ABILENE, Texas (AP) _ Abilene police say a local pastor was killed by a parishioner she was counseling through a sex change.
Investigators say parishioners concerned about the welfare of the Rev. Karen Lee Johnson found their 61-year-old pastor dead of multiple stab wounds Saturday. Her body was found at the Abilene home of 61-year-old Renata Antoinette Monet, who was found hanged nearby.
The Abilene Reporter-News reports Johnson had been the spiritual pastor of Abilene’s Unity Church of Christianity since 2001 and was ordained in the church in 2007.
Police Sgt. Lynn Beard says Johnson had gone to Monet’s home Friday afternoon to minister to her. Investigators believe Monet — formerly named Bobby Allan La’Loge — attacked the minister as soon as she entered the home, then hanged herself.
Monet legally took her name exactly a year before the slaying.