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Dateline NBC

Even the Devil Went to Church

Dateline NBC

NBC News

True Crime, Culture, Social, Society & Culture, News

4.438K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the small town of Morris, Alabama, faith is a way of life. But when resident Michael Reese is murdered in his home, rumors involving a local pastor begin to swirl as the truth ends up turning the community upside down. Andrea Canning has chosen this episode as one of her most memorable episodes.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Andrea Canning, and this is one of the strangest stories I've reported on.

0:04.4

I couldn't believe some of the things I heard surrounding the forbidden romance at the center of this case.

0:10.2

Sexual relations on a parking deck, a suspicious trip for orange juice at the Piggly Wiggly,

0:16.0

and even cold French fries that believe it or not became a critical clue in a murder investigation.

0:22.4

It was a, what will they say to me next, kind of episode?

0:26.0

And the title of this date line, it says it all.

0:28.5

Here's even the devil went to church.

0:36.1

Out here in rural, sweet home Alabama, where churches outnumber streetlights.

0:41.6

Faith is a way of life.

0:43.8

I grew up in the church. Everyone that I knew went to church.

0:49.6

Sunday sermons, Wednesday services, church picnics.

0:53.6

Faith is a huge part and always has been a huge part of southern life.

0:59.0

It's how the people of Morris, a small town outside of Birmingham,

1:02.8

come together to celebrate life and the word.

1:06.3

The values are integrated into every bit of southern society.

1:13.4

So when salacious rumors involving a church started swirling,

1:17.6

the god-fearing folks who live here hoped the whispers weren't true,

1:21.0

but they had to wonder.

1:23.0

Even the devil went to church.

1:25.0

And on a cold February night in 2015,

1:29.0

the truth began to emerge.

1:31.0

Police Department, I just got home and walked in the front door,

...

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