Neighbors Who See Stabbing Kick Ass
Rev. T.B. Burleson Hired His Son to Kill His Wife (And It Gets Even Weirder)
Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 1:57 pm
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| The reverend's son William Fuller claims his father paid him to execute Pauletta |
The good reverend's wife, 56-year-old Pauletta Burleson, knew all about her husband's affairs, as in plural. It seems TB wasn't just cheating with Pollard. He had a string of other women in his present and past.
Yet Pauletta was a piece of work in her own right. She'd twice been prosecuted for child abuse, receiving deferred punishment in both cases.
Naturally, a family like this isn't bound to live happily ever after.
On May 18, TB and Pauletta arrived home and began arguing in the driveway. Paulette decided to cool off by sitting in a chair in her garage. At 10:15 p.m., neighbors heard a gunshot. Pauletta had been executed.
Two minutes later, TB called Pauletta's son John Ross -- he's presumably from another marriage -- to say his mother had been shot. But it would be an hour before police were summoned to the Burleson home.
TB claimed he'd gone out for snacks, only to arrive back home to find his wife murdered. But police found no snacks in his car. And there appeared to be blood on the key in the ignition.
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| Tyonne Palmer-Pollard, who was carrying on affairs with both father and son, is accused to helping to burn the murder weapon |
Still, police didn't have enough evidence to charge the reverend. That only happened after his son, Fuller, confessed to someone else that he'd shot Pauletta, and that person called the cops.
Fuller confessed when he was confronted by detectives. The Texas Southern nursing student admitted to shooting his mother in the garage, then walking to a nearby wooded area, where he called Pollard for a ride. The mistress of both father and son took him somewhere to clean up, then together they went to burn the gun.
When detectives confronted Fuller, he confessed to killing Pauletta. He also said his dad paid him an undisclosed sum to be the hitman.
Police still aren't sure of the motive for the slaying. Obviously the reverend and his wife had a volatile relationship. Moreover, TD seemed intent to spread his seed wherever possible, a quest that would have been crimped by his wife. Pauletta also had a $60,000 insurance police on her life.
TD and Pollard aren't talking to police. But they may be looking at even more charges. A week before Pauletta's murder, the reverend's church mysteriously burned to the ground. Detectives still haven't determined how the fire started.
See our last episode of Godly weirdness: Baptist Preacher Charged with Raping, Beating 13-Year-Old Girl.
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