Pastor's Son Accused of Murdering Father, Mother and 5-Y-O Brother With Baseball Bat, Hammer, Lamp and Kitchen Knife
After learning that their beloved pastor, his wife, and 5-year-old son were discovered murdered in their home Monday, a Houston community was sent reeling Wednesday when they heard that the pastor's 19-year-old son was charged with carrying out the brutal triple murders using a baseball bat, a hammer, a lamp and kitchen knife.
A click2Houston report said pastor Israel Ahimbisibwe, 51, vicar of Redeemer Episcopal Church in Houston, his wife, Dorcus, 47, and their 5-year-old son, Israel Ahimbisibwe Jr., were found dead in their apartment unit in the 800 block of Strey Lane, just south of Memorial City Mall by firefighters at about 9:30 a.m. Monday, after concerned church members raised an alarm when the family didn't show up for church on Sunday.
On Wednesday night, KHOU reported that the couple's 19-year-old son, Isaac Tiharihondi, was charged with two counts of capital murder and was being held in custody in Mississippi. Investigators theorize, according to court documents, that Tiharihondi killed his family at their apartment. He is alleged to have used a lamp, baseball bat and a hammer to kill his parents and stabbed his little brother with a kitchen knife.
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The bodies were reportedly found by a maintenance man in a back bathroom of the home covered with blankets and towels on Monday.
Family friends and congregants of the church are now struggling to cope as there were no warning signs that there was trouble in the pastor's house. They noted to investigators that they hadn't seen or heard from the family since Tuesday, Jan. 25 and suspect the family might have been dead for a while.
"It's devastating. It's sad. It's unexplainable," Nancy Taylor, who attends Church of the Redeemer, told KHOU.
Taylor said she had lunch with Tiharihondi, who she called a "nice kid" on Wednesday, Jan. 26 after he allegedly killed his family, but he showed no signs that something was wrong.
"We had lunch, we sat, we chatted, we talked, we laughed," said Taylor. "It was just a real enjoyable experience and time together. … Good kid, polite, nice, respectful, grateful."
Taylor said she believed the 19 year old might have even faked a call to his mother during lunch. Before the murders, he reportedly told his friends and family that he was joining the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of January. Military officials told police, however, that they have no record of his admittance.
Tiharihondi's 17-year-old brother, who attends school in California, explained that his mother had planned on confronting the suspect over the Marine story because she suspected he was lying.
In a statement Wednesday, Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal Bishop of Texas said: "While I am relieved authorities have found Isaac, I am heartbroken that he has been charged with capital murder. This only adds to the tragedy of their deaths and raises more questions than it answers."
He further noted, "As a Christian community, let us pray for Emmanuel and Isaac as they journey through this time of grief and sorrow. … Let us also pray for our courts and our prisons, that all involved will be given clarity of mind, peace and wisdom."
Pastor Ahimbisibwe was ordained in the Church of Uganda and graduated with masters degrees from both Princeton Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School. After completing graduate research at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he earned an additional masters and doctorate from Rice University.
