Pa. pastor charged in wife’s ’08 death faces court

TANNERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A retired Pennsylvania pastor accused of killing his wife and staging a car accident to cover it up is scheduled to be in court today for a preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors will ask a judge to order 62-year-old Arthur Burton “A.B.” Schirmer to stand trial. Schirmer was charged earlier this month with homicide and evidence-tampering in the death of his 56-year-old wife, Betty.

Betty Schirmer’s death was initially ruled an accident, but police reopened the investigation after the November 2008 suicide of a man whose wife was having an affair with A.B. Schirmer.

Police are also re-examining the 1999 death of Schirmer’s first wife, Jewel, who was reported to have died in a fall down a flight of stairs.

Schirmer denies harming either of his wives.