Death in the Parsonage

48 Hours

CBS News

True Crime, News, News Commentary, Tv & Film

3.9 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

According to Pastor A.B. Schirmer, both of his wives had died in tragic accidents. His first wife fell down the stairs and his second wife was in a car accident. But when a parishioner was found dead from a gunshot wound at the church, police decided to reinvestigate those supposed accidental deaths. “48 Hours" Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 1/17/2015. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	On October 29th, 2008, there was a suicide that occurred at the Reader's Methodist Church.
0:13.0	The church secretary arrived for work and found Mr. Monsante behind the reverence desk.
0:25.6	Joseph Monsante was a parishioner at the church, and he was slumped over the chair,
0:28.6	and it was a very bloody gruesome sight.
0:32.6	He had shot himself with a handgun.
0:36.6	My mom sat us down. He had shot himself with a handgun.
0:42.3	My mom sat us down and she just said, your father decided he didn't want to be here anymore.
0:47.3	I love my dad.
0:49.3	He was one of my greatest role models.
0:57.0	Oh my God. I know what his kids meant to him.
0:59.0	That's why people couldn't believe.
1:00.0	And he would do that.
1:02.0	My name is Rose Cobb.
1:04.0	My brother is Joe Miss Annie.
1:06.0	About a week after Joe's suicide,
1:09.0	Rose Cobb calls our police department.
1:11.6	I knew that something was not right.
1:13.6	She said that Joe discovered that his wife Cindy was having an affair.
1:18.6	But the Reverend A.B. Shermer.
1:21.6	She was the assistant to the pastor.
1:25.6	I found some text messages on her cell phone from A.B., him telling her
1:31.1	that he loved her and how nice she looked, and he couldn't wait to see her. How could my mom ever
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 24 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CBS News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CBS News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.