"Jane" HOPKINS - 11 yo (2001) - Mobile AL

Mobile AL ---- A traveling preacher accused
of killing his wife and hiding her body in a freezer will face rape, sex
abuse and incest charges during his murder trial.

Anthony Hopkins' attorneys, Jeff Deen and Sid Harrell, asked Circuit
Court Judge John Lockett to separate the cases, but prosecutors argued
the sex abuse of one of Hopkins' eight children was the motive for his
wife's murder.

Hopkins was arrested in July 2008 after police found his wife's body in a
freezer at the family's home on Rylands Street. Hopkins was preaching
at a revival in Jackson, Alabama when sheriff's deputies took him into
custody.

According to court documents, Hopkins'
daughter lead police to her mother's body. Arletha Hopkins, 36, had
never been reported missing, but investigators believe she had been dead
since November 2004, shortly after she gave birth to the couple's
youngest child. A cause of death was never determined because the body
was so badly decomposed, according to Rich.

Anthony Hopkins' daughter, who was 17 when she went to police, told
investigators her father began raping her in 2001 when she was 11 years
old. Several months after Hopkins was arrested, his teenage daughter
gave birth to a baby. During Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors told the
judge that DNA from the baby confirmed Anthony Hopkins is the father.

Jury selection, from a pool of 50 potential jurors, is scheduled to begin April 5th.

Anthony Hopkins used a dolly to transfer his
wife's body from a shallow grave in Jackson, Alabama to a freezer,
according to his step-daughter, who admitted to jurors that she helped
hide her mother's body.

Prosecutors called the step-daughter, who Hopkins is accused of raping
and sexually abusing, as their first witness Tuesday afternoon.

Hopkins' step-daughter, 21, testified she was very young when her
mother, Arletha, married Anthony Hopkins. "When he married my mom he
was already a preacher," she told jurors, explaining that she was told
he was a prophet. "Someone who could see the future," she said. "He
was a man of God, so we just trusted everything he said."

During her testimony, Hopkins' step-daughter told jurors Hopkins, who
she referred to as "dad," used the bible to convince her it was okay for
a father to have sex with his daughter. Hopkins' told her Lott had sex
with his daughters, according her testimony.

Hopkins' step-daughter, who told jurors the sex abuse began when she was
11 years old and she was first raped at the family's home in Jackson
when she was 12, also testified that Hopkins' encouraged her to watch
pornography, and then asked her to act out what she saw.

The step-daughter, who stopped attending school when she was in the
fifth grade and sang in the family's gospel ensemble, said her family
moved from Jackson to Mobile, then to Louisiana. Anthony and Arletha
Hopkins "argued all the time," she said, and began sleeping in separate
beds when the family lived in Louisiana.

Then, after the family moved back to Mobile, Arletha Hopkins caught
Anthony touching her daughter in the family's bathroom, but "he
convinced her not to call the cops," according to the daughter's
testimony. She says Anthony told her mother he wouldn't do it again,
but the sex abuse continued several times a week.

"My mom was fussing," she said, remembering the night of December 4,
2004. "That's the day my mom died." Hopkins' step-daughter described a
"commotion" and testified that she heard her mom screaming for help.
She began to cry as she recalled seeing her mom "on all fours. He was
on her back, and he was like, get out."

Hopkins' step-daughter says after her mom was killed, Hopkins asked her
for help hiding the body. She testified Hopkins' first tried to hide
the body alone in Semmes, but then wanted her help "transferring" the
body to his truck. Together they drove to Jackson, Alabama where they
buried Arletha's body in a shallow grave in a shed behind a church the
family once attended. A few days later, after someone Hopkins worked
with told him a body would eventually begin to smell, Hopkins' and his
step-daughter returned with a freezer. She says he used a dolly to move
her mother's body from the grave to a freezer he bought to store it.

The step-daughter, who insists the rapes continued for several more
years, said she was told she'd be cursed or struck down if she told on
Hopkins.

Eventually, she says she became interested in a boy at church, which
caused problems between her and her step father. She told jurors she
ran away one day after a fight with Hopkins, but returned home the next
day.

The abuse continued, according to her testimony, until she ran away a
second time. The step-daughter told jurors she was went to a
neighbor's home, and that's when she first told someone about the abuse
she suffered.

Arletha Hopkins' stepmother told jurors she
tried to talk to Arletha between the time prosecutors believe she was
killed and the time her body was found nearly four years later.

Mary Bess told jurors she didn't know where the Hopkins family lived
after they moved from Whatley, Georgia. She says the family visited
her in 2003.

Bess insists she called Arletha several times in the months after
December 2004, the time prosecutors believe Arletha was killed, but
after a few months of trying Arletha's phone was cut off.

12:30 p.m.
Hopkins' 19 year old step daughter was the fourth person to take the
stand Wednesday.

The teenager testified about the night her mother, Arletha Hopkins,
died. She said she heard her mom yelling "take me to the hospital.
Don't let me die." The 19 year old told jurors she didn't call for help
because she was scared. She said she was afraid her dad would go to
jail, and her family would be split up.

11:00 a.m.
One of Anthony Hopkins' biological daughters testified Wednesday
morning, telling jurors about her mom, who she described as "helpful."

The 14 year old recalled her parents, Anthony and Arletha Hopkins,
"fussing" and said she remembers the night her mom and dad got into a
fight at the family's home on Rylands Street.

The child testified that she had not seen her mom since she returned
home from the hospital a week earlier, but according to her testimony,
she could hear her mom yelling in her parent's bedroom.

Hopkins' daughter says she stayed in her bedroom all night until her
father came to her room the next morning. "He said everything was going
to be alright," she testified. The child told jurors her father told
her mom had run away, and he instructed her to tell people her mom was
at work if anyone asked about her.

On cross examination, the child admitted her mom and her oldest sister
did not get along. She recalled an incident when her mom used a knife
to unlock a bathroom door when her sister was inside. The child says
her mom and sister were yelling.

The young girl, who is now in the 8th grade, said she did not attend
school growing up, but she didn't know why.

Jurors also heard from the Chairman of the OBGYN department at the
University of South Alabama. Dr. Kathy Porter testified she delivered
the Hopkins' youngest child on November 21, 2004. Arletha Hopkins did
not show up for her follow up appointments on November 30 and December
7.


9:45 a.m.
Testimony continued this morning in the murder and rape trial of a
traveling preacher accused of killing his wife and stuffing her body in a
freezer.

Anthony Hopkins, 39, is accused of raping his step daughter repeatedly
for eight years. Prosecutors say the long term sexual abuse was the
motive for killing his wife, Arletha.

Bro. Darryl McCoy, who pastors Trumpet of Zion Church in Gulfport, was
the first witness to testify Wednesday.

McCoy's testimony was very limited, as Defense Attorney Jeff Deen won
multiple objections regarding clergy privilege.

Prosecutors hoped McCoy could corroborate Hopkins' step-daughter's
testimony Tuesday when she told jurors her mother caught Anthony
"touching" her in a bathroom at the family's home. Instead of reporting
the abuse to police, she said her mother went to a family pastor.

Circuit Court Judge John Lockett forbid McCoy from testifying about
anything he said or did in his role as a pastor.

McCoy's testimony was limited to telling jurors that Arletha Hopkins
came to him about a problem with her oldest daughter. He testified that
he met with Anthony Hopkins and Arletha's daughter, but he was not
allowed to divulge details of the meeting.

Hopkins was arrested in July 2008 after police found his wife's body in a
freezer at the family's home on Rylands Street. Hopkins was preaching
at a revival in Jackson, Alabama when sheriff's deputies took him into
custody.

According to court documents obtained by News Five in 2008, Hopkins'
daughter lead police to her mother's body. Arletha Hopkins, 36, had
never been reported missing, but investigators believe she had been dead
since December 2004, shortly after she gave birth to the couple's
youngest child. A cause of death was never determined because the body
was so badly decomposed, according to Asst. District Attorney Ashley
Rich.

Anthony Hopkins' daughter, who was 19 when she went to police, told
jurors her father began raping her when she was 11 years old. Several
months after Hopkins was arrested, his teenage daughter gave birth to a
baby.

Prosecutors called several investigators to
testify Thursday in the murder and rape trial of a traveling preacher
accused of killing his wife and stuffing her body in a freezer.

Detective Kent Quinnie, a homicide investigator from the Mobile Police
Department, told jurors about the night investigators searched Anthony
Hopkins' home on Rylands Street.

Quinne says when he arrived at the house the freezer was exactly as
Hopkins' stepdaughter described it to police. Detective Quinnie
testified the freezer was taped closed, and when investigators opened it
they saw a human hand. The rest of the body appeared to be wrapped in a
soiled sheet, according to his testimony.

Quinnie told jurors investigators could not remove the body, which DNA
tests confirmed was Arletha Hopkins, from the freezer because it was
frozen. Quinnie says the entire freezer was transported to a forensic
science lab, and investigators had to wait for the body to thaw.

Assisstant District Attorney Ashley Rich says she expects to wrap up the
state's case Friday morning.

10:30 a.m.
A Grand Bay pastor was the first witness to testify Thursday in the
murder and rape trial of a traveling preacher accused of killing his
wife and hiding her body in a freezer for nearly four years.

Bishop DeBruce Nelson, pastor of Lighthouse Apolostic Holiness Church in
Grand Bay, testified he knew Anthony and Arletha Hopkins through his
church. Nelson told jurors he last saw Arletha when she was about nine
months pregnant. He saw Anthony again when the Hopkins' youngest child
was four weeks old, and Anthony told him Arletha died during childbirth,
according to his testimony.

Bishop Nelson testified he reached out to Anthony Hopkins and gave him
work because he was sympathetic to him for being a single dad with eight
children. Nelson told jurors after Arletha's death, Hopkins brought
women to church and told him they were Arletha's sisters.

In 2008, after Hopkins' oldest stepdaughter had run away from home,
Pastor Nelson said she came to him and said she needed to talk.

Nelson told jurors Hopkins' stepdaughter told him the women her
stepfather brought to church were not her mom's sisters, and her mother
did not die during childbirth.

"The dark side was what I learned in twenty minutes," Nelson testified.
"It was mind blowing."

Nelson testified Hopkins' stepdaughter told him her dad killed her mom.
She also told him she was pregnant with her dad's baby, and he had
molested her since she was eleven years old, according to Nelson.

Hopkins' stepdaughter went to police the next day.

Defense attorney Jeff Deen asked Nelson on cross examination why he
didn't go to police right away. Nelson admitted he initially told
investigators he thought it was an "unbelievable story."

Hopkins was arrested in July 2008 after police found his wife's body in a
freezer at the family's home on Rylands Street. Hopkins was preaching
at a revival in Jackson, Alabama when sheriff's deputies took him into
custody.

According to court documents from 2008, Hopkins'
daughter lead police to her mother's body. Arletha Hopkins, 36, had
never been reported missing, but investigators believe she had been dead
since December 2004, shortly after she gave birth to the couple's
youngest child. A cause of death was never determined because the body
was so badly decomposed, according to Asst. District Attorney Ashley
Rich.

Anthony Hopkins' daughter, who was 19 when she went to police, told
jurors on Tuesday her father began raping her when she was 11 years old.
Several months after Hopkins was arrested, his teenage daughter gave
birth to a baby.

11:00 a.m.
Anthony Hopkins is on the stand in his rape and murder trial.

10:25 a.m.
Prosecutors rested their case in the murder and rape trial of a preacher
accused of killing his wife and hiding her body in a freezer for nearly
four years.

Pastor Beverly Jackson of Inspirational Tabernacle Church of God in
Christ in Jackson, Alabama told jurors Anthony Hopkins was preaching at
her church when he was arrested on July 28, 2008.

Sgt. Ron Baker of the Clark County Sheriff's Office also testified
Friday. He was among the officers who arrested Hopkins.

9:00 a.m.
Prosecutors called Dr. Kathy Porter back to the stand Friday to testify
for a second time in the murder and rape trial of a preacher accused of
killing his wife and hiding her body in a freezer for nearly four
years.

Anthony Hopkins' attorney, Jeff Deen, suggested Thursday that natural
causes could have killed Arletha Hopkins, who investigators believe was
36 when she died. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on
Arletha's body testified he believed homicidal violence was the manner
of death, but he could not pinpoint the exact cause because the body was
severely decomposed. On cross examination Thursday, Deen questioned
the medical examiner about whether Arletha's "high risk gestational
diabetes" could have caused her death.

Porter, an OBGYN from the University of South Alabama Medical Center,
told jurors Friday that Arletha Hopkins' diabetes "were under control"
when she was discharged from the hospital.

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich plans to call two more witnesses
Friday morning before resting their case.

Anthony Hopkins was arrested in July 2008 after police found his wife's
body in a freezer at the family's home on Rylands Street. Hopkins was
preaching at a revival in Jackson, Alabama when sheriff's deputies took
him into custody.

According to court documents obtained by News Five in 2008, Hopkins'
stepdaughter lead police to her mother's body. Arletha Hopkins had never
been reported missing, but investigators believe she had been dead
since December 2004, shortly after she gave birth to the couple's
youngest child.

Anthony Hopkins' stepdaughter, who was 19 when she went to police, told
jurors on Tuesday her father began raping her when she was 11 years old.
Several months after Hopkins was arrested, his teenage daughter gave
birth to a baby.

An Alabama evangelist and former paratrooper was convicted Friday of
murdering his wife and storing her body in a freezer for four years.After
deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, a jury in Mobile also found 39-year-old
Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse of a
child between the ages of 12 and 16.Hopkins was arrested in 2008
while preaching at a rural revival in Clarke County on charges that he
killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins, a mother of eight.He showed
no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led him from the
court.Children who grew up in his home and who had testified
against him stood in front row and hugged each other and cried as the
verdict was read."There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it
is all very disturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney said
after. "A number of children have been harmed and the chances of them
fully recovering are slim."Authorities said a teenage relative
that Hopkins had abused and impregnated led police to the body of his
wife in 2008.Investigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a
violent fight in 2004 after she caught him having sex with the teenager.
They said he then stuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile
home he shared with her, the couple's six children and two of her
children from a previous relationship.In closing arguments
Friday, Assistant District Attorney Jill Phillips said Hopkins
terrorized his wife and young children, isolated them and used the Bible
to manipulate them."He was the supreme commander of his own
little army," Phillips said.Hopkins told jurors Friday that he
came home on a December evening in 2004 and found his wife dead on the
floor, with the youngest of her eight children, an month-old infant,
beside her."I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was
like 'Letha, Letha are you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head
back and do CPR," Hopkins testified.Hopkins served in the U.S.
Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and earned a medal for his service.
Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near Mobile, in 1998 for being absent
without leave from the U.S. Army in Fort Bragg, N.C., from June 15,
1995, until April 6, 1998.He testified Friday that he decided to
leave the Army after he got orders to serve in Korea and could not take
his family with him.It was then he said that he had a calling to
become an evangelist and began preaching at rural churches and revivals
around the rural South. He developed a following because many who heard
him preach considered him a prophet who could see the future.