Death in the Parsonage
48 Hours
CBS News
4.1 • 7.8K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ 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+.
Transcript
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| 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 |
... |
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