Charismatic Pastor and Killer Timothy Tillman | Handsome Devils | TCC

can I hear an amen they thought he was a gift given to him by God they just thought the world ended something I always felt wrong about it it just didn't hit me in my gut right you cannot be the pastor of a church with a sexual conviction crime Tim Tillman was a was it whatever it took to get it he would get it the coldest person that I have come across foreign [Music] Alabama has a population of about 2 000 people everybody knows everybody feel like you can leave your door unlocked if you wanted to or leave your keys in the car if need be we're willing to help each other in any way possible the person you're married to like a business partner you can just move on from when things get tough I was a member of this at Revival Center and that's where I first met Tim Tillman when the going gets tough the tough get going home he was probably the best speaker I'd ever heard from the pulpit when you go home today all you husbands you tell your wives you appreciate them he understood how to work the crowd if that's the right word Church I looked at him as a mentor in 2003 after 10 years spreading the gospel and pulpits from Florida to Minnesota we really thought you know in the in the terms we'd hit a home run when we were able to hire him as our pastor typically at the end of service he would greet everyone as they came out of the church I do good and everybody's oh Pastor Tim and that was a great sermon today a truly inspiring thank you so much and he tended to eat that up Janet Tillman was the most precious person she was very humble she was a wonderful mother a wonderful pastor's wife Tim was the preacher but Janet was the glue that held together I think she really strove hard to be the perfect wife she was always there to support him they had two daughters Jessica was the oldest and Tiffany was the youngest I saw Janet as the person who makes him look good Pastor Tillman believes charity is at the core of his mission when Hurricane Katrina hits Louisiana he sees it as an opportunity to bring the community together Tim brought the idea about raising money for the Katrina disaster down in Louisiana he offered the idea of a turkey shoot [Music] you'd have to walk over to a table pay the money to get one shell you would be directed to put the shell in and then you'd be directed to shoot at the end of the third turkey shoot there was a gun that was jammed so it was obviously no longer usable another church member offers to take the broken gun away to get it fixed and Tim just turned around and saying no I just want to take the guns home with me I'll keep them all with me I appreciate it though he told Janet hey we need to put these guns in the house for safe keeping I don't want to leave him in the church where the kids around it's too dangerous so Janet takes one of the guns in and goes in first and then he takes the two other guns Tim's plan is to put the guns under the bed while they're being stored at his house Janet went into the bedroom first and was approaching the bed Tim went in behind her [Music] the gun hit the side of the door post and went off three feet from her back [Music] foreign [Music] is lying there telling Tim that she loves him and that she loves the girls Janet is bleeding to death I come out of the church and I look up there at the house and there was ambulances police and various First Responders when I got there it was very intense thank you Tim had his hands over his face talking about what have I done what have I done just kind of saying that over and over and over when Madison said Janet did not make it my heart was breaking for the two girls they were distraught they were sobbing I wanted to be sobbing too but I felt like I had to be strong for them the police came in he said we need Tim to go downtown to the police station to give a statement I thought that that's that's awful try to be supportive for him and let him know that we're there to to help him there's really nothing you can say you can just be there I don't know what happened it's following Eric I was following behind and she had one gun and I I was carrying two and I don't know how it went off the idea that he's going to live now with this accident it was very heartbreaking it was tragic you wish you could change it but you can after they talked to the girls my husband told me that they were going to to our house to stay we were so concerned for Tim that they pulled all the knives out of the drawers we thought he was a suicide threat God give your grace this night to Tim Jessica Tiffany reveal yourself to them Lord so that they might understand what has happened this night across town Janet's sister Joan Croft learns the heartbreaking news the Night Janet died we had already gone to bed your mind just kinda goes crazy there's been an accident my first thought was oh my God what are these girls gonna do so call my brother and I said Janet's dead his first thought was no accident it just didn't hit me in my gut right something always felt wrong about it detectives questioned Tillman about the shooting with no reason to hold him they let him go home to his daughters as a formality they run his name through their system they checked his license in the database that's something that they would check as a matter of routine the result is far from routine investigators are surprised to learn the pastor has two driver's licenses one under his own name and a second under the name Timothy Patrick McNally so four months ago changed his name to McNally and then a couple weeks ago he changed it right back to Tillman the name change back to Tim Tillman from Tim McNally Pepin the matter of days before The Killing it's a red flag for police Tim Tillman is a man with secrets across town Janet's family also Harbor suspicions about the charismatic pastor he led us to believe that Janet's family did not like him took her away from their Church I don't know if they'll speak to me never forgiven me I thought here's a man who's lost his wife and uh I I felt sorry for him man from the minute they walked up on the porch hey there was so much tension when we arrived that was one of the most awkward times probably in my life Charles he want to shake my hand I told him not yet until I got the whole story oh Lord never once did he look at my parents and say I'm so sorry I've never heard her on purpose never he said how much he loved Janet and he would never hurt her my gut said something wasn't right a few days later I sent a email to the district attorney explaining that my sister had been killed and we really thought that they needed to investigate it detective Scott Bartle of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation is assigned to the case the email said that they were not sure if Vincent Police Department would have the resources to adequately investigate the case I went down to town events and to meet with Chief shrigley with the police department we sat down and and I watched the video of the interview oh no one thing that stood out to me was how Tim Tillman was acting the only thing I can compare it to is The Wizard of Oz the Cowardly line because he'd go oh and then he'd look up over the clock to see what time it was I I couldn't understand that it was just highly suspicious to me Vincent police also tell detective Bartle about Tim Tillman's two drivers licenses my plan was to check into Tim's background find out where he had lived before just kind of recreate his past and try to find out more information about Tillman detective Bartle discovers that Pastor Tillman has a past that is far from saintly Tim always had a thing for women they always ended up with a girlfriend or going places that a married man shouldn't be going like strip clubs Janet had put up with everything he had done in 1995 eight years before he turned up in Alabama Tim Tillman was spotted leaving a Florida strip club fired from his ministry he drove 2 000 miles north to Minnesota he was Again cast from his church after a sleazy affair with a member of his congregation he started working as a jailer and he liked to say he was a police officer but he wasn't he just worked as a civilian at the jail where he just basically checked people in and out one day they brought this prostitute in he offered to take her home and instead he um pulled over in a parking lot and according to her forced her to have oral sex hey how y'all doing they investigated it and subsequently charged him he was sentenced to six months in the jail up there Minnesota it was too much for Janet and I said Janet at some point sweetheart you're gonna have to give up on you would you mind if uh me and the girls came there to be near you [Music] and I said of course Janet we're even looking for some help in my office and I can probably get you a job in bars Janet and her daughters moved South to Alabama to be close to her sister Joan everything was going good and then Tim called he said they let me out early I want to surprise her when she gets home please forgive me Janet please I think she hoped that he meant it she always had hope that things would be better girls [Music] it's your dad she felt like the girls needed their daddy [Music] I was disappointed that she let him come back I thought that Janet would do real well on her own the family is reunited and Tim Tillman vows to keep the past behind him they started attending the Assembly of God in Westover and he got to know the pastor real well and started speaking occasionally there at that church and other churches from time to time when the opening came to replace the minister at events at Revival Center Janet said there's a big part of me that hopes this doesn't happen because every time he gets into situations and we have to leave Tim came to us nearly two years before Janet died in January of 2003 we were without a pastor and during that time we have people come to speak just for a particular Sunday and that's the role that Tim was in that day he was not there as a prospective pastor at all as his children we obey otherwise look at the mess we leave behind us my friends but then after he did such a a good job some of the church members said well you know why can't we get this guy [Music] it's just that that here's a guy anointed of God very very talented in the pulpit very knowledgeable of scriptures a family of man he seems to be the whole package Tillman secures the job as senior pastor and praise the church doesn't Discover his conviction for soliciting a prostitute I knew that if he had presented the information of his convection for a sexual crime in Minnesota that he would not be preaching I contacted the superintendent of the Assemblies of God and talked with them about Tim and how he got to be a preacher there could I speak to the secretary Church of Pastor appointments the church does a background check on any incoming pastor Tim Tillman put them off and put them off and put them off he would say oh I lost it or you know somebody spilled milk on it or you know that kind of thing I thought it was suspicious but it didn't have anything to do with him shooting Janet also whatever he did in Minnesota he just didn't explain the name change something think right I was frustrated because I couldn't find the right piece of the puzzle to really get it going I needed the centerpiece to build upon unaware of investigators growing suspicions Pastor Tillman draws on the love and support of his congregation the whole Community rallied around Tim and the girls there were people who would give Tim gifts monetary gifts it's so kind of course it was no secret that Janet's salary had been lost just weeks after Janet's death Tim Tillman says he wants to leave his daughters and go away for a few days to Harold I think I want to go on a treat Tim mentioned something about going on a pastor's Retreat pastor's conference to Washington state Washington Washington yeah twinkling among church members that all may not be as it seems between here and Washington State there has to be a thousand different pastors Retreats you can go on and so why would you go all the way to Washington state for one seemed a bit odd but we felt like it was important for his well-being that this take place he's fragile and he needs to go get help we still were under the perception that he was going to be our pastor we were still holding on to that meanwhile detective Bartle discovers that Tim Tillman already has suspected links to Washington cell phone records I could see a lot of communication to a number that was in Washington State I tried to identify the number and I got the name Molly now there was a religious retreat that he had been to in Washington but why would you be talking to Molly at 11 o'clock at night I mean that's not normal business hours he was just highly suspicious too but I knew I needed something more new months have passed since Janet died Tillman returns from his retreat he tries to pick up a new life with his two daughters [Music] go back to bed Tiffany [Music] Tiffany called and was crying and she told me that she had gotten into an argument with her dad because she had read some correspondence he was having with a molly and he told her that yes he was attracted to her and she said I don't think it's been long enough after my mother's day you know you can come and see me anytime you want that's the first time I'd heard the name Molly from that day on my relationship with Tim Tillman was not the same it began to become more polarizing that those that supported him supported him to the hilt but now there was a line that was starting to be drawn and those that had suspicions they were kind of coming over here to this other side saying something ain't right Janet's sister has also talked to Tiffany and decides to call the police I received a telephone call from Joan there's a rumor that Tim may have a girlfriend called Molly that's when everything kind of really started coming together I'm starting to see a picture of somebody that killed their wife what was really going on is he was emailed his mistress who was living in Washington State he was planning his religious trips in order to meet with her you would think that if if your wife just died at in an accident that four or five weeks post-death you're not rolling around in the bed with somebody else now hot on the trail of the letters preacher detective Bartle digs into Tillman's email history he first engaged with Molly over the computer about 10 years prior started off as an anonymous communication so to speak I think part of the fun to him was getting away with doing something that wasn't right Janet worked lots of hours and there's nobody looking over his shoulder when he found out more about Molly and that her dad was in the military I think that's when Tim decided to create this Timothy McNally he used a different name so if anything ever did come up with Janet that he could say well that wasn't me it wasn't just his name he changed he claimed he was a high-ranking naval officer dressed as a lieutenant commander in the Navy to impress Molly I can imagine him going into a army surplus store where they would have some uniforms and picking out the parts that would make him look good and making this story that he's been telling her over the months very believable to her if Bartle Diggs the more he's a shooting accident was far from accidental I have someone that has a mistress on the side and your wife is shot in the back there's a motive however Scott had a lot to do to take it to another level to get him to a point where he had a case if he's got a girlfriend he can show her he's got a driver's license with Timothy Patrick McNally that validates who he's saying he is he doesn't have to worry about her showing up at his house or trying to locate him when he's going back to Vincent to be with Janet it was shot dead despite detective bartle's suspicions he has nothing concrete on Tillman I remember wondering why would someone murder their wife instead of divorcing maybe Tim was thinking if he was divorced he could not be a preacher so if Janet is dead then they don't have to worry about that Janet's family is clamoring for answers I was getting very frustrated at that point seem like nothing was being done I was consumed with this whole thing [Music] I'm not hearing from the ABI I'm not hearing from the DA's office I'm not hearing from anybody I felt like they didn't think it was important the Alabama Bureau of Investigation called us he had information about Tim Tillman that he needed to discuss with me and other church members I was down there beating the bush so to speak I knew that he had killed Janet I knew it I was just trying to figure out a plan to prove it he showed me a picture of Tim and Tim was in a Navy SEAL uniform and you could see a name plate and it had McNally did you know that Tim changed his name to McNally in May of 2005. and then back to Tillman six days before he shot his wife they told us that in other churches that he had been at he would go and he would only be there for two or three four years because there would be a a discrepancy about him in a a another woman or human money issues I looked at him and I said we were fools I felt spiritually raped you feel totally betrayed after the meeting with Scott that Tim was guilty Tim Tillman killed Janet and it wasn't an accident following our meeting I kind of figured that the word would get out that Tim was under the microscope Tillman's congregation struggle with the growing uncertainty over Janet's death before Janet died each Sunday morning as people left church there would be a lot of joy happiness thank you but now as we left the church you didn't see that Joy anymore I had gone from feeling sorry for Tim to feeling distrust about him [Music] out of the blue Tillman Springs a surprise ah Harold [Music] I talk to you for a second sure he informed us that he was going to resign as our pastor Alex for the best I think I felt a sense of relief one side said I'm glad this is over the other side said man I hate to see him leave he still had his supporters and they were very strong supporters Tillman tells his congregation he's taking the girls and moving back to Florida to be near his family it was a tough decision to have to watch him leave the state of Alabama I thought that he might and Away with Murder to go ahead and arrest him and put him in jail for the murder of Jada you have to be able to prove a case so much Scott found out lots of Clues but nothing solid that built him anywhere close to proving a murder I would suspect that TM thought he had gotten away with it he'd only been interviewed that one time and that police believed him just when detective Bartle fears that Tillman has slipped through his fingers he catches a lucky break Janet's sister Joan tells him of a curious phone call she's just received sitting at my desk at the office and my phone rings and they asked for Janet Janet no longer works here there was this loan company I asked when this loan was taken out they said January of 06. Janet was killed in October of 05. my first thought was that Tim had used her name her good credit and gotten along it was five thousand dollars and it was a a month or two after her death I knew that I had opportunity to get Tillman and arrest him arresting Tillman for fraud will also give detective Bartle the chance to question him about the night he killed his wife this interview has to be played out very carefully Tim Tillman will have gotten away with murder he's only going to get one shot at it I felt confident that if he would tell me what had happened he would end up confessing to killing Janet forgery opened the door for me to get Tim to explain about Janet's death from what I have researched on to him he would not be able to keep his mouth shut I knew that he was going to try to preach to me and try to make me believe that it was an accident and at a certain point Tim was going to lose his cool and he was going to start screaming and hollering and turning all red in the face and become very angry I prepared myself to the point where I knew what he was going to say and how he was going to act and I knew that at a certain point I was going to try to pressure him to get him to cough up the information and somewhat scripted the interview process Bartle travels to Florida for the all-important interview needling Tillman into revealing new evidence is his best hope of nailing him for murder they have to confront him with every single piece of information that points to this murder being intentional you're always nervous in a case everybody has a fear of failure this was a big interview I knew if I could not get information from him that he might would get away with it when we sat down to interview him you know it was just casual nice just conversation and I started my line of questioning with him about well tell me about the forgery I did it after the accident after Janet died we we lost her income he does what Liars often do he confesses what he knows he has to confess if I don't confess this this makes me obviously a liar I just wanted to pay for her hands though I kind of leaned on the table and propped my head up and said you really have me intrigued about this accident can you draw me a house or anything like that yeah I can't picture I'm kind of serious yeah Scott is playing dumb and it plays right in to to what Tim wants when I came through I kind of shifted the guns and when I did the discharge what'd you do after that some all Shucks hayseed investigator from back in Alabama and that's what Scott is presenting to him so when the gun discharges like that and I really started probing what do you mean when the gun was like this we mean the gun went off if the shotgun discharges it's got an explosion that thrusts it back recoil right recoil there you go that's a good word all the time giving Tim just this level of comfort that he's going to be able to control this interview and ultimately this is going to be over and he's going to be able to get right back to that life that he started and he will have gotten away with murder I remember dropping the guns from where I'm about chest low one story you're walking in and the gun mysteriously goes off which was contradictory to what you told me earlier right earlier you indicated waste and now you're seeing them chest lip another story that the gun slips in your hand so how did I don't know how the game was to document how the information that he was providing would not add up under the common sense rule what I'm saying is is that I and let me talk during the course of the interview he told I think it was like seven different ways that it could have happened I raised the gun up and you manipulated the train I did not I did not intentionally manipulate the trigger but you manipulated the trigger however I did it as Tillman gets more agitated detective Bartle decides to switch tack he gets him to explain the name change from Tillman to McNally and back again he said he changed his name because his brother had an affair with Janet and that he did not want to be part of the Tillman family I actually changed my name for a very short time and then I thought it's just stupid I'm gonna alienate myself for my family and it's just it's done it's a crazy story and the cops don't buy it I knew he was lying at that point it just helped solidify that it was a murder while we're doing this our counterparts are over at the mistress's house as far as as mistress Molly is concerned the man she's seeing is Timothy McNally a military officer whose wife died in a tragic accident no but no it's that's not right they told her that Tim's real name was Timothy Tillman no no it devastated her it rocked her world she had told us they met in Mississippi at her parents house and that they were fixing to get married that weekend he had told Molly that Janet was in the Attic moving some fishing rods and the shotguns fell over and went off and shot her he started providing information emails pictures different correspondences that she had kept between Tim and her these are from him this is crucial evidence and it's fed back to the interview room bartle's net is tightening around Pastor Tillman when did you get engaged to Molly you got engaged the weekend that Hurricane Katrina came through and we said well why do you tell us before I mean don't you think that's critical thing in your story it's two months exactly prior to Janet state still married so if Janet is dead then they don't have a problem I did engage Molly you're right I admitted that we just kept pressuring she doesn't have a mother because of what I did and he starts baiting his chest and screaming and hollering I didn't mean to kill her we had struck a nerve with him we were really on the right Trail Tim had sealed his fate with his own words his own arrogance at the end of that interview I felt cough that I had enough information to get a conviction for the charge of the murder Janet Pastor Tim Tillman is charged with forgery and sent to jail despite the incriminating interrogation investigators don't yet have enough to charge him with murdering his wife Tim stayed in the Shelby County Jail I think it was about six months until he made bond I began building my case against him we began to monitor his Communications outside the jail and the incoming Communications initially following she was hostile towards him and didn't understand why he had changed his name I think it's important to understand Tim's ability to pull the wool over Molly's eyes with him having this Life as a Navy SEAL as far as Molly's concerned there are things that he just can't talk to her about he's very manipulative he had her believing everything he said even when he had to change his story to something that was obviously a lie he convinced her that what he's telling her now is the truth he told her that this was part of his mission that he was assigned to some Secret agency of the United States government and after he gets through doing this Mission it would be over with they could go on and live their life meanwhile Janet's family wonders if they'll ever see Justice I expected once he was put in jail they would have investigated enough to get him indicted on the murder then all of a sudden he was bailed out and it was like a bubble burst and we're back to square one detective Bartle wants Tillman to believe he buys a story of how Janet died at that point in time I want him to think that the only thing he's got to face is the forgery charge [Music] the next five months while Tim Tillman now married to Molly Fields a life in Florida detective Bartle builds his case the case was presented to the Shelby County grand jury and they chose to indict Timothy Tillman charged with murder that was a good mom probably the number one moment in my career at that time we made arrangements to fly down to Florida to pick Tim up the preacher has no idea the game is finally up Tim arrived there his boss called him in hey how y'all doing Tim Smiles like nothing's wrong we all used to work together all right no and I told him you have never worked with me I remember you were working against me Tim Tillman and you're under arrest for murder These Eyes kind of swole up a little bit and his knees kind of buckled and I really thought he was fixing to pass out the murder of Janet Rita Tillman he knew that the gig was up to him it's two more years before Tim Tillman stands trial for the murder of his wife it made me feel good when he got arrested for murder but I was nervous about the trial um I didn't know for sure if he'd get off or if they were convict him only having circumstantial evidence is always scary [Music] it was stressful one slip up could get him off on a technicality we knew Tim Tillman was guilty but a court of law is different you've got a circumstantial case to begin with and that's terrifying for a prosecutor the defense that they took to trial is exactly the defense that Tim Tillman gave them all the way down to the bolt action potentially getting stuck in the trigger guard [Music] how he did it we don't exactly know there are a number of ways he could have fired the gun the fact Tillman kept changing his story under interrogation is key to the prosecution case fence case was that this person who just so happened to be having an affair who just so happened to have proposed to his girlfriend two months earlier who just so happened to have a gun that should be unloaded but on this occasion is loaded and it just so happens to be pointed directly into his wife's back but the prosecution has a killer Witness Jimmy Abbott safety was a critical issue for everybody involved in the turkey shoot at that church after the turkey shoot the shotgun will be taken back to a pickup truck where Jimmy Abbott would break it down and both visually and physically inspect the shotgun to make sure that it was empty the shell was out and then it was safe there's no doubt those guns were unloaded except for possibly of Tim Tillman had loaded one foreign stands up to read that verdict my heart almost stopped I could feel chill bumps my mouth dried Tim had been able to present an image to the people of this good godly man and I was afraid that he was going to present that type of image to the jury and that they would see him as a good godly man instead of a killer and they said guilty Janet got Justice it was like a massive relief off my shoulders if Tim had not a forged that check who would have gotten away with murder he's probably one of the coldest person that I have come across in my lifetime as they led him out he did not turn around and look at his children he laughed with no emotion so much changed from the time I first met Tim Tillman because he was a man of God and there were people who came to know the Lord under his preaching but the correct verdict had been rendered Tim Tillman was convicted and sentenced to life in the Alabama Department of Corrections [Music] until that time when we talked about Jan it was mostly about the mean things that Tim had done to her after that verdict we talked about the happy things I go on the internet from time to time to make sure Tim's where Tim's supposed to be other than that I try to live day to day and be happy think about Janet awful [Music]

Channel: True Crime Central

Views: 3,040,241

Keywords: Free, Full, Series, True Crime Central, murder, real crime, true crime documentary, true crime stories, true crime podcast, serial killers, real stories, murder documentary, beyond crime, timothy tillman, pastor killer, pastor, tim tillman, tim tilman, killer pastor, pastor that killed his wife, killer pstor, wife killer pastor, pastor killed his wife 2024, pastor killed his wife mica miller, john paul miller, cause of death, pastor wife murder, pastor murdered his wife

Id: o-aB-6mQXLo

Length: 48min 4sec (2884 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 07 2023