Arletha Hopkins was a 36-year-old mother of eight from Mobile, Alabama, whose body was found in a chest freezer in her family’s home in July 2008, nearly four years after prosecutors say her husband, traveling evangelist Anthony Hopkins, killed her. He was convicted in April 2010 of her murder along with rape, sodomy, incest, and sexual abuse of a child, and was sentenced to life plus 51 years in prison.
Who Arletha Hopkins Was
Arletha grew up in Wadley, Georgia. She married Anthony Jujuan Hopkins in Stillmore, Georgia, in April 1994, at age 22.1Bishop Accountability. Preacher Prophet Acquaintances described her as quiet and someone who deferred to her husband. The couple had eight children together, six fathered by Anthony; two were Arletha’s from before the marriage, including the stepdaughter whose report to police would eventually break the case open.2Gainesville Sun. Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder After Wife’s Body Found in Freezer
How She Was Killed
Prosecutors alleged that Anthony Hopkins killed Arletha in December 2004 after she discovered him sexually abusing her oldest daughter, his stepdaughter.3AL.com. Prosecutor: Preacher Accused of Killing Wife Lived Double Life According to court records, Arletha had confronted Hopkins and ordered him out of the house. The stepdaughter later told police that the morning after that confrontation, Hopkins asked for her help hiding her mother’s body.4AL.com. Trial of Preacher Accused of Storing Wife’s Body in Freezer
At trial, the same stepdaughter testified that when she was 13 she heard her parents in an unusually loud fight and heard her mother plead, “Take me to the hospital. Don’t let me die.” She said she also saw Anthony Hopkins walking down the hallway carrying a hammer. A 14-year-old daughter testified that she heard her mother screaming for help and saw an older sister leave the room with the family’s newborn.5Tuscaloosa News. Children Testify About Mom’s Death By the time investigators recovered Arletha’s remains years later, the body was too decomposed for a forensic scientist to determine a precise cause of death, though prosecutors said the death had been ruled a homicide.6AL.com. Stepdaughter Accused Preacher of Abuse
Four Years in a Freezer
Arletha’s body was placed in a chest freezer in the laundry room of the family’s home in north Mobile, where it remained for roughly four years. No one ever reported her missing.
Hopkins kept the death hidden through parallel lies. He told church members and at least one pastor that Arletha had died in childbirth delivering their youngest son, born in November 2004.7CNN. Preacher Arrested After Wife Found in Freezer He told his own children that their mother had run away and instructed them to tell anyone who asked that she was at work.5Tuscaloosa News. Children Testify About Mom’s Death
The family was largely cut off from anyone who might have asked questions. Hopkins moved frequently. The eight children were homeschooled and not allowed to play with other children in the neighborhood. Neighbors saw the children in the yard but never recalled seeing Hopkins with his wife.8Religion News Service. Police Find Dead Woman in Evangelist’s Freezer as He Preaches Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson later said homeschooling “removes almost any chances of us catching up with these kinds of things until there is a catastrophe.”7CNN. Preacher Arrested After Wife Found in Freezer
Hopkins’ standing as a traveling evangelist across the rural South added another layer of cover, and prosecutors said he used religious authority directly on the stepdaughter. He warned her she would be “cursed by God” if she revealed where her mother’s body was, telling her, “The Lord has covered it, why would you want to uncover something the Lord has already covered?”9AL.com. Preacher Told Stepdaughter the Lord Covered Up Mother’s Death
How the Case Was Uncovered
In July 2008, Hopkins’ 19-year-old stepdaughter walked into the Mobile Police Department’s Child Advocacy Center. She reported that her stepfather had sexually abused her since she was 11 and told investigators that her mother’s body was in the freezer at the family home. She had moved out of the house only two weeks earlier.7CNN. Preacher Arrested After Wife Found in Freezer At trial she said she had waited years to come forward because she feared that if Hopkins went to jail, the children “wouldn’t have anywhere to go” and “would be split up.”5Tuscaloosa News. Children Testify About Mom’s Death
Officers searched the Hopkins residence and found Arletha’s body inside a freezer in the utility room.10CBS News. Pastor Jailed After Wife Found in Freezer A forensic scientist later testified that investigators needed the “Jaws of Life” to remove the body after waiting days for it to thaw.6AL.com. Stepdaughter Accused Preacher of Abuse
On the night of July 28, 2008, Clarke County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Anthony Hopkins around 10:00 p.m. while he was preaching at a revival at the Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Jackson, Alabama.10CBS News. Pastor Jailed After Wife Found in Freezer The pastor of that church, Beverly Jackson, told reporters that Hopkins had spoken about forgiveness during his final sermon, asking his seven children in the congregation to “forgive him his past, present and future.”7CNN. Preacher Arrested After Wife Found in Freezer Mobile County District Judge George Hardesty denied bail, and the remaining children were placed with child welfare authorities, with relatives in Wadley, Georgia, expected to take custody.2Gainesville Sun. Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder After Wife’s Body Found in Freezer
The Trial
Anthony Hopkins’ trial began in Mobile County Circuit Court in April 2010 before Judge John Lockett. He faced charges of murder, second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual abuse, and incest.4AL.com. Trial of Preacher Accused of Storing Wife’s Body in Freezer
Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich told jurors Hopkins had lived a “double life” as a “man of God” who preached at churches while storing his dead wife in a freezer and abusing his stepdaughter. Rich said the abuse began in 2000 and that Hopkins told the girl it was “OK because he was a man of God, he was a prophet.” Of the concealment, Rich said, “All the while she was in the freezer right next to the washer and dryer.”3AL.com. Prosecutor: Preacher Accused of Killing Wife Lived Double Life
Prosecutors said that years of sexual abuse caused the stepdaughter to suffer one miscarriage and one abortion, and that she gave birth in November 2008 to a child they alleged Hopkins had fathered.4AL.com. Trial of Preacher Accused of Storing Wife’s Body in Freezer
Defense attorney Jeff Deen conceded that Hopkins had placed his wife’s body in the freezer but argued the cause of death was unknown and could have been natural. “He’s charged with murder. He’s not charged with having a body in a freezer,” Deen told the jury pool during selection. Hopkins took the stand in his own defense. He admitted the sexual relationship with his stepdaughter, saying he “yielded to the temptation,” and told jurors of his wife’s remains, “I didn’t want my wife to decompose.”11AL.com. Anthony Hopkins Case Coverage
Conviction and Sentence
On April 16, 2010, the jury found Hopkins guilty of murder, rape, sodomy, incest, and sexual abuse of a child between the ages of 12 and 16. Deliberations lasted less than two hours.12WAFB. Preacher Convicted of Killing Wife, Freezing Body
On May 20, 2010, Judge Lockett sentenced Hopkins to life in prison for the murder plus 51 additional years for the sodomy and sexual abuse convictions.13Savannah Morning News. Alabama Evangelist Gets Life for Murder Reporting on the sentencing said Hopkins showed no remorse. Ashley Rich called him “evil of the worst kind.”14Sydney Morning Herald. Evangelist Jailed for Murdering Wife
Deen said at the time that the case “needs to be explored on appeal,” citing the unresolved cause of death.15ABC7. Evangelist Sentenced to Life for Murder The available reporting does not indicate that any appeal changed the conviction or sentence.