Man admits to crucifying Arizona pastor, planned to ‘execute’ over a dozen other Christian leaders across the country

76-year-old William “Bill” Schonemann, a pastor at New River Bible Chapel, was found dead in his New River, Arizona home on April 28. Adam Sheafe was taken into custody on June 24 and is being held in Coconino County on unrelated charges. While Sheafe has not yet been charged with the pastor’s death, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is working on it with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, per Fox 10.

Sheafe spoke with 12 News, revealing that the killing of Schonemann was supposed to be just one of at least 14 priests across 10 states that he planned to "execute" and "crucify."

When asked if the allegations against him were correct, Sheafe replied, "All of those allegations are correct." He said his motivation behind the killing was religion, calling it "Operation First Commandment." Sheafe said he believes the Bible’s New Testament and Jesus Christ goes against the commandment, which states, "You shall have no other gods before me."

Sheafe said, "His commandments have been annulled by this character called Jesus, a human being who I believe is the son of Satan." He said he was carrying out a crusade for God, but denied being mentally unwell. "No, maybe I'm the one that sees truth, and maybe it's everybody else that is deceived by Satan. So if that makes me mentally ill for following what God says, then so be it."

He said the idea to kill religious leaders came to him while living in California, but little planning took place. Only a couple months passed between the idea and the murder of Schonemann, Sheafe said.

He came to Arizona, stole a car, and found Schonemann, who Sheafe stalked outside of his church. "I saw that he had a Wednesday evening Bible study, so I sat there and waited for them to arrive, so that I could locate which one was the priest, and then I just followed him. And then I returned on Sunday to execute and crucify him to his wall."

He said he walked into the home between 2 and 3 in the morning that Monday, which was unlocked. Sheafe said he asked the pastor before he killed him, "are you praying to Jesus right now," to which the pastor said he was. Sheafe said he replied, "good, cause he can’t hear you."

Sheafe said that after the murder, he drove up to Sedona, where he planned on killing two priests from the Chapel of the Holy Cross. "I set up a tent right next to that church so that I could watch those priests and identify what vehicles they were driving. And then I got into a high-speed chase with the police and escaped, got in a car crash, got out, ran up a mountain and escaped. And I was just determined to get those two priests."

Sheafe was ultimately stopped by officers from the Sedona Police Department, who arrested him. "Had I been better prepared... I don't think there would have been any way to stop me. But with all that being said, everything happens the way it's supposed to."

He said he doesn’t want the case to go to trial, but rather wants to be put on death row. "Put me on death row, set the execution date for right now. The victims want it. The victim's families want it. I want it, and the taxpayers want it."

Randall Schonemann, the pastor’s son, spoke with the outlet following the jail interview, saying that he hopes Sheafe’s admission makes the court process easier. He said, however, that it was not his place to decide whether Sheafe should be put to death. "It's all a part of God's plan so at this moment I don't have a commitment one way or the other of what we might want."