Mississippi pastor confessed to killing a father - after pretending to help family look for him, daughter says

A Mississippi pastor has confessed to killing a man three years ago - after allegedly pretending to help the family look for the victim.

James Eric Crisp, 37, confessed on 30 August to the killing of 48-year-old Roger Loyd Taylor, of Sulligent, Alabama. The Monroe County, Mississippi, Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Mr Crisp decided to give up his “physical freedom” and his position as a minister at God’s House of Hope in Kilmichael to regain his spiritual freedom.

But speaking to The Independent on Monday, Taylor’s daughter, BreAnn, cast doubt on Mr Crisp’s supposed transformation. She recounted how Mr Crisp allegedly helped her look for her father right after he went missing in 2019, and repeatedly assured her that he didn’t have anything to do with the disappearance.

“He said, ‘Bre, I would never do something like that to you. Whoever did this, they deserved more than just prison,” Ms Taylor alleged. “He said, ‘They deserve to die themselves.’ But now that he’s come [forward] with it, he wants to say, ‘I found Jesus, I am reformed.’”

Authorities said that despite several searches where Taylor’s vehicle was found after he went missing on 19 March 2019, no developments had been made in the case until Mr Crisp walked into the sheriff’s office last Tuesday and confessed to disposing of Taylor’s body in the area of Blair Cemetery Road.

The sheriff’s department said that Mr Crisp, who has a lengthy criminal history and drug offences, was cooperating to find the remains of Taylor, who left behind four children.

Mr Crisp was charged with manslaughter and booked into Monroe County Jail. His bond was set at $150,000.

Ms Taylor, 26, said her father and Mr Crisp did not have a close relationship, but in the days after Taylor vanished, his alleged killer joined the search.

“He helped me look for my dad … he knew when he was helping me look for my dad what he had done,” she said.

It wasn’t until she started receiving extortion messages asking for money and referencing her father, that BreAnn decided to question everybody in her circle, including Mr Crisp, she said.

Ms Taylor said her father and Mr Crisp met each other through her as her boyfriend at the time was the pastor’s best friend. After the investigation into Taylor’s disappearance fell behind without leads, Mr Crisp was arrested for drug offences.

“I treated [Mr Crisp] like he was a member of my family. Even after he was in prison, I picked him up from a bus station so he didn’t have to spend the night [there] when he got out of prison,” she added.

“Whenever his family shunned him, I made sure he got somewhere to go so he didn’t go to the streets....I put money on his phone so he could send messages to his kids.”

According to local news station WCBI, Mr Crisp faced more than 30 years in prison for the drug crimes but turned his life around and fought his addiction issues after joining God’s House of Hope, where he eventually became a pastor.

Ms Taylor said she confronted Mr Crisp on Saturday. The interaction, she said, convinced her that he didn’t have any remorse and gave off a cold demeanour.

“It’s been three years and they want to play this row of ‘he’s reformed,’ but if he was so reformed he would have remorse for what he did,” she said.

“He looked me in my eye and told me he killed my dad ... He didn’t say he was sorry, he just said that he hoped one day I could find it in my heart to forgive him, but he never even say he was sorry.”

She added: “He didn’t have any emotions. He was outside of the room and he was laughing with the jailer and walked in and acted all stone cold with me.”

“I asked him, ‘Are you hiding behind this Jesus stuff,’ and he said ‘Yes, Amen.’ All he would say to me was, ‘Yes, Amen.’”

Ms Taylor told The Independent several people in Monroe County had noted to her a possible reason for Mr Crisp’s sudden flash of conscience was that one of his children had threatened to speak up about his involvement in Taylor’s killing.

“I believe if that’s true, that’s the only reason Eric came forward,” she said.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has said the investigation is ongoing. The department said that Mr Crisp was fully cooperating with investigators to locate Taylor’s remains.

“We are glad for Mr. Crisp to get this off his chest so that he might be able to continue to do ministry wherever the Lord has planned for him, but this does not close the case for us,” the department said in a statement. “Investigators for MCSO will look at this new evidence and determine if there should be any other charges or new suspects.”

Ms Taylor said her family was looking forward to finding her father, and voiced her concern that Mr Crisp could be released on bail before that happens.

“Until he cannot physically give us my dad, he deserves to sit in jail,” she said. “If we can’t have his body back, we won’t have closure.”