wfn.org | Former Youth Group Member in Custody in Mathias Murder Case

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

28-January-1998 
98036 
 
    Former Youth Group Member Is in Custody 
    in Mathias Murder Case 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--An Indianapolis teenager who attended Northminster 
Presbyterian Church is one of two suspects in custody for the ax murder of 
the church's  pastor and his spouse just over 13 months ago. 
 
    Sean Rich, 16, of Indianapolis and Paul L. Brightman, 18, of Carmel, 
Ind., were to be formally charged at press time (Jan. 28) with the murders 
of the Rev. C. Frederick and Cleta Mathias and with robbery, according to 
the Marion County Sheriff's Department.  The Mathiases' bound bodies were 
found in the family room of their suburban Indianapolis home when 
firefighters responded to a neighbor's report of a fire on Dec. 15, 1996. 
 
    Rich formerly attended the Northminster Church and, detectives say, 
had been in the Mathias home the day before the murders helping the pastor 
move carpet.  Prosecutors intend to request that Rich be tried as an adult. 
 
    "There were a few seconds of euphoria, then [a sense of] resolution or 
closure.  But that passed quickly.  There is no joy, only sadness," said 
attorney Mark Moore, spokesperson for the Northminster Church, about the 
congregation's response to the arrests.  "And two other lives are destroyed 
- and I say that without presuming guilt in the legal sense. There's the 
realization that Cleta and Fred are dead, real servants of God." 
 
    A prayer service was held at Northminster the night of the arrests. 
 
    "We had unsubstantiated information on both [Rich and Brightman]," said 
Sheriff Jack Cottey, citing an anonymous tip that came into the department 
the day after the murders, "and we continued to work the case." 
 
    In a Jan. 28 interview, Brightman told "Indianapolis 
Star"/"Indianapolis News" reporters that he and Rich broke into the Mathias 
home intending to rob it when they were interrupted by the couple.  He said 
Rich wielded the ax, set the fire and ran from the house.  He told 
reporters Mathias saw his wife killed first and said to Rich, "You're going 
to hell, Sean, you're going to hell." 
 
    Rich, however, told reporters that he denies all of the allegations, 
saying, "He was my minister.  I had very deep respect for him.  I basically 
would've done anything for him he had asked me to.  I never would have 
killed him.  I never would have robbed them." 
 
    He said he was caroling with a church youth group that evening and 
spent the rest of the night on the telephone.  Police contend that 
telephone records do not support that alibi, according to the "Star." 
 
      "We always felt the Mathiases knew one of the perpetrators or they 
wouldn't have killed them," said Cottey, a former homicide detective, who 
said police originally searched Brightman's residence for narcotics. While 
being questioned on the narcotics search, Cottey said, Brightman confessed 
to the Mathias murders. 
 
    Moore told the Presbyterian News Service that police had told church 
members that "sooner or later" the Mathiases' killers would be in custody 
on other charges and would ultimately disclose details of this crime. 
"They felt [whoever did this] would be in trouble again.  These crimes are 
so horrific, it is not something [someone] could hold in forever.  Maybe 
some months or some years.  But ultimately, they'd need to confess," he 
said. 
 
    The church issued a written statement the day of the arrests saying 
that the congregation intends to "pray that the young men, now under 
arrest, will seek peace and reconciliation with God."  Mindful that Rich is 
a former member of Northminster, the statement says, "We know that he and 
his family are in need of our prayers.  We will continue to pray for them." 
 
    Moore said the Rich family has transferred its membership to another 
church. 
 
    The congregation is bracing itself  for the pain of hearing detailed 
accounts of the murders as the case goes to trial, which is like reliving 
Dec. 15, 1996, said Moore. 
 
    "That's tough," he said, adding that difficulty has already begun with 
the "Star's" interview with Brightman.  "He's describing in some detail the 
killing of Cleta and Fred. It's horrifying." 
 
    During the Jan. 27 evening prayer service, Northminster's interim 
pastor, the Rev. Ron Smith, called the congregation to "continue to bear 
witness to the faithfulness of God, who has sustained the members of this 
church family in the past 13 months.  The darkness of Dec. 15, 1996, has 
not overcome the light of the gospel.  Rather the light has shone more 
brightly than ever as men, women and young people of Northminster have 
discovered new dimensions of hope in Jesus Christ." 
 
    He urged the congregation to "strengthen one another in faith" should 
more details of the crime become public.  "Remember," he said, "that Fred 
and Cleta are not suffering now." 
 
    Rumors about detectives' suspicions that Rich might be involved  in the 
killings became somewhat public months ago in Indianapolis - and that, too, 
caused anxiety within the congregation.  Six months after the murders, the 
"Star" reported there was a teenage suspect, but there was not enough 
evidence to charge him, though police had searched the home and were 
questioning his friends. 
 
    "There was more fear among the youth than we realized," Moore said, 
adding that with the arrest much of that fear has dissolved into sadness. 
 
    The church's public statement says that "in the face of the evil, pure 
and simple, of Dec. 15, 1996," the congregation has, "in the words of the 
Apostle Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, `encouraged one another and 
built up one another.'"  It says: "In the face of the irrational and 
unfathomable evil of Dec. 15, 1996, we witnessed to God's enduring love - 
the love that will not let us go.  In witness to God's constant love, we 
prayed for Cleta and Fred and all who loved them, the sheriff's department 
and all who worked with them, the killer or killers and those who protected 
them that they might seek peace and reconciliation and justice and patience 
- especially patience." 
 
    A memorial scholarship for theological education has been established 
by Northminster in the Mathiases' name. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 
  mailed from World Faith News <wfn-news@wfn.org>  

--