Police: Body found in Ala. freezer was mother of 8

[Beyond Belief]

Police believe a body found in a small-time evangelist's home freezer is his wife and a mother of eight, and arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a small south Alabama church. Anthony Hopkins, 37, was being held in the Mobile County jail Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing and appointment of an attorney.
Police said no one reported 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins missing, even though she hadn't been heard from in three years. The body was discovered covered in a freezer in a utility room during a police search of the home in Mobile after a relative of the preacher contacted police.

Mobile Police Chief Phillip Garrett said Hopkins was arrested Monday night at at a revival in Jackson, a town in rural Clarke County where he has roots. The pastor of Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, Beverly Jackson, told reporters that Hopkins told her he was a single parent because his wife had died in childbirth.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0708/539944.html

[PSUfan]

That is horrifying!!! She had not been heard from in THREE years (!!!!) and nobody reported her missing??!!! The story gets even sicker!!!! This man needs to go straight to hell.. do not pass go. He is nothing less than evil.

Garrett said Anthony Hopkins, the father of six of the eight children, has been charged with rape and sodomy in a separate case involving the female relative and could face more charges related to another relative.

[fran]

That is horrifying!!! She had not been heard from in THREE years (!!!!) and nobody reported her missing??!!! The story gets even sicker!!!! This man needs to go straight to hell.. do not pass go. He is nothing less than evil.

I second that!

:mad:
fran

[nappy2]

That is horrifying!!! She had not been heard from in THREE years (!!!!) and nobody reported her missing??!!! The story gets even sicker!!!! This man needs to go straight to hell.. do not pass go. He is nothing less than evil.


I'll third it!:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

[mysteriew]

Police believe a body found in a small-time evangelist's home freezer is his wife and a mother of eight, and arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a small south Alabama church. Anthony Hopkins, 37, was being held in the Mobile County jail Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing and appointment of an attorney.
Police said no one reported 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins missing, even though she hadn't been heard from in three years. The body was discovered covered in a freezer in a utility room during a police search of the home in Mobile after a relative of the preacher contacted police.

Mobile Police Chief Phillip Garrett said Hopkins was arrested Monday night at at a revival in Jackson, a town in rural Clarke County where he has roots. The pastor of Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, Beverly Jackson, told reporters that Hopkins told her he was a single parent because his wife had died in childbirth.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0708/539944.html

From the link:

Garrett said Anthony Hopkins, the father of six of the eight children, has been charged with rape and sodomy in a separate case involving the female relative and could face more charges related to another relative.

Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said the children who lived with Hopkins - who ranged in age from 3 to 19 - have been taken into protective custody by the Department of Human Resources.



One and possibly two of the kids sexually abused. And how long have they known what happened to Mom?

[mysteriew]

Previous pastor talks about Hopkins, his wife and kids. Sounds like they are a mystery family. Doesn't know where they came from, doesn't know any family, and the wife didn't talk much. When she disappeared, the pastor talked to Hopkins and then Hopkins moved on.

http://www.myfoxgulfcoast.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7100265&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Recently the kids were homeschooled, and went to various churches. There is definately something wrong here.

[mysteriew]

According to the search warrant, a sexual affair involving Anthony Hopkins and one of his eight children had been going on for eight years. In the warrant, one of Hopkins' daughters says on or around November 4, 2004, her mother, Arletha Hopkins, caught her dad sexually abusing her in a bathroom at their home. The daughter says that lead to an argument, and the next morning her father asked her to help hide her mom's body in a freezer.
http://www.wkrg.com/investigates/article/shocking_new_details_in_freezer_murder/16412/

The oldest kid is 19 and six of the 8 kids are his. This 'affair' has been going on for 8 years. He's charged with incest, so I would bet the abused child they know about is younger than the 19 year old.

Police also removed a trailer from the backyard of the home.
http://www.wkrg.com/crime_solutions/article/mobile_police_remove_travel_trailer_from_hopkins_y ard/16386/

Neighbors were told that the wife ran off and left hubby and kids. No missing persons report was ever filed.
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/neighbors_react_to_body_discovery/16381/

Just curious, is this an area that missing female kids or young adults?

[Vegas Bride]

Previous pastor talks about Hopkins, his wife and kids. Sounds like they are a mystery family. Doesn't know where they came from, doesn't know any family, and the wife didn't talk much. When she disappeared, the pastor talked to Hopkins and then Hopkins moved on.

http://www.myfoxgulfcoast.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7100265&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Recently the kids were homeschooled, and went to various churches. There is definately something wrong here.

When the people at the church were suspicous about what happened to the mother, why didn't anybody contact the police? Those poor kids!!

VB

[mysteriew]

The pastor didn't say what he was told. But in reading up about this case, it looks like people that knew her that noticed she wasn't there were told that she had ran away with another man. People he met after she was killed were told that she died in childbirth. Which incidentally if you notice, she is thought to have been dead 3 years, her youngest child is 3.

Since she was so quiet, and they had only been at that church for about a year, my guess would be that no one knew her well enough to stand up and say she wouldn't leave her kids. Except for her kids, and they were isolated. Homeschooling, frequent moves and no regular church kept the kids isolated and no one to get close to so that they could tell.

But what caught my attention most was from the old pastor. They were only at that church for a year, didn't talk about where they came from, didn't talk about other family, wife not talking to people- I'm wondering if they were running from something.

[mysteriew]

Wife's name is Arletha Hopkins. And it looks as though of the 8 children, only 6 of them were living in the home.
http://www.myfoxgulfcoast.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7084422&version=11&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Three page article

snip
With seven of his children in the front row Monday night -- the eighth was meeting with Mobile police -- Hopkins launched into his sermon, much of which centered on the topic of forgiveness, Jackson said.

"I felt in my spirit that he knew what was going to happen to him. Even if he didn't know it was going to happen here," Jackson said, reflecting on Hopkins' message.

Hopkins told the congregation that his eldest daughter had left the house.

"He said he told her she had to do what she had to do," Jackson said. Looking at his seven children, "He asked them to forgive him for his sins: past, present and future."

When his sermon concluded, Jackson said, he began to minister individually to people in the crowd. His children played accompanying music on instruments he had brought with him. There was even a miniature drum set for one of his younger sons.

When he worked his way away from the pulpit, Jackson said, deputies and police entered, guns drawn, and took him into custody.

She took the children out of the church, playing with the younger ones, who seemed not to understand exactly what was happening. The older daughters, she said, hardly reacted at all.

Hear part of that sermon here: http://blog.al.com/pr/2008/07/preachers_last_sermon.html

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1217409343125180.xml&coll=3&thispage=3

[concernedperson]

It sounds like the oldest daughter turned him in. She was probably the one he was raping over the years and he may have started in on a younger child prompting her to seek help. Or, he could have threatened her doing what he did to her mother. In any case, I am glad she went to LE and the children are away from him.

This is another horrible case of abuse and murder.

[Lola]

snip
With seven of his children in the front row Monday night -- the eighth was meeting with Mobile police -- Hopkins launched into his sermon, much of which centered on the topic of forgiveness, Jackson said.

"I felt in my spirit that he knew what was going to happen to him. Even if he didn't know it was going to happen here," Jackson said, reflecting on Hopkins' message.

Hopkins told the congregation that his eldest daughter had left the house.

"He said he told her she had to do what she had to do," Jackson said. Looking at his seven children, "He asked them to forgive him for his sins: past, present and future."


My spirit would be a little less generous. Future sins?? Good luck on that, it's probably gonna be a lot of what was done unto others is now gonna be done unto you Rev. :furious:

[mysteriew]

I understand his secrecy after his wife died. But why all the secrecy before she died? It sounds as though they didn't stay long anywhere, and didn't get to know anyone well. No one knows of any family. I did read somewhere that they may have lived in Jackson. I just feel they are running from something in the past, before the mother.

[mysteriew]

snip...Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich said Arletha Hopkins, 36, apparently was killed in November 2004, though the cause of her death was still under investigation.

snip...Rich said Anthony Hopkins had told his wife's relatives in Wadley, Ga., that she didn't want any contact with them. Her disappearance was never reported to police.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395331,00.html

[concernedperson]

Acquaintance said he was " a bull's eye prophet". Just one more story to add to this sorry tale.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/31/preacher.freezer/index.html

[mysteriew]

Hopkins and his daughters were part of a gospel singing group known as the Hopkins Ensemble.

They sang joyous songs, celebrating life and the Lord. But deep down, witnesses say the daughters of Anthony Hopkins were living a tortured life. The family's songs once played on the radio station WLVV, 1410 a.m. General Manager Tom Alexander heard the group sing in person. He says Hopkins and his daughters came to the station.

"I asked him for a CD. He said he didn't have any. He just wanted to do it live. So, the little girls, they sung acapella. They were really good. They sung really good," said Alexander.

Their voices were angelic. But their spirits didn't match the lyrics.
http://www.myfoxgulfcoast.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7106433&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1

[mysteriew]

"Well she was a nice, sweet girl. She was real sweet," says the Arletha's aunt Alma J. Best. 2003 was the last year her saw her niece. She remembers Arletha was happy. She certainly wasn't expecting this.

snip...Due to the condition of the body, an autopsy will not be started until early next week. Hopkins was denied bond today. He's charged with murder, rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, and incest. We're told family members would be making the trip to Mobile to get the children int the next few days.

http://www.wrdw.com/news/headlines/26157304.html

[mysteriew]

The affidavit related the daughter's story as follows:

Her mother, Arletha Hopkins, 36, caught her father abusing her in a bathroom in November 2004. Afterward, her parents argued, and her mother locked her father out of the house. The father came to the daughter's window and asked her to let him in, and she did so.

The next morning, her father asked her to help him hide her mother's body in the freezer in the laundry room of the home.

The girl said she moved out of the home about two weeks ago and was living with a neighbor. She told police that her mother's body was still in the freezer.

When authorities went to the home, no one was there, as Hopkins and the other children were at the church. A body was found in the freezer, the affidavit says.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/31/preacher.freezer/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

[Grainne Dhu]

That is horrifying!!! She had not been heard from in THREE years (!!!!) and nobody reported her missing??!!! The story gets even sicker!!!! This man needs to go straight to hell.. do not pass go. He is nothing less than evil.

He sounds like he was abusive... and one of the first things abusive partners do is cut their victim off from other sources of social support. The family of the victim is often left without contact with the victim and no real recourse.

Often the family knows that if they try to contact the victim it will trigger the abuser into anger, so they're reluctant to do anything that might make life worse for the victim.

What a tragedy.

[Parker]

How terrible for those children! I hope that they can go on and live a semi-normal life now...can you imagine living in a house and KNOWING your mother is in the freezer...This man (if you can call him that) is despicable...

[teonspaleprincess]

What an awful story! I hope that they are all receiving help and that the kids can lead something of a normal life. I hope that POS rots in Hell!!!!

[wildTrose]

Not Guilty Plea In Freezer Murder Case
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A part-time south Alabama evangelist has
pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the death of his wife, a
mother of eight whose body had been in a freezer at their home
since 2004.
Anthony Hopkins also pleaded not guilty Tuesday to separate
charges of rape, sodomy and incest. Prosecutors say the teenage
victim in that case is a female relative.
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/not_guilty_plea_in_freezer_body_case/16585/

[brad]

maybe I missed this, but how did they explain the fact that she's been missing for 3 years + ?

[MCDRAW]

maybe I missed this, but how did they explain the fact that she's been missing for 3 years + ?


He told people that she died after having their last child. He told her family that she didn't want anything to do with them.

[believe09]

I applaud the courage and strength of the child that turned him in. I am amazed that she got to move out and live rather than being "eliminated." There was undoubtedly a threat to the children who were left behind as well as her own need to tell her story.

What has me puzzled was the fact that the father was charged with incest among other things and yet he fathered 6/8 of the children-I am curious as to which two children were not his bio children?

[mysteriew]

They are saying they think he also abused one of the other children besides the one that turned him in. I think that is where the incest charge might come in. Though some states do define incest as sex between step-parent and stepchild.

I keep thinking about the girl. The way I have it figured, he began abusing her about the age of 10. About the age of 15 Mom finds out, and he kills Mom. He makes the girl help put her in the freezer. Then for the next three years or so, she was probably being abused as well as acting as a mother figure for the younger kids. All while knowing that Mommy was in the freezer. Did he think that by making her involved in hiding her Mother's body that he could ensure her cooperation?

My guess is that she found out he was abusing the younger sister and that is why she broke away and told. From the sound of the last sermon, my guess is that he knew she was going to tell. That surprises me. I guess she could have sneaked away and he could have just guessed that she would tell.

[wildTrose]

New Details In Freezer Murder
A travelling preacher accused of killing his wife and stuffing her body in a freezer may have first buried her in a shallow grave.

Anthony Hopkins, 37, was back in court today for a preliminary hearing where shocking new details were released.

http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/new_details_in_freezer_murder/16868/

[mysteriew]

Wowsie. Why keep burying her and digging her back up? Fear of someone finding her? Or did he do it to keep reminding the girl when he thought she might edge out of his control?

[SewingDeb]

This is even worse for that poor girl than I thought.

[believe09]

I think he was afraid his wife would rise from the dead....

[mysteriew]

I found the answer to my question.

Police say pastor moved wife's body, impregnated daughter

Itinerant preacher Anthony Jujuan Hopkins killed his wife and buried her in a shallow grave, but dug her up and put her in a home freezer when her bloating body began to crack the ground, police told a judge on Wednesday.
Investigators testifying in Hopkins' preliminary hearing also stated that one of the family's daughters — the same daughter who turned Hopkins in — is five months pregnant and claims Hopkins is the father. She told police that Hopkins:

snip..."Don't be telling my business," Hopkins told his daughter, then suggested that she wanted him sexually, which caused her to want her mother dead.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-08-14-hopkins-accused_N.htm

LOL, when police showed up at the church where Hopkins was preaching and told him they were there about a body, he cursed. Doesn't sound like the same man who spoke of forgiveness does it?

[believe09]

I found the answer to my question.

Police say pastor moved wife's body, impregnated daughter

Itinerant preacher Anthony Jujuan Hopkins killed his wife and buried her in a shallow grave, but dug her up and put her in a home freezer when her bloating body began to crack the ground, police told a judge on Wednesday.
Investigators testifying in Hopkins' preliminary hearing also stated that one of the family's daughters — the same daughter who turned Hopkins in — is five months pregnant and claims Hopkins is the father. She told police that Hopkins:

snip..."Don't be telling my business," Hopkins told his daughter, then suggested that she wanted him sexually, which caused her to want her mother dead.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-08-14-hopkins-accused_N.htm

LOL, when police showed up at the church where Hopkins was preaching and told him they were there about a body, he cursed. Doesn't sound like the same man who spoke of forgiveness does it?

This is one classy individual. I suppose that he will do well behind bars when released into the general population simply because he has brass, uh, ones.

[mysteriew]

This is one classy individual. I suppose that he will do well behind bars when released into the general population simply because he has brass, uh, ones.

Hopkins Isolated From Prisoners

An evangelical preacher accused of killing his wife and stuffing her body in a freezer is in isolation tonight, waiting to face a judge tomorrow.

Anthony Hopkins, 37, is being housed separate from other inmates at Mobile Metro Jail, but he will be in court Wednesday for his preliminary hearing, says Hopkins' attorney, Jeff Deen.
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/hopkins_isolated_from_prisoners1/16823/

I guess that they figured the other prisoners might object to the idea that Hopkins killed his wife to get at her daughter and impregnate her.

[mysteriew]

I think he was afraid his wife would rise from the dead....

LOL, I guess you might say that in some ways she did. They say that when her body bloated her grave cracked open and that is why he dug her up.

[mysteriew]

Here's a twist in the case. I have suspected, and continue to suspect a history of domestic violence and attempts to isolated the family from other family and friends.

But they have found one police report of domestic violence in 2001. But instead of DV against the wife, it is a complaint against the wife that Hopkins made.

Freezer Murder: History Of Domestic Violence
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/domestic_dispute_reported_before_freezer_murder/16909/

A favorite defense by abusers is that "she started it" and sometimes if it comes to the attention of authorities, the abuser will try to make sure the victim gets the blame for any incident. I don't know if that happened in this case of course.

BTW, when Hopkins dug up his wife and moved her, it wasn't just from grave to grave, it was from town to town.

[Inana]

Does anyone know what happened with this case?

[OneLostGrl]

Does anyone know what happened with this case?

this was all I could find-

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/trial-set-for-preacher-accused-of-stuffing-wife-in-freezer/91613/Jun-08-2009_11-54-am/

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/autopsy_complete_on_body_found_in_freezer/20227/Oct-22-2008_9-53-pm/

This is one sick mo'fo. I hope he is punished harshly! I wonder if he plead out?

[butterfly1978]

I live in Alabama and I remember when this happened, his trial was suppose to start 10-19 but I have not heard anything. I will search and if I can't find anything I will email my local news stations and see if they have any updates.

[OneLostGrl]

It's like he fell off the map after they announced a trial date.. nothing mentioned about him since that I can find. In rereading the links on this thread I noticed that he was AWOL from the Army. I wonder if they sent him back to the Army to deal with?

http://www.local15tv.com/mostpopular/story/Anthony-Hopkins-Will-Stay-In-Jail/Jqg7c4AEDkSK4vwT7hHfOw.cspx