Rev. Carol Daniels

On 23 August 2009, pastor Carol Daniels drove to the Worthy Temple in Anadarko, Oklahoma, which she had been presiding over for the better part of the previous decade. Less than two hours later, Carol's mutilated body would be discovered inside of the locked church…

Listen to "Rev. Carol Daniels" on Spreaker.

Anadarko is a small city about 60 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, which is called home by about 6500 people, a number that has been slowly increasing over several decades. Referred to as the "Indian Capital of the Nation," Anadarko is a town with a strong Native American heritage, and agriculture plays a driving force in the local economy.

From the outside looking in, Anadarko appears to be a charming little city: a nice slice of Americana in the heartland of the country. But Anadarko - like most small towns - happens to have secrets... not only poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse (which run rampant through this region) but seedier, more violent secrets, which are known by very few.

A series of roads cut through Anadarko, which lead to larger cities dozens and hundreds of miles away. One such road, North 1st Street becomes North U.S. Highway 281, which leads up north to other cities in Oklahoma (and eventually to Oklahoma City). If you travel through Anadarko, you'll likely travel along U.S. Highway 281 and end up passing by an empty lot in the northern section of town, just after passing by the Anadarko police station but before reaching the intersection of East Washington Street. This empty lot is a memorial where a building once stood; a church, in fact, which was once packed with dozens of parishioners.

The church was torn down over a decade ago, but just months prior, had been the scene of a grisly murder that was described as one of the most brutal and gruesome crime scenes encountered by the public officials that saw it. Sadly, this crime was never solved, but the menace behind it continues to loom large over this small community. Annie Lyons, a woman that lived in the area, later recounted to the Oklahoman:

"It just kind of changed things for Anadarko. For something like that to happen in our city. And to not just find anything on it. No clues or anything like that..."

This is the story of Reverend Carol Daniels.

Carol Faye Dunlap was born on October 26th, 1947 to her parents Theopolis and Charlesetta Dunlap, and was the second of what would be four children; all of whom grew up in the Oklahoma City region.

Carol would graduate from Douglass High School in 1965 and would go on to attend out-of-state college in Texas, before transferring back to Oklahoma to finish her degree. In 1971, Carol would graduate from Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology. That same year, she would marry Alvin L. Daniels Jr., with whom she would have five children (three sons and two daughters).

Over the next several years, Carol and Alvin would live in the Spokane, Washington area, but would move back to Oklahoma in 1978. While this hasn't been reported publicly, I believe that Carol and her husband split up during this period. After returning to Oklahoma, Carol would continue to pursue achievements in education - working towards a master's degree and receiving an additional associate's degree - but would end up truly diving into one of her passions in middle age: her faith.

In 1990, Carol Daniels was ordained into the Christ Holy Sanctified Churches ministry and would become a member of Oklahoma City's Holy Temple Church for the next decade of her life. In 2001, however, she would become appointed pastor of the Worthy Temple in Anadarko, a small town of approximately 6500 people that is located 60 miles southwest of OKC. This church, located just outside of a high crime area in Anadarko, was frequented by a mostly minority population: both Native and African Americans that lived in that neighborhood.

For a time, the congregation seemed to be doing well. Carol continued to live in Oklahoma City but would make the drive to the Worthy Temple in Anadarko regularly, holding services for mostly elderly folks from nearby nursing homes. Eventually, though, the church would stop holding regular services, but Carol would continue to make this 100-plus-mile round trip every Sunday, just in case anyone felt like stopping in. For this reason, Carol would be adored and respected in Anadarko; not only for continuing to hold services for her few parishioners but continuing to do good things for this community that she didn't even live in. She would engage in charitable events for the area and was one of the few that tried to help out the large transient population in Anadarko.

Icey Simmons, an elderly resident in a nearby nursing home, was one of the few that would continue to drop by regularly to visit with Carol, and would later recount:

"She and I would just go down there and pray by ourselves... She was just as sweet as she could be, never did anything to hurt anybody."

In addition to her weekend duties at the church in Anadarko, Carol would also continue to hold positions within the national organization of the Christ Holy Sanctified Churches, including serving as the secretary/treasurer for Oklahoma state. She would also continue serving in her personal role as mother and grandmother, with her son, Alvin, later telling Nancy Grace that Carol was an incredibly loving mother and grandmother that:

"... was always joking with us and always taking care of us, even giving her last dollar even if she didn't have it."

Quentin, another of Carol's sons, would later tell KFOR News:

"The last thing she said (to me) was, 'You can't let the things going on in your life stop you, you have to keep pushing forward.'"

On August 23rd, 2009 61-year-old Carol Daniels drove from her home in Oklahoma City to Anadarko. Even though the Worthy Temple she had presided over for the better part of the last decade no longer had a congregation, Carol continued to head there every Sunday; just, as described by her son Alvin to CNN "in case people came in to worship." Carol's mother, Charlesetta Dunlap, said that Carol continued to head out to Anadarko "with the expectation of someone wanting to seek the lord."

At around 10:00 that morning, Carol was spotted arriving at the rather-nondescript Worthy Temple, which was wedged between a home on one side and an autobody shop on the other (which was cushioned by an alleyway). Authorities would later confirm that Carol arrived at this time by fetching surveillance footage from a nearby Step N Fetch convenience store across the street, which confirmed that Carol pulled in front of the church at around 10:00 AM.

It's believed that Carol was preparing for her morning service when an unknown evil made its presence known inside of the church.

Less than two hours after Carol arrived - 11:40 AM - retired bishop Silkey Wilson Jr. and his wife Julia arrived at the front door of the church. The elderly couple had plans to meet with Carol that morning, and noticed her car in the parking lot of the church, but were disturbed by the locked front door. They would unsuccessfully attempt to rouse Carol inside for the next few minutes, with Silkey later recounting to the Oklahoman:

"We went to the front door, and the door was locked. We couldn't open it, so we began to knock on the door and knock on the windowpanes, but we couldn't get in. After we tried for a while, we decided to go to the police station. It was only about half a block away."

At the Anadarko Police Station, Silkey and Julia Wilson would let the police know that the door to the church was locked, which was very unlike Carol, who always kept her door open to anyone when she was there. Police Officer Ashley Burris would agree to go check in on the pastor inside of the church, arriving at the Worthy Temple about twenty minutes later.

Just after noon, Officer Burris entered into the church from another door on the south side of the building, and would quickly find Carol Daniels... or, rather, what remained of her. As described by Anadarko Police Captain Dwaine Miller, her body was:

"... lying prone on the floor just inside the door to the sanctuary."

Carol's body - clearly deceased - but discovered behind her church altar, lying nude in a pool of her own blood. She had visible stab wounds to much of her upper half, primarily her neck and throat, and her head had nearly been removed from the rest of her body. Her arms were outstretched - resembling a cross - and early reports would indicate that her body had been covered in some kind of bizarre chemical substance. Making things even more bizarre, most of her hair had been burned, with her scalp reportedly "singed" at the time of discovery.

Officer Burris would exit the church and call for backup moments later, making sure to note that the killer was not in custody. Over the next hour, more police officials and paramedics would respond to the scene, and would later remark that the scene inside of the church "didn't look good." In a quote that gained national attention, Caddo County District Attorney Bret Burns would later tell reporters:

"I've prosecuted over 50 murders. This is the most horrific crime scene I've ever witnessed."

The Anadarko Police Department would begin their investigation into the murder of Carol Daniels that afternoon, and would soon call in the assistance of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, who would take a hands-on role in the case moving forward.

The definitive cause-of-death for Carol would not be immediately released to the public, pending an autopsy to be conducted in Oklahoma City. However, authorities would state that Carol had received a significant amount of trauma, and had endured (what they called) "multiple sharp force injuries" before being posed in an "unnatural" position after death. What police would not openly disclose at the time was that Carol's arms had been outstretched, drawing comparisons to a crucifix (at the time, authorities wanted to withhold evidence like that from the public, believing that details like this could become important to their investigation).

Police would begin to canvas the neighborhood for potential witnesses and would attempt to scour the interior and exterior of the church for any clues. Unfortunately, nobody in the neighborhood seemed to have seen much, and a search of the area would come back with very little physical evidence. Carol's clothing was missing from the crime scene and was believed to have been taken along with her briefcase and purse, which she had taken with her that morning.

Before leaving, however, the killer(s) had covered her nude body with a chemical substance, which was administered to destroy any potential DNA evidence. It's unknown what kind of chemical the unsub had used - whether it was something they had brought with them or something they might have found at the crime scene (like bleach or another cleaning chemical) - but it would prove itself effective. Police were not able to recover much of anything from Carol's body.

Another deterrent in this quest for forensic evidence was the burning of Carol's hair, which - according to official reports - had been "singed" down to the scalp. It's unknown if this had been a chemical burn or if the offender had actually set her hair on fire, but this was undoubtedly another attempt to destroy DNA evidence at the crime scene. Brent Turvey, a criminal profiler and adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University, would later tell the Oklahoman:

"The taking of the clothes was not done for a trophy, but was rather a practical act. The use of dissolving spray was also a practical act."

As their search led them outside of the church, police would eventually recover a knife from the drain of a car wash nearby, which was between eight and ten inches long and had a black handle. While it was initially theorized to have been the murder weapon, tests would prove that this knife had been in the car wash drain for some time, and had not been used in the killing of Carol Daniels.

Authorities would attempt to procure surveillance footage from the area, and were able to find footage from a nearby convenience store, which showed Carol arriving at the church at around 10:00 AM. However, there was nothing in this footage that pointed to the killer arriving at the scene, leading authorities to believe that the killer(s) had entered through the back of the church. For that reason, the back door would be removed from the scene and taken away as evidence, but none of the footage showed the alleyway of the church, which would have revealed who enter through the back door. Speaking to this, Captain Dwaine Miller would tell reporters with the Oklahoman:

"We had two cameras. One showed Ms. Daniels' car. The other camera points in the opposite direction. Had it been angled in a slightly different direction, it would have pointed to the back of that church and right at that alley."

Some locals would theorize that this killing could be related to a fire in town, which had burned down the Anadarko Daily News office the night prior and was believed to have been started at a neighboring bar. Due to the proximity and time of these incidents - with the fire and murder taking place just a stones' throw away from one another, and mere hours apart - no connections have been made in the years since.

Within days of the murder, Anadarko Police and the OSBI would announce that they had no suspects and few leads, but offered up a $10,000 reward (which would soon become $15,000) in the hopes that it would incentivize someone to come forward with information. Early on, the police would be flooded with potential leads, but none of it would prove to lead anywhere.

Mitchell Pendarvis, a man that lived next to the church, told reporters with News 9:

"I don't know what to think and I'm trying to think, I mean who would do this to this woman?"

Mitchell had not seen or heard anything that day to warrant suspicion, but seemed to allude to the fact that local transients, who often congregated around the church - in particular, in the alleyway beside it - might have been responsible, telling reporters:

"You've got those guys that drink and sit in the alley, really have nowhere to go and hanging around that alley."

Alicia Theif, a homeowner that rented properties next to the church, reported to police that one of these homes had been broken into the month prior. She would be just one of several people reporting similar incidents, believing that any of them could be linked, but Alicia would also tell police that someone had broken into a nearby property's cellar and likely slept in there at around the time of a murder. Police would be photographed taking bags out of evidence from that cellar, but have never spoken about this lead. Later speaking to the Oklahoman, Alicia Theif stated:

"I don't know if there's any connection or not. I just hope they catch whoever did this. It's scary."

Another witness would come forward hours after the murder, in the form of a homeless man that was inebriated at the time and was concerned that police would harass him if they could smell the alcohol on his breath. Robert Richardson had been drinking a beer at the time of the murder at the car wash near the church and claimed to have seen a man in a ski mask covered in blood leaving the crime scene. Richardson would face criticism by authorities for his recollection of events, which seemed a bit uncertain; at different points, Richardson would describe the killer as bald but also as wearing a ski mask. Richardson would later recount:

"Suddenly, I looked up and saw this man leaving the church all covered in blood. I was shocked. He was a big guy... black, bald head, and he was carrying a knife. He turned (north along Broadway Avenue), though, so I didn't get a good look at his face. I think he was wearing some sort of overalls, but to be honest, I couldn't really tell."

Robert Richardson, a 63-year-old drifter that went by the nickname "Florida Kid," would be put through the wringer by police, who had a hard time verifying any of his information. Richardson would actually be investigated by police - who searched his living area and questioned him extensively - but seemed to have had no involvement. It's unknown how true his original statement was, as it's not known if police treated his information as serious or not.

The autopsy of Carol Daniels would be conducted by a medical examiner's office in Oklahoma City, but the autopsy report would not be finalized until roughly nine months later. The reason for this is rather sordid and complicated (just look up the 2010 Oklahoma political corruption investigation), but the then-medical examiner for Oklahoma had to be replaced partway through the autopsy process.

The autopsy report would be finalized and released in May of 2010 and was overseen by Dr. Chai S. Choi. The report revealed that the trauma Carol Daniels had endured went far beyond what anyone had originally imagined, and while the original exam had ruled Carol's cause-of-death as "multiple sharp force injuries," Dr. Choi would change this terminology in her final report to "multiple incised wounds" - the language of which leads me to believe that the stab wounds were more shallow than originally thought (and were less stabs than slices).

The autopsy report notes several injuries perpetrated upon Carol, which included a large number of incisions across her neck, which severed her trachea and front neck muscles. This had likely been her cause-of-death, with the other bodily injuries obtained postmortem, but had been severe enough to the point of nearly decapitating her. She had also sustained at least twelve stab wounds to her chest and lower neck area, extending across her shoulder; numerous cuts and superficial wounds across her face, chest, abdomen, and back; defensive wounds on both of her hands; contusions to her right arm and left knee; and burns to her scalp, with her hair having been "singed" off.

Surprisingly, there seemed to be no signs of sexual assault. At least, there was no sexual trauma reported in the medical examiner's report, which might not have told the entire story. Investigators possibly withheld details of a less conventional sexual assault, since the victim's breast had been mutilated after death, which implied some kind of sexual motive tied to the crime.

Authorities would initially operate under the assumption that Carol Daniels' killer had targeted her in particular, and might have done so because of her religious beliefs. After all, she was an African American woman that was the pastor of a church, and this - not only her religious belief but her gender and race - might have made her a specific target.

In the days after the murder, investigators would meet with religious leaders from the area and are believed to have informed them of their need to shore up security, believing that the killer(s) might strike again. As you can imagine, this did nothing to alleviate concerns that investigators were losing momentum in their case, less than a week after the murder, and might have simply been waiting for them to strike again to gain more evidence.

When questioned, police officials would admit that their investigation was already at a standstill, with their "promising" leads from that Sunday quickly drying up. Anadarko Police and the OSBI would request the assistance of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, which some figures referred to as a last-ditch option to try and solve the case, and Captain Dwaine Miller would tell reporters later that week:

"We have no suspects. We have no idea who did this."

Over the next several weeks, forensic experts would weigh in on the case through various publications, with each seeming to offer up different insights and analysis into the murder of Carol Daniels. Among them was Vernon Geberth, a retired Lt. Commander of the NYPD, who brought with him more than 40 years of law enforcement experience and had authored numerous books about homicide investigation tactics, procedures, and forensic techniques.

Geberth believed that whenever bodies are intentionally posed by a killer, the primary motivation for the killer to have done so was related to a sexual fantasy of some kind. Speaking to News 9, he stated:

"If the body was posed, I can state unequivocally, it's extremely rare circumstances. Less than one percent of all homicides present sexually posed victims."

Despite the belief that this crime was sexual in nature (solidified in Geberth's mind by the mutilation of the victim's breast), he does believe that it was possible to have been committed by someone looking to disguise their true motive. In this case, the killer would be aware that the posing and mutilation of the body would make it look more symbolic than it was, and would indicate some knowledge of investigative tactics. But based on the crime itself, Geberth doubted this was the case, stating:

"The presentation of a body, especially that of a clergy person, in a manner suggestive of a crucifixion would lead me to believe the offender has focused his attack on some underlying anger or retribution."

Dr. William Manion, a forensic pathologist and deputy medical examiner, believed that - due to the level of trauma inflicted upon Carol - that the motive was incredibly emotional or personal. He did not believe that the motive for this crime was robbery or something similar, indicating that the killer was known to the victim, telling reporters with the Oklahoman:

"In the case of a robbery... he's not going to hang around and keep slashing at her, stabbing her over and over, and take time to stage the body."

Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminal profiler, believed early on - before the autopsy report was even finished - that the neck wounds had been what killed Carol, and that most of the damage to her body had been inflicted after her death. This - paired with the destruction of evidence and symbolism of the murder itself - indicated to him that this was an "anger-oriented sexual homicide." Surprisingly, though, he was not certain that the killer was male, telling the Oklahoman:

"For example, the burning of the hair. That's something a female (killer) might do."

Brent Turvey would also state that it was possible for the body to not have been posed, believing that the positioning of Carol's body when she was found might have happened naturally during the commission of the crime, stating:

"It's either one of two things. It could have been deliberate. They're in a church; they put her in this position, perhaps a defiant way of saying, 'Screw you and your God. Look how your God didn't help you.' Or it was not at all deliberate, and her body just fell that way. It's highly common to find a nude body lying on the ground with their arms outstretched like a cross. In fact, it happens all the time."

In a follow-up article published in the Oklahoman a few days later, Turvey would expand on these ideas, stating:

"This is someone who felt they had been pushed way too far, or wronged by something she had done. They felt like they had to do these things. But this person was in a complete rage - a blind rage."

Another theory that would begin to crop up in the Anadarko region was the theory that this murder had been perpetrated by a serial killer; perhaps a transient killer that was passing through the area at the time. After all, several transients were floating through Anadarko at the time, and it was believed that Carol might have opened up her church to them, only for her trust to be taken advantage of by the killer.

Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University, would state that he believed this to be a killer that was seeking attention. Citing the staging of the body, which he deemed highly unusual (even for gruesome murder cases), and believed that this symbolic posing might be a signature of the killer... something that could be used to link this crime to others. Speaking to the Connecticut-based Hartford Courant, he stated:

"The killer poses the bodies because he wants credit. He intends to do it again and wants credit for what he's done... The killer wants the notoriety. He knows that by staging the victim's body, that it will freak out a population of people, terrify them... "

Noted serial killer Israel Keyes has become a bit of a true crime boogeyman; despite only being officially linked to a handful of cases, has been loosely linked to dozens by amateur sleuths, despite there existing only very loose circumstantial evidence proving his involvement. While I don't think that he is responsible for this case, it's possible that this crime was committed by someone like him: a wandering killer that kept a low profile and knew how to get away with it.

There was no known motive in this crime, and it seems to match almost all of Israel Keyes' hallmarks: it was seemingly random, needlessly brutal, and even included some religious iconography (Keyes had grown up religious, but had fallen out of favor with it as an adult and had become a militant atheist). The killer(s) had extensively cleaned up the crime scene, including destroying evidence with chemicals, which is something that Keyes had admitted to doing at prior crime scenes of his own. He was also known to stay in areas after natural disasters, using the cover of his construction work to be there; Anadarko had been hit by heavy storms and tornadoes roughly three months before Carol's murder, which might have given him an excuse to be there.

That being said, it's worth pointing out that Carol's church was in an area predominantly lived in by minority ethnic groups, and it's highly unlikely that Israel Keyes - a man that was about as white as white gets - would have been able to get in and out of the church without being noticed by people in the neighborhood. This - paired with the fact that killers rarely ever cross racial lines - leads me to believe that whoever committed this act was able to fit in with the population of the neighborhood. That, or they were incredibly lucky, and were able to slip away from the crime scene without being seen by anyone. Either seems to indicate familiarity with this northern section of Anadarko, as they were able to get in and out without being noticed.

Months after the murder of Carol Daniels, OSBI officials would admit that they had investigated less than 100 leads, which was a smaller number than had been originally expected. Yet they remained hopeful that the case would be solved, despite this apparent lack of any physical evidence or potential suspects.

Rumors would begin to proliferate the case throughout Anadarko, running the gamut from the expected to the unexpected: theories that the case was related to a local drug ring, to a local ring of Satanic worshippers (that had killed Carol to send a message), and even rumors that someone had been upset about Carol, a woman, leading the church. As you'd imagine, almost all of these theories were based on little more than gossip and is unlikely to have had any basis in truth; in particular, the Satanic cult theory, which I find particularly outlandish.

Police would even begin investigating a metal band from Anadarko called Napalm Reign, who believed that them being investigated because of their lyrical content was the height of ridiculousness. It's believed that a sealed warrant from September 2009 was related to the band members, but that remains unconfirmed years later.

In 2012, it would be reported that Carol's mother had been asked by police about a person-of-interest from the Chicago area, although I can't find much more about this now, with almost all of the news articles about this story having been deleted in the years since.

Police would eventually release surveillance footage from a nearby convenience store, which shows an individual running from the direction of the church across the street and out-of-frame. This individual appears to have been wearing white at the time, and was seen by multiple witnesses at the time, but has not been identified in the years since. Unfortunately, the video quality is incredibly low - especially at that distance - so this is believed to be a fruitless lead that's hard to follow up on so many years removed from the murder.

But in 2015 - nearly six years after Carol's murder - a woman would come forward to police with new information, claiming that two local drug dealers had been involved in the crime. After coming forward, this woman would lead investigators to a shed behind a home in Anadarko, where she claimed the killers had disposed of evidence. Caddo County District Attorney Jason Hicks would later recall to News 9:

"She actually witnessed the suspect with a black blouse and a knife that had blood on it... and it was around the time of Pastor Daniel's murder. She also advised that those items were taken into the shed and burned."

Unfortunately, this woman - a known drug user - would overdose and pass away just days after coming forward (perhaps having come forward when she did because she knew she didn't have much time left). However, her testimony would end up leading to the convening of a grand jury in 2017, which led to the identification of the only known suspect to-date.

Denise Kay Cooper - also known as Darnell Cooper - was an Anadarko native that was well-known to police, having spent time incarcerated for assault and battery as well as distribution of a controlled substance.

In 2003, Cooper was convicted for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and would spend time in state custody. Nearly a decade later, in 2012, she would plead guilty to the distribution of methamphetamine, which put her on probation for 25 years. She later spent six months in prison for parole violations but came upon police radar a short time later.

Evidence implicating Denise Cooper in the murder of Carol Daniels would be presented in front of a Caddo County grand jury in 2017, with at least two witnesses being brought in to provide testimony: Dustin Tofpi and Kevin Mahan, who - like Denise Cooper - also had prior arrests for distributing methamphetamine and was serving time for assault and battery of a police officer at the time. Both men would refuse to answer questions in front of the grand jury, made evident by their time in front of the panel being cut incredibly short.

While the information presented in front of the grand jury has never been released to the public, it's believed that prosecutors had been trying to establish a motive of robbery for the crime, and alluded to Denise Cooper perpetrating the crime alongside at least one other unnamed suspect (whose name hasn't been publicly disclosed in the years since).

The only problem with this case is that it was presented in front of a grand jury months after the death of Denise Kay Cooper, who had passed away in February of 2017 due to cancer. The 55-year-old suspect had been linked to Carol Daniels' murder for years through local gossip, but the convening of this grand jury - months after Cooper's death - made it official for the first time.

While Cooper remains the only named suspect in this story, I find the public case against her to be rather flimsy. For starters, Cooper was deceased at the time evidence was presented in front of the grand jury, which was the only time that investigators floated her name outside of their own circle. She was unable to defend herself or provide testimony of her own, and it's worth pointing out that this one-sided grand jury wasn't able to come to a consensus. Neither of the witnesses were purported to have provided anything of value, and no charges were filed against any supposed accomplices. For that reason, no public conclusion was made by authorities.

Even if the picture authorities created of Denise Cooper as the killer of Carol Daniels was correct, it doesn't explain how someone like her - who had only been arrested for assault and drug dealing charges - would have had the foresight to carry out a brutal, premeditated crime like this one (and be able to cover up her tracks afterward). It also doesn't explain why Cooper and any potential accomplices would have been attempting to rob a failing church, since Carol's Worthy Temple wasn't hosting regular services and likely had little-to-no value inside of it at the time. Nothing worth murdering the pastor for, at least.

Despite this, public officials would state that they believed the case to be closed for the immediate future because they believed Denise Cooper to be responsible. They simultaneously claimed that they would continue to investigate all leads that came their way, but there has been no significant update in this case in years.

For some time, it has been alleged by Anadarko residents and onlookers of this case that the authorities overseeing it - namely, the Anadarko Police Department as well as the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation - might have been unprepared or unable to handle it. These same critics believe that any potential fumbling by investigators early on might have hampered their ability to create any momentum in the case, made evident by their appeal to the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit very early on.

In addition to being a small police force that was undoubtedly ill-equipped to deal with a murder investigation of this scope, the Anadarko Police Department has been reported upon quite heavily over the past decade, as have other officials linked to the city's criminal justice system. Several bizarre and violent incidents have been reported at Caddo County Jail - just blocks away from this case's crime scene - and it has been reported that offers stationed there often mistreat inmates. Two such inmates, Antonio Enrico Jimenez and Darius Robinson, were killed during altercations with these officers (in 2014 and 2016, respectively). Other jail officials have been busted for smuggling drugs and alcohol into the prison, in addition to other offenses.

As if that wasn't enough to point the spotlight on local law enforcement, an even more bizarre incident took place in April of 2012. That month, Officer Ashley Burris - the same police officer that responded to the church in Anadarko and discovered the body of Carol Daniels - shot himself in the chest in the Anadarko police station. Years later, his suicide remains a bizarre footnote in this story, which is likely not linked in any way but is odd and tragic in its own right.

Adding to this belief, that authorities were overwhelmed by the immense pressure of this case, is the fact that police officials have railed against the press for reporting the details of this case. They have stated quite openly, since the early days of this investigation, that the publishing of details in Carol's death was sinking their case before it had the chance to swim, and have seemingly clammed up in the decade since.

In recent years, officials have insisted that the motive for the crime appears to have been robbery, but unless investigators are withholding some vital details in this case (which is possible, I guess) I don't see what part of this crime indicates robbery.

The killer(s) had a very narrow window of time to carry out this crime, less than two hours, and did not seem to kill Carol most quickly or efficiently. Instead, they butchered her to death and took great pains to cover up their crime, but not before desecrating and mutilating her body for some time after death. They destroyed what evidence could be left behind - burning her hair and pouring chemicals all over her body - and left with her clothing and personal belongings. They also might have intentionally reconfigured her body into a Christ-like pose. Nothing about any of that screams 'robbery' to me. It screams 'highly-charged, sadistic killer, who likely came prepared to carry out this murder.'

Also, why would thieves target an inactive church for robbery? The Worthy Temple that Carol presided over was in a state of neglect at the time of the murder, which had no active congregation and only saw a few visitors each week. Everyone in the area knew this. So why would thieves choose to carry out a robbery of that building on Sunday morning, of all days? The only thing that makes sense to me is someone choosing to rob Carol, in particular... in which case, why did they feel compelled to murder her and commit such a brazen act of violence and symbolic gesturing afterward?

Many in the region believe that - even if this case was still solvable - the mishandling of it by the APD and the OSBI has doomed it to permanent cold case status. Based on some of the most recent comments by APD officials, asserting that the case was "solved" even if it wasn't proven in court, it's unlikely that any significant time or manpower will be spent on it moving forward.

Despite members of the Christ Holy Sanctified Church organization hoping to revitalize the church that Carol died in, in her honor, the building itself would be torn down the year after the murder (July 2010). The church was already failing at the time of Carol's death, and her gruesome murder would prove to be an effective deterrent to anyone considering replacing her. A small memorial would be constructed at the site in the years to come, which still stands and can be seen by anyone driving through Anadarko.

More than 1000 people would pack into an Oklahoma City church to attend Carol's funeral, which was a huge show of support for the life of warmth and comfort that she had lived; a woman that drove more than 100 miles every week to meet with a couple of parishioners. Even though I'm not a religious man myself, I do admire how much commitment she had to her faith over years, and how far she was willing to go for those that simply wanted to see her or speak to God every week.

Ivan Henderson, one of Carol's brothers, would fly in from China for the funeral, and would speak to the people gathered:

"Pray that we are all able to forgive the individual who did this. Pray that God will give favor to the police and the crime investigators to find out who did this. And pray to bind this enemy that he may never be able to do this again.

"Whoever did this, we'll find them, in Jesus' name."

I can only hope - for the sake of Carol and her remaining loved ones - that he was correct. It has been more than ten years since Carol's death and her case remains unsolved. If you know anything, you are encouraged to reach out to authorities with the Anadarko Police Department or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

As of this episode's recording, the story of Reverend Carol Daniels remains unresolved.

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on on March 7th, 2021

Producers: Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Gabriella Bromley, Steven Wilson, Quil Carter, Travis Scsepko, Laura Hannan, Bryan Hall, Damion Moore, Scott Meesey, Amy Hampton, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Astrid Kneier, Aimee McGregor, Jo Wong, Sara Moscaritolo, Sydney Scotton, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Patrick Laakso, Rebecca O'Sullivan, Meadow Landry, Tatum Bautista, Sally Ranford, Kevin McCracken, Ruth Durbin, Michele Watson, Jared Midwood, Teunia Elzinga, Ryan Green, Jacinda C., Stephanie Joyner, Cherish Brady, and Lauren