Every Town - Pastor Love & The Murder Of Randy Stone - Independence, MO

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

It was a murderous affair in Independence, Missouri. Teresa Stone had been carrying a decade-long adulterous affair with her Pastor Lover, appropriately named David Love. Her Husband Randy Stone, had no idea the love affair was ongoing and that the pastor and his wife would soon be coming to murder hime. “She wanted a perfect life with David Love, no matter the cost.” In the end, Linda and David had to pay the steep price.🥇 Check this guy out! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3-mYE7uh6g🎉 Patreon (videos too hot for youtube) -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHe2plH2HvM🎧 More Podcasts, we got you - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. Today we head to Independence, which is in Jackson County, Missouri, where we check out the murder of Randy Stone by his wife and her pastor lover.

When a treacherous love triangle climaxes into a tragic death, it usually involves betrayal, illicit sex, and greed. But not everyone in Independence, Missouri, anticipated that a respected, established, an actively religious couple like Randy and Teresa Stone, would be entangled in such a deplorable situation with their influential and esteemed pastor David Love. Without Randy's knowledge, Teresa had been carrying a decade-long adulterous affair with their church leader, who later turned from a virtuous Bible-quoting Baptist minister, into her lover come cunning hitman. Did Pastor David kill Randy out of love for Teresa?

as an assistant Jackson County prosecutor had said. She wanted a perfect life with David Love, no matter the cost. In the end, though, Linda and David had to pay a steep price. Hi, I'm Andrew Fitzgerald and welcome to another episode of Everytown, which will center around the 2010 murder tale in the hometown of America's 33rd President Harry S. Truman. True love, perhaps, led child. childhood friends Randy and Teresa's stone to marriage, but, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to sustain them.

Teresa fell for a sheep and a wolf's clothing, and they connive to commit a crime against Randy, hoping it would be the means to their perfect life. But it only ended in an upheaval. This is the sensational homicide story of a couple and a pastor, laced with success, faith, infidelity, insurance money. and murder. Fate had etched on Randy and Teresa Stone's palms that they were destined for one another, that is, until Springs' arrival on the last day of March of 2010. Both grew up in the northeast area of Kansas City and Missouri and became close neighborhood friends. Perhaps mutual attraction

between them developed as they grew up, but romance had to take a back seat as Randy pursued his dream to be part of the U.S. Marines. They started dating after Randy had returned from his marine duties, and in late 1990, they officially became Mr. and Mrs. Stone in a marriage ceremony in Teresa's longtime church, New Hope, Baptist, and Independence, Missouri. And they truly made a perfect pair. Mandy was a tough guy with a soft side, who wrote poetry for his wife and kept a journal. His friend recalled that Randy worshipped Teresa. She meant a hard. everything to him. A fitness buff, Randy's competitiveness, extended from the basketball courts

to the business field, enabling him to build his farmer's insurance agency into one of the most successful ones in the region. The attractive and flirtatious Teresa complimented her husband and became not only a devoted wife and mother, but also his supportive business associate. She worked at his insurance agency, located on Nolan Road, starting out as a customer service representative, then as a licensed agent. They were great partners at home and in work which provided a good life for children, Michael and Miranda. They were also admirable for nurturing their family's spiritual and religious life by being active in the New Hope Baptist Church. While Randy taught at the church's Sunday school and provided the congregation financial advice,

Teresa assisted in the church kitchen and occasionally sang in the choir. If not perfect, their relationship and family setup could best be described as the epitome of successful unions. But temptations can inconspicuously thrive in outwardly harmless bushes, and when they strike, one can hardly survive their venom. After almost a decade of an ideal marriage, Randy and Teresa were tested by an influential force she couldn't resist. The irony was they were torn apart by a person they looked up to, and who preached about the salvation of humanity.

In 1999, the New Hope Baptist Church experienced a renewed sense of vigor when Reverend David Love became part of the congregation. He was brought up in the mid-war. West by parents who were missionaries. They polished his preaching skills by enrolling him at a Baptist college in the South and letting him serve as a youth minister. David later became a pastor in a couple of churches, so it wasn't a surprise that he became a hit among the New Hope Baptist Church members. His greatest asset was being an articulate, smooth, and charismatic speaker, using it to his full advantage as a minister who adhered to the expository preaching style.

I love the word of God, David assured during a 2003 sermon. I'm glad the Lord called me to preach, and it's a delight and a privilege to be able to come before you. It helped a lot, too, that the pastor was attractive, usually dressed in dark suits, which had some female members of the church flocking towards them. But David had been married with wife. Kimberly Turner, whom he fondly calls Kim since June 26th of 1982. The talkative Kim, with a lush southern accent, relished her role as a pastor's wife,

a mother to their son, Sherwin, and as the Baptist Church's secretary. Kim exhibited such a fierce Christian faith in a truthful and forgiving nature, so much so that others sometimes found it phony. but she wasn't oblivious that women were attracted to her husband. And she had shewed her pastor's spouse away from other women, including Teresa Stone, whom Kim thought was too friendly toward Pastor David. In fact, Kim later disclosed, but not long after she and David joined the New Hope Baptist Church in 1999,

she'd become suspicious of Teresa when the latter would put her head on David's shoulder, while speaking with him. Kim had broken that up quickly, telling her husband that it doesn't look very good. She went on to say, sometimes you just have a feeling about certain women that kind of have a thing for your husband. I just always kind of felt like she did, but I could never put my finger on anything he did wrong. Kim's suspicions grew in the ensuing years. And 11 years later, her intuition was proven right. The brilliance of David Love as a church leader won the confidence of the New Hope Baptist Church's 250 members, most notably Randy and Teresa Stone. They called their esteemed pastor Brother Love.

Randy became not only one of David's most devoted followers, who particularly liked the pastors demanding interpretation of Baptist Christianity, but they also became best friends. Randy even confided about his marital woes with Brother Love. Although they occasionally argued about church business, as Randy was also the church's Ministry of Records, their bond remained strong, or so Randy had thought. Not until a major fallout happened in mid-March of 2010. Randy had made a firm decision to leave the church, informing David that he wasn't pleased with the handling of the church's finances.

He wrote in an email, I am resigning as the finance minister and as a Sunday school teacher effective immediately. The ex-marine turned insurance entrepreneur was concerned with how David used the funds to pay personal insurance bills and his wife Kim who did minimal work at the church. Randy was also upset that David allowed his son

to be choir director even after getting a DUI and being caught in a homosexual act. Randy's intent to desert the church, church caused an ugly confrontation in which the pastor accused him of being too prideful and tried to drive a wedge between the stones by accusing Teresa of sexual indiscretions. However, this didn't deter Randy from leaving the church, but he then graciously emailed David saying, I love you, pastor, and I really wish things could be different, but too much has been said and done to come back. Two weeks later, Andy Stone, indeed, never came back, not only to the New Hope Baptist Church, but to the lives of

Teresa and their children, and his erstwhile beloved pastor friend. He was murdered on March 31st, 2010, under shocking circumstances that unlocked shameful secrets involving a highly regarded church leader and Randy's two-timing wife. In the late afternoon of March 31st, 2010, Teresa got back to the farmer's insurance office on busy Nolan Road after making a bank deposit, running errands, going to a chiropractor, and picking up her daughter at school. She checked the storage room and Randy's office, but found nothing unusual. Then she proceeded to her smaller office down the hall and was greeted by a shocking scenario. Forty-year-old Randy lay motionless and smeared with blood on the floor next to her desk. She tried to wake up her husband whose eyes had blackened and his lips had turned blue.

Teresa Furris called up her parents and told them Randy had been shot and asked them to come over. Six minutes later, she called 911. I just walked into my office and my husband's lying on the floor in my office. He's been, I don't know. There's blood everywhere. it's coming out of his ear. One of the first patrol officers on the scene was her churchmaid who determined Randy was dead, and Teresa collapsed in his arms after he informed her. Within minutes, investigators and Teresa's fellow church members, including Kim Love, arrived. David soon appeared, sized up the situation, left the comforting to others, and,

from the parking lot, intently watched the detectives. The Stone's 16-year-old daughter, Miranda, later arrived with Teresa's parents while their 19-year-old son, Michael, called his mom from Florida, where he attended college. During a quiet moment, David pulled his eyes from the crime scene for a quick word with Teresa. He reminded her of disposing of the phone in her purse, and if police asked her about Randy's gun, she'd tell them he sold it three months ago. Inside the insurance office, Independence Police Detective Keith Rosewarrant and his team didn't detect any signs of a struggle. This led them to deduce that Randy knew and trusted his attacker,

who likely ambushed him by shooting the businessman in the head while he had his back turned. It was an opportunistic random violence perpetrated in broad daylight on a busy commercial street. Neither was it a case of robbery as detectives. The detectives found $151 in cash on a desk and Randy's wallet still intact. But what authorities found opened the door to a deeper and more complicated homicide case reeking with immorality. Although the detectives hadn't found the murder weapon, they recovered a 40-caliber shell casing.

Unfortunately, though, it didn't match the only firearm they'd found at the office. A 380 Ruger kept in Randy's drawer. And then there was the more incriminating piece of evidence, a one-page Happy Birthday Love Letter found at the bottom of Teresa's trash bin. When the note, which was torn into multiple pieces, was put together at red, Happy birthday, love, you are so very precious to my heart. I care for you more than anyone on earth. I'm not in control of things yet, but when we are fully together, your birthday will always be exciting.

full of surprises, romantic, and all about loving you. You are the center of my world. I praise you. I adore you. I'm blessed by you. I need you. I love you. Although Randy wrote poems for Teresa,

this love letter wasn't his handwriting. That night, Teresa was questioned by the investigators at the police station. The distraught wife divulged that she and Randy were going through some financial strains. because of business changes they had planned. But despite that, Teresa insisted that their marriage was going strong, saying, we were very much in love. An hour later, Teresa was asked about the birthday love letter, which detectives determined was written by David Love.

The widow said nothing, but she was caught on camera whispering to herself, Oh, great, I forgot about that, when the detectives briefly left the room. She then told police that the note came from a secret admirer who left it on her car door years ago, and she had found it a few days prior. The detective's questions had pointed to the swirling rumors of Teresa's forbidden affair with David, but she steadfastly refused to reveal anything about it. In fact, during Randy's funeral, it was Brother Love who presided over it.

He said, we weep not just because of the separation of our loved one, but because of the questions that death brings. Questions like why, why him, why now? But Brother Love thought he was in the clear and didn't expect that sooner rather than later, his lover, Teresa, which shed light on the questions, who murdered Randy Stone and why? Detectives have believed Teresa Stone was telling lies when questioned on the night of her husband's death on March 31st, 2010. She was very calm and stoic, not a tear was shed. Not a single hint about her illicit affair with David Love was dropped

other than when detectives left the room. In the following weeks, investigators would now scrutinize everyone close to Randy to see who had the means, motive, an opportunity to commit the crime. Detective Rose Warren's bosses ordered crime analysts and detectives from other units to drop everything and move on to the case, and soon they had many leads to pursue. Teresa had been remarkably quiet 20 days since Randy's murder, but she finally broke her silence on April 20, 2010. She signed a Miranda waiver, agreeing to be interviewed without an attorney. The detectives wanted to prove that Teresa had engaged in a nearly 10-year affair with her

pastor-lover, that she'd given David a 40-calibre Glock that belonged to her husband, and and that they had communicated about the killing using disposable cell phones. But even with this solid theory and piles of circumstantial evidence, Rose-Worm believed that prosecutors would never file charges without significant emissions from Teresa or David. So he started interrogating Teresa about the torn birthday love letter, which he previously denied knowing of. But the vulnerable widow gave in when the detective pointed out the verbiage,

used was that of someone involved in the church. Teresa then admitted David had written the letter, but negated his involvement in her husband's murder. When pressed about a romantic and sexual relationship with the church leader, Teresa again resorted to denial, but acknowledged that they'd communicated covertly with cell phones to hide a counseling relationship from David's wife. With a sharp tone now, Detective Rose Warren warned Teresa that the detective

had evidence to implicate her in Randy's death and that they'd take the case to the grand jury. Teresa's jaw dropped, and she started sobbing and confessing her intimate relationship with David, which started a year after David relocated to Independence and joined Teresa's church. The spontaneous and passionate affair began slowly, with weekly meetings wherever the opportunity presented,

especially when Randy was away on business trips. Their meetings increased to three times a week, and then to even one or two times a day. Teresa also had to fulfill her husband's need for affection while carrying out her adultery. In 2005, Teresa was impregnated by David, which shocked Randy because he had previously undergone a vasectomy. But he'd known other couples conceived after vasectomy, so he entertained the idea of a physiological malfunction. Teresa's pregnancy issue died down when she had a miscarriage. In 2008, Randy contemplated on leaving New Hope Baptist Church because of his suspicion of Teresa's affair with her pastor.

But he stayed and even submitted himself to a weekly counseling with Brother Love after Teresa caught him watching pornography. When Detective Rose Warren's query shifted to the day Randy was murdered, Teresa took the case far beyond theory and circumstantial evidence. When repeatedly asked how she knew Randy was shot as she told her parents over the phone, Teresa finally let her guard down. He sent me a text and told me, Teresa said. Who did? Say it.

Prada the detective. In an anguished whisper, Teresa made the most awaited confession. Brother Love. The day after the crime, David came to Teresa's house and told her what happened. The six-hour, grueling interview, yielded enough results to charge David for Randy's murder. But Detective Rose Warren wanted to put Teresa and David together to see if he'd say something useful. Now, with the mercy of the detective, Teresa agreed to call up the pastor and press for a confession.

At 1243 a.m. on April 21, 2010, Teresa let out an emotionally charged a man to David over the phone. I need to know why you killed my husband. I need to know, please. I can't live like this anymore. But before the pastor could answer, his wife Kim got hold of the phone and berated Teresa. Unknown to the love couple, their home and the New Hope Baptist Church

had been under surveillance. David decided to go to Teresa's house with Kim in tow, but a patrol officer pulled over David's car immediately and arrested him. At the police headquarters, Teresa and her pastor-lover had their final encounter. I told them everything, Teresa told David, who replied, Don't worry, I'll take care of everything. Detective Rose Warren prepared to interview the pastor turned murder suspect after his arrest. But David declined in the absence of his lawyer,

so he spent time at the independence jail with a warning that he'd be charged the next day for Randy Stone's murder. but it didn't materialize because the analysis of the cell phone and computer records were still pending. So David was released, and on April 23rd, he announced his resignation as pastor. It is with remorse and repentance that I resign. I have sinned against my Lord, my family, and against the Lord's Church. I am resigning because of my sin of immorality. I have asked God to forgive me for sinning and deceiving my family and each of you.

He admitted his affair with Teresa, but denied killing Randy. Two days later, authorities searched the love residence, and afterward the ex-pastor left without telling his family where he was headed, taking with him his birth certificate and passport. Email exchanges between David and Teresa retrieved from his computer confirmed their plans of getting married. He emailed her in 2009 saying, You are my beautiful bride.

I cannot wait to watch you walk to me, knowing that we are officially about to be married publicly. In response, Teresa said, I would love to have an outside wedding with lots of flowers, not just a certain kind, just real flowers, maybe a rose garden or something like that. By February of 2010, David had purchased Teresa Ring, but how could they get married when they were already married to their respective spouses?

According to Rose Warren, David had intended to kill his wife by breaking her neck and staging a car accident to disguise her death. It didn't happen, though, but getting rid of Randy Stone first, undoubtedly succeeded. The investigation of Randy's murder went on with old and new witness. coming forward. One of the biggest breakthroughs came when the crime lab established conclusively that Randy had been killed with his own 40-calibre Glock, cementing the theory that he'd been shot by someone he knew. Police later matched the 40-caliber shell casing to others recovered on an eastern Jackson County farm where Randy took target practice. As detectives examined the new information,

the primary motive for the homicide became clear. Randy's insurance business, benefits became a factor. After her thorough analysis, experts concluded that Teresa wasn't entitled to up to $800,000 on her husband's death, which shocked her. Randy had taken Teresa office policies in 2005, the year she miscarried the pastor's child. Randy had directed that money, which actually totaled $625,000 in benefits to their two children who were minors at the time. Teresa told prosecutors that she and David had planned to use the money to start a new life together. After the detectives had completed their investigation, the prosecutors presented their evidence to a grand jury in November of 2010

that led to the arrest of David Love for first-degree murder. A month later, Teresa was finally ready to reveal her final secrets to prosecutors, hoping desperately to avoid a long prison sentence, and thinking that cooperation would help. She admitted, giving David, the co-conspirators. to her late husband's gun safe, and their homes alarm and garage codes as well. Teresa also admitted that she helped turn David into a killer. I sent him a text that said,

I want him dead. I told him that I just wanted him out of my life. And with that, the cheating wife's last secrets were finally out. On November 9, 2011, David Love pleaded guilty to killing Randy Stone and was sentenced to life in prison, with parole eligibility in 2036. On June 15, 2012, Teresa Stone was sentenced to eight years behind bars after she pleaded guilty

to conspiring with David to murder her husband. During her sentencing, prosecutor Tammy Dickinson admonished them. These two could have chosen divorce. Instead, they chose murder. Teresa expressed her apologies, but her and her children's plea from her, mercy fell on deaf ears.

Her dream of a new life of glory and luxury with the man they called brother love wasn't fulfilled by circumstances they created. Or perhaps God intervened and stopped these sinners from getting away with murder. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Tune in next week for another one filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? maybe your town will be next. Thanks so much for tuning in,

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