State Trooper Bill Skotleski of the Swiftwater barracks leads A.B. Schirmer into his arraignment on murder charges in Tannersville, Monroe County, on Monday morning. Schirmer was charged with criminal homicide in the 2008 death of his second wife, Betty Jean. Police are investigating the 1999 death of his first wife, Jewel, in Lebanon County. (PHOTO COURTESY OF POCONO RECORD DAVID KIDWELL )
LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - A retired Pennsylvania pastor already facing trial in the death of his second wife has been charged with killing his first wife in 1999.
Arthur Burton "A.B." Schirmer is charged with homicide in the death of Jewel Schirmer, his wife of more than 30 years.
Jewel Schirmer was initially thought to have fallen down a flight of stairs. Police and prosecutors in Lebanon County reopened the case in 2010 after A.B. Schirmer was charged with killing his second wife in the Pocono Mountains and staging a car accident to cover it up.
Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold announced the latest charges Friday. Schirmer has not entered a plea in the death of Jewel Schirmer. He has pleaded not guilty to killing his second wife, Betty, in July 2008.
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