A "love-struck" pastor thought she had found her "second chance at love" after her husband died over a year ago.
What did not cross the mind of 62-year-old Pastor Ruthene Tukes was that her new-found lover, 32-year-old David Chavell Monroe, would push her into a "living hell," leading to her death.
Shameka Tukes, the pastor's daughter, told The Christian Post that her mother was "blinded" by Monroe, who she described as a "devil in disguise" who was "bad news from the jump" the first time she saw him.
Shameka said her mother had been the pastor of End Times Revival Center Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida, for about four years until she fell in love with Monroe in June 2016 following the death of her father, who was married to her mother for 42 years.
She said when her widowed mother became smitten with Monroe, she decided to leave her congregation.
"My mom was very vulnerable. She was lonely. And she wanted that companionship," Shameka said. "When she made that decision, we all respected it."
Ruthene's body was found lying on the floor of a hotel in Kingsland, Georgia, on Jan. 31. The police said she appeared to have died from head trauma, Tribune & Georgian reported.
A blood trail led the police to Monroe who was immediately arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder.
Shameka said before she was killed, her mother was trying desperately to get back to her church in Florida but Monroe prevented her from going back.
"He's the devil in disguise," she said.
Shameka said Monroe must have killed her mother because her mother "had been trying to get rid of him."
She said the man was begging her mother to come see him. When her mom did meet him in the hotel, "I believe that she told him that this would be the last time you're gonna see me and he killed my mom out of hate for that," Shameka said.
She believes her mother is in heaven even though she left the church to be with a man she mistakenly thought would make her happy.
"I say this, love is blind. My mom believed in Jesus. She believed in heaven. She took a chance at love and in the end it cost her her life," she said.
