GUILTY NJ - Rev. Edward Hinds, 61, stabbed to death in his Chatham church, 22 Oct 2009

Hinds was found dead on the floor in the kitchen of his rectory residence after he failed to show up in the adjoining church for an 8 a.m. Mass service, said Monsignor Kenneth Lasch, a retired priest who knew Hinds for four decades and was a close friend and his spiritual pastor.

"This makes no sense,'' said a distraught Diocese of Paterson Bishop Arthur Seratelli. "There would be no reason for anyone to do this."

Earlier today, authorities said the priest's death was due to "unattributed causes.'' But that changed early this afternoon, following police investigation.

"Based upon the crime scene and the nature of the injuries, this has become a homicide investigation,'' Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said at a press conference on the street just yards from the murder site in this quiet suburban community in southeastern Morris County.

Bianchi declined to provide more specifics, as investigators canvassed the neighborhood around the church, searching for evidence and potential witnesses. Bianchi would not say how Rev. Ed Hinds, 61, was killed but told the Associated Press the body had wounds "consistent with a homicide."

No one has been arrested, and police said they would not discuss possible motives.

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About 300 parishioners attended an 8 o'clock Mass this morning in the school gym of St. Patrick Church in Chatham, a day after the Rev. Edward Hinds was found slain in the rectory.

Seated on folded chairs and bleachers, the basketball hoops folded up, many parishioners wiped away tears as church leaders remembered "Father Ed," saying he would have wanted parishioners to go on and find strength in their faith. Earlier, many had climbed over the knee-high crime scene tape to reach the entrance of the church and school.

Authorities said he was wearing his black clerical garb and collar when he was beaten to death and left bloodied on the floor. Police have not made any arrests or have any suspects.

He was with his dog in the rectory kitchen and apparently was making coffee before he was killed, authorities said.

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After more than an hour of dramatic words from those who knew and loved the longtime Chatham church pastor, a judge in Morristown ordered that Jose Feliciano, 66, spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole...

Feliciano admitted to stabbing Hinds 44 times inside the St. Patrick rectory on Oct. 22, 2009, shortly after the priest fired him. Prosecutors said the 61-year-old pastor had discovered Feliciano had an arrest warrant in Philadelphia from the 1980s for sexually touching a child and had used aliases and fake identification over the years to hide his past...

In December, after a six-week trial and just five hours of deliberation, a jury [convicted] Feliciano of murder, felony murder, robbery, hindering and weapons charges.

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