in 1996 Wood was found guilty and it was revealed he’d kicked and stomped on the minister’s head and ribs when he refused to give him more drugs. He’d then gone on to stab the minister 14 times and then slit his throat, leaving him to bleed to death.
He said the pair of them had been taking crack cocaine over the course of several days, the autopsy revealed that Booth had cocaine in his system.
Woods was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Shattered – False Prophet airs at 5:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.
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As ye sow, so shall ye reap. He totally betrayed his congregation, his church and God. Not my place to judge, but I believe he was judged very harshly on his last day.