Posted on 11/23/2005 6:19:41 AM PST by NormsRevenge
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Federal authorities tried to determine whether a clergyman awaiting trial on charges of raping two teenage sisters fell, jumped or was pushed when he plunged 400 feet to his death in Sequoia National Park.
The Rev. Santos Teixeira, 54, plunged from a 1,500-foot granite dome known as Moro Rock, landing on a ledge. His body was discovered after one of his parishioners reported the death, said park spokeswoman Alexandra Picavet.
The death happened on Sunday under "uncertain circumstances" and on federal land, so the FBI was called in to join the National Park Service investigation.
"The one thing we want to do is to make sure we don't leave any questions," John Gliatta, spokesman for the FBI in Fresno, said Tuesday.
Authorities questioned Teixeira's friends and family members, including a 25-year-old parishioner who was with him at the time of his fall. Picavet would not identify the man or say whether he was a suspect.
As for whether Teixeira was pushed, fell or jumped, "we have no idea," Picavet said. "That's the investigation."
Authorities asked anyone who was at Moro Rock on Sunday afternoon to call park rangers. The spot is a popular park destination and offers a view of some of the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada.
Teixeira was the pastor of Iglesia Del Nazareno, a Protestant church in Porterville. He was scheduled for trial in December on charges of raping two sisters who attended his church.
Prosecutors said Teixeira, who had been pastor of the church for eight years, befriended the girls and their mother shortly after the family moved to the area from Mexico.
On Tuesday, the large stucco and brick building remained shuttered, its massive wooden doors closed to parishioners. Santos' home in nearby Lindsay was also locked and empty. Neighbors said they rarely saw anyone there.
Church members said they couldn't believe the pastor would have gone to the park to commit suicide, according to the Fresno Bee. He didn't tell his wife, children or parishioners that he planned to go to Sequoia on Sunday, Frank Olmedo, Iglesia Del Nazareno's assistant pastor, told the newspaper.
"I don't believe there was a suicide with this pastor," Dr. Paul Israel, a Porterville chiropractor who attends services at the church, said during an interview with the Bee. "He had too much to live for."
Although Teixeira was held without bail after his preliminary hearing in August, a judge granted him bail about a month ago, said church member Ericka Zuniga. He lived in Lansing, Mich., before moving to Porterville.
Teixeira's lawyer in the rape case, Debra S. White, has said that there was no physical evidence of a crime and that the girls' statements were vague and inconsistent. White did not immediately return calls Tuesday.
Teixeira could have gotten 45 years to life in prison if convicted.
Waste of federal tax dollars.
He's to young to go to jail, would have been "raw meat" to the other inmates. I'm sure he would have gotten probation if convicted. No doubt the girls consented and he was just confused. As long as he behaved for 7 years he would have been allowed to walk.
Bet they couldn't believe that he raped to teenagers either.
Here are the Vegas odds:
Rapist & Committed Suicide - 2 to 1
Rapist & Was Murdered - 4 to 1
Rapist & It was an accident - 12 to 1
Innocent & Committed Suicide - 98 to 1
Innocent & Was Murdered - 30 to 1
Innocent & It was an accident - 80 to 1
a bit of "street justice"
---What's to investigate? It was probably vigilante justice and people are getting sick of these perverts molesting their kids and the law slapping them on the wrist, then turning them loose to do it to someone elses kid.
I was close friends with this mans children Ellie and Wesley from 1988 I was just eight years old at the time and all through out the years of growing up with his children in Grand Rapids, Michigan up until 1993 when my father single of three children chose to move us from the violence that was gaining in our neighborhood and poor education at the local school, there were many times I was alone with this man staying the night at there home with his daughter, NOT ONCE DID HE EVER TOUCH ME OR LOOK AT ME OR EVER MADE ME FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE! The life of this man and his life is an amazing feet, the close relationship he had with his wife , they were an amazing couple, a family I wished so bad to have had. Your comments disgust me and sadden me. What an amazing time I had with this family always on picnics would always invite me an my two brothers would drive us around took excellant care of his family!!! This man had every oppertunity asspeacially in the 80’s, to have tryed something but never would I have ever thought in my wildest dreams that something as this OUTRAGEOUS accusation and complete Lie and embarrasment for this pour family and trial an tribulations they had went through moving to California from lil ole` Michigan to speak the word of god, these two girls are absolute liars they should be ashamed of them selfs may gods wrath have mercy on there souls. Don’t make such a harsh and moronic accusation upon a man of god and his family that you don’t know a darn thing about! The whole case and how this murder was handled with the FBI is absolutely disgusting I hurt everyday for this mans wife an children such awsome an tender people! I was greatful to have experianced seeing this couple at there 25th wedding anniversary held in Grand Rapids, the very last I saw them in 2000.
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