Editor's note: This piece was written from various articles, statements, and forum discussions found online. Attempts to contact the Daniels family for comment were unsuccessful. This piece was originally published on Odyssey in December 2016.
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Anadarko, Oklahoma is a small town, economically depressed, with many of its residents suffering from some form of substance abuse. There is a large transient population, most of which spend their days drinking and their nights taking shelter in abandoned buildings and alleys. Pastor Carol Faye Daniels used to be a champion for the hopeless and helpless of Anadarko, driving sixty miles from her home in Oklahoma City every Sunday to serve the small community. Though Christ Holy Sanctified Church no longer had a congregation, the doors were open each Sunday morning--and Pastor Daniels was there with open arms, ready to witness to anyone who dropped by to visit. Sometimes she would go out into the streets, offering food and goodwill to those who needed it most. Ask anyone in town--Pastor Daniels was loved and respected.
But at least one person had an issue with Carol Daniels, for reasons no one has been able to uncover. On August 23rd, 2009, Pastor Daniels was brutally attacked and killed in her own church. That fateful Sunday morning, Pastor Daniels arrived bright and early as she did each week. At some point after entering the church, she was viciously stabbed through the neck--to the point of near decapitation. Her killer also stabbed her chest, back, stomach, and face. Pastor Daniels' hands bore defensive lacerations, showing that she had fought for her life. Her body was stripped nude, doused in a cleaning solvent, and ritualistically posed like a crucifix. Her hair had been set on fire. The killer escaped out the back door of the church, taking Pastor Daniels' clothes--and likely valuable forensic evidence--with him.
Around noon, an elderly couple showed up to visit Pastor Daniels. They found the front door to be locked, which was unusual, and became worried when the pastor didn't answer their knocks. They immediately called the police. It's important to note that the Anadarko Police Department is less than a block away, and was only separated from the church by a wide, empty lot. Whoever had killed Pastor Daniels had fled the scene in full view of the APD and the Caddo County Jail. Responding officer Ashley Burrus arrived at the church in two minutes. He entered through a side door and discovered the brutalized body of Pastor Daniels. He immediately called for backup. Due to the heinous nature of the crime, it wasn't long before the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation stepped in. Unfortunately, the Daniels case would prove to be the next in a long line of poorly handled murder cases left in the agency's wake. Top criminologists squabbled over motive, and investigators had difficulty zeroing in on any promising leads.
One expert was convinced the crime was sexually motivated, despite there being no evidence of rape or sexual assault. Criminal profiler Brent Turvey was under the impression that the crime was deeply personal and committed out of rage. According to investigators working the case, there are only three reasons Pastor Daniels' body would have been posed in such a way:
1. It was a crime of sexual fantasy/frustration
2. It was done out of anger and retaliation
3. It was done with the intention of confusing investigators
I am of the opinion that they left out one huge and very distinct possibility: Pastor Daniels was killed as a religious statement, and her body was posed to serve as some kind of Biblical tableau. I am particularly intrigued by the burning of her hair. Though some think it was done strictly to eliminate evidence, I think there might be more to it. In the Bible, Chapter 5 in the Book of Ezekiel talks about "God's Razor of Judgement." The passage reads:
“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all of Israel."
These instructions were given because of the wickedness of the people of Israel. They had disobeyed the laws and decrees of the Sovereign Lord, and a swift and brutal punishment was to befall them. With the vicious slaying of Pastor Daniels taking place in her own church, and the deliberate posing of her body, I certainly think it's possible that the burning of her hair could have been done for symbolic religious reasons. However, this theory was never thoroughly investigated by the OSBI. In fact, many found failings with every aspect of the Daniels investigation, especially when it came to light that the man who had performed Pastor Daniels' autopsy had botched multiple cases and lost several important tissue samples connected to separate crimes. Dr. Collie Trant was eventually found to have made mistakes on Daniels' autopsy, and in 2010 he was fired and unceremoniously sued.
Unfortunately, Pastor Daniels' case had little chance of being solved from the beginning. Anadarko is a small town, and the law enforcement there are "good 'ol boys" who are more than happy to turn a blind eye to injustice whenever they think it will serve them best. The jail--within eye-sight of where Christ Holy Sanctified Church once stood--has borne witness to its fair share of atrocities and corruption. In recent history, two inmates have been murdered by officers within the jail. In 2014, Antonio Enrico Jimenez was continually beaten and pepper-sprayed, even after he vomited violently and passed out. Officers attributed his death to a heart attack, but the evidence tells a different story. In April of 2016, Darius Robinson, father of seven, was beaten and strangled to death by officers Bryan David Porter, Michael Alen Smith, and Vicki Lyn Richardson.
In addition to unjustified violence against inmates, a slew of prisoners have been denied important medical treatment over the years. Elgret Burdex was refused his medication for hepatitis and suffered violent seizures as a result, causing him to fall and lose a tooth. Inmate Shane Dixon was threatened after complaining about unsafe and virtually unlivable conditions within the jail--twenty-four men in cramped quarters with no cleaning supplies or laundry service. At least four inmates were repeatedly denied their right to use the law library, with Leroy Thomas being told that if he asked again they would "throw him into lock-up."
Around this same time, three county jailers were charged with smuggling alcohol and methamphetamines into the jail to sell to the inmates. A former jail administrator was charged for stealing more than $5000 from a local tribe he was supposed to be managing finances for. With such rampant corruption at every level of the local police force, it's little wonder that Pastor Daniels' case was poorly handled from the beginning--and the OSBI's record isn't much better.
After coming under fire for poor performance, OSBI spokesperson Jessica Brown flat-out lied about the agency's solve rate in violent crimes--and declined to answer when she was called out for it. The truth is, the OSBI has had several high profile failures in recent years, including one case that most certainly should have been quickly resolved without incident.
Seven-year-old Aja Johnson, after enduring years of horrific abuse, was kidnapped by her stepfather Lester Hobbs. OSBI was immediately informed by several of Lester's family members that he would most likely take the girl to a place that held great significance to him--the cemetery where his grandparents were buried. OSBI, for reasons unknown, failed to investigate the tip. Two months after the abduction, the bodies of Hobbs and little Aja were found--less than a mile from that same cemetery.
Another major failing was in the case of Daina Kizzia, who was brutally murdered in 2002. Though her husband and a hired gunman are now behind bars for her death, it is of no thanks to the OSBI. Daina's father, Nathaniel Clymer, did all of the investigative footwork himself, finding evidence at the crime scene that the OSBI had inexplicably missed. After pointing out a series of bloody handprints to investigators, Daina's case was finally solved.
The OSBI has also been criticized for their handling of the Denney case. Jack and Elaine Denney were widely described as the "unofficial grandparents" of their small community in rural Locust Grove. Their bodies were found by their daughter and son-in-law on Christmas morning; the couple had been shot to death while preparing food for the holiday. Nothing from the home had been taken, and there were no apparent signs of forced entry. In a tight-knit community of fewer than one hundred people, the OSBI couldn't pinpoint a suspect. The case remains unsolved.
The death of retired trucker Sam Sanders is another tarnished spot on the OSBI's reputation. Sanders was shot to death in his home in Fairland, Oklahoma. After his murder, two intruders beat his wife and bound her and his grandson to chairs. Their grandson, Wesley, is a small-time crook and had been treated as a suspect, but the OSBI was never able to prove definitively whether or not he had been involved in the crime. It's been almost nine years and the agency has made little leeway in the investigation.
Even less progress has been made in the Daniels case. Most of the promising investigative footwork has been done by people similar to myself--journalists, true crime buffs, and self-proclaimed "web sleuths." Several possible suspects have been identified and debated at length over the years in countless online forums.
Robert Richardson, also known as the Florida Kid, came forward eleven days after Pastor Daniels' murder to inform police that he had seen the killer leaving the church through the front door, covered in blood. However, his story changed at least twice and he couldn't seem to give any consistent details. Richardson also said that someone had been prowling around the church in the days before the crime, and that he had warned Daniels about it. Many people believe that Richardson himself is a strong suspect, but I have my doubts about his involvement. Richardson is a self-admitted alcoholic and spent most of his days drinking under the cover of an abandoned car wash directly across from where the church once stood. He doesn't strike me as being particularly intelligent, and certainly not someone capable of planning and methodically carrying out a ritualistic crime.
A more promising potential suspect is one Michael Hinton, Jr. Mr. Hinton has a history of drug abuse and a past conviction for a violent crime--first degree rape of a minor under fourteen-years-old. Hinton's mother was a co-founder of Christ Holy Sanctified Church and had been a close friend of Pastor Daniels. Some have speculated that after her death, she may have left the bulk of her estate to Pastor Daniels and the church, possibly enraging her son. However, as far as I know, no solid evidence of this has been uncovered. While I do think Hinton is capable of such a crime, and he certainly had a basic religious background, I don't think he is the killer. Hinton was not careful or methodical about his previous crimes, and it seems to me that his primary motivation was sexual in nature, stemming from his drug use. Pastor Daniels had not been raped and showed no signs of sexual assault, so the crime doesn't seem to fit with Hinton's criminal history.
One theory in particular has remained popular over the years, one that suggests that Pastor Daniels' murder was the work of serial killer Israel Keyes. Keyes committed violent crimes all over the United States, and explained to law enforcement after he was caught that his work as a construction contractor enabled him to move around frequently without suspicion. Keyes would monitor natural disasters like floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes and respond to the affected areas to bid jobs. Just three months before Pastor Daniels' murder, Anadarko had been hit by a series of heavy storms and tornadoes. This could certainly have provided Keyes with a reason to be in the area. Also worth noting is the fact that Keyes was brought up in the Mormon church and was extremely knowledgeable about various religions--he detested Christianity in particular and had several Satanic-themed tattoos. Keyes had also admitted to using chemicals at crime scenes to destroy potential forensic evidence. Web sleuths have also latched onto the idea that the killer is most certainly Keyes because of his penchant for arson. The night before Pastor Daniels was killed, The Anadarko Daily News and the Tornado Alley Bar burned to the ground. People are also quick to cite the burning of Daniels' hair as evidence that Keyes is the killer. Though I think the Keyes theory is a compelling one, and certainly worthy of further investigation, I don't think he is the killer either, for several reasons.
Keyes only has three "known" victims--I say it in this way because only one body of the three has ever been found. Bill and Elaine Currier are still technically missing, though law enforcement considers Keyes' murder confession to be credible. Keyes vaguely insinuated that he was responsible for multiple murders across the US, but has not been definitively linked with any yet. His known victims were white, and the two women were both violently sexually assaulted (this can be verified in the case of Samantha Koenig, but is based only on Keyes' testimony in the case of Elaine Currier). Though serial killers do from time to time kill outside their own ethnicity (Jeffrey Dahmer is a classic example), most of their victims tend to be the same race. Keyes' crimes were largely sexually motivated, and before his alleged killing spree he had been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl in Washington state--yet Daniels' body showed no signs of sexual assault. None of Keyes' known crimes bear any sort of religious hallmark--no methodically posed body or items, no Christian symbolism. Why all of a sudden would he change his MO? Keyes had mentioned to law enforcement that he had considered killing someone in a church, but that was more for the quiet and privacy a church would provide, not because of any vitriol he had for the Christian religion. He had also said he would burn the church to the ground to conceal evidence. This point seems to convince Keyes-conspirators even more that he was responsible for Daniels' death, considering the burning of her hair. To them, it was a failed attempt to set a fire to destroy the church--but this makes no sense. The arson angle in support of Keyes as a suspect is a flawed one. Keyes was an experienced arsonist--he'd been setting fires for well over a decade. The fact that he was (hypothetically) unable to start a fire as he worked in a secluded church without witnesses is laughable. Attributing the arson of the bar and local newspaper to Keyes is also unlikely. What online detectives fail to consider is the fact that arson is a fairly common problem in Anadarko, with major incidents occurring in the years before the death of Pastor Daniels, as well as after.
In 2006, the First Assembly of God Church was destroyed in an arson fire. Later that same year a peanut factory was badly damaged in a blaze. After the 2009 arson cases, a nonprofit organization was nearly burned to the ground; The Anadarko Petroleum Factory almost suffered the same fate. There are multiple other cases of much smaller fires being set around town during this time frame. The destruction of The Anadarko Daily News and the local bar are terrible coincidences but probably nothing more. Israel Keyes killed himself in 2012 while in police custody, so we may never know the truth.
As for who I believe killed the good Pastor Daniels, I couldn't precisely say. I'm certainly no forensic expert. I tend to favor the idea that Carol Daniels knew her killer. With such a large transient and homeless population, it could have been easy for someone to commit the crime and drift their way out of town. As previously stated, Pastor Daniels was active in ministering to the transient community, and it may have been her downfall. Whoever it was, they were comfortable operating in broad daylight with limited means of escape from the scene. The killer also knew Pastor Daniels and her routine well enough to successfully execute the crime, or had been around long enough to study her for a sufficient period of time. Such a violent crime would have left the perpetrator covered in blood, yet the killer walked away unnoticed, in full view of the police station and the main street in front of the church. He either A) was an experienced killer who had come prepared, B) lived nearby and was able to get out of sight quickly, or C) knew if he was seen, he still wouldn't be caught or charged for his crime--perhaps he had ties to the good 'ol boys running the Caddo County Jail. I just don't know. I'm afraid that none of us ever will. Just a year after Pastor Daniels' death, the decision was made to tear the church down--erasing any chance of finding evidence there at a later time.
Those closest to Pastor Daniels still feel the void left by her absence. She was a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration to many. I wish I could do more to help her case, but all I can do is share her story in hopes that this compassionate and charismatic woman is never forgotten--and trust in the fact that Carol Faye Daniels will have justice, whether it's in this life or the next.
If you have any questions or comments, or if you have information regarding the Daniels case, please contact me at theblackswanbooks@outlook.com.
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