The Sunday School Killer

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL KILLER

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ANDREA CLAYTON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BRENDA ANDREW

AUDREY MARIE HILLEY

DONNA YAKLICH

JANE DOROTIK

KELLY GISSENDANER

WENDI ANDRIANO

LARISSA SCHUSTER

ALICIA SHAYNE LOVERA

MARY WINKLER

MICHELLE HALL

BRENDA ANDREW

If the circumstances regarding Brenda Evers Andrew’s murder of her husband was made into a movie, it would strain the credulity of the viewing audience. Two Sunday school teachers hatch a plot to acquire an $800,000 life insurance policy.

All they had to do was murder Robert Andrew, Brenda’s ex-husband.

Brenda tired of being the good girl going to church every Sunday. She wanted the good life. Her lover, James Pavatt, was a man deep in debt. Together, they were the answer to each other's problems both physically and financially if only they could get rid of the one man standing in their way.

No Bible passages or other church teachings would stop them. If they were going to hell, they were going to do it in style.

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BRENDA THE SWEET GIRL

Brenda was born on December 10, 1963, and was raised in a quiet town in Enid, Oklahoma. She grew up in a family of faithful Christians that often spent time together for family meals and holding prayer sessions. They were traditional, conservative and scandal-free.

Brenda excelled in school, earning high grades in all of her classes being oriented toward home economics and sewing. Her classmates would describe her as a shy and gentle young woman. She seemed to like going to church congregations and helping others with whatever problems they had. By junior high, she had became a bit more outgoing, earning a spot on the cheerleader squad with her skills as a baton twirler although her fellow cheerleaders described her competence as average, at best.

This activity extended into her high school years but her shy personality did not lend itself to becoming a popular girl at school. She kept to herself and did not party with the rest of the in-crowd, instead going straight home after school or football games.

Her shy and quiet nature was inherited from her family. They didn’t talk much or share anything private about themselves. She had a younger brother who was disabled and the family shared little beyond that.

Brenda would meet Robert Andrew when she was a senior in high school and he was a student at Oklahoma State. Robert’s younger brother was a friend of Brenda, stating that she kept inquiring about his older brother whenever she saw him. Tipped off that Brenda may be interested, he began a courtship of her that resulted in an exclusive dating relationship within a short time.

Brenda graduated from high school then moved to Winfield, Kansas in order to attend college. She stayed there for a year before transferring to Oklahoma State where she could be with Robert.

When Brenda turned twenty-one years old, Robert asked her to marry him and she accepted. They got married on June 2, 1984, moving to Texas a little while after as Robert graduated and accepted a new job.

But family members began suspecting something was wrong with the couple. Robert remained tight-lipped at first, telling his parents that he would solve whatever problems he had been having with his wife. Still, he revealed his misgivings to his father.

Right after the honeymoon, Robert’s father, Lou Andrews said, he said that she wished they hadn’t gotten married. That it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Robert’s best friend, Ronnie Stump, also offered his opinion on the marriage, saying that it was unbalanced. He went on to state that there was a clear distinction between the two about who loved who more, and Robert clearly loved his wife more than she did him.

Robert conceded to some in his inner circle that his wife didn’t love him. She loved his money.

Robert was described by many of those who knew him as the ‘salt of the earth’ type. He did all the right things. He was a devoted Christian man who worked hard and did anything for his family and friends. He also did missionary work for his church, helping the people of South America during his trips.

Career-wise, Robert would take an advertising position with Jordan Associates, ultimately making a good living to provide for Brenda.

During their first years living in the new state, Robert would constantly mention his yearning to return to Oklahoma to be closer to his family, but Brenda was satisfied with the life they had established in Texas. She found work at a bank and liked her job, building a few friendships. But Robert informed his wife that he had the adverting agency offered him a position back in Oklahoma and they would have to relocate back to their home state. This was when they started experiencing the strains of being two independent people in a marriage relationship.

After several arguments and tears, Robert decided that he would leave for Oklahoma and begin his new job there without his wife by his side. But Brenda liked Texas too much. She decided to stay but after a few months apart Brenda would join her husband back in Oklahoma.

The Andrews family had their first child, Tricity, on December 23, 1990. After giving birth, Brenda decided to become a full-time housewife, effectively ending her career and leaving her co-workers for good.

Their second child, Parker, was born four years later, but by then their marriage was already in distress. Rob started confiding to his closest friends and church pastor about his troubled relationship with Brenda. He thought the marriage would end very soon. His friends spoke of how their relationship was a one-sided affair; how Robert had loved his wife with all his heart but Brenda never truly reciprocated the same feelings, instead often verbally abusing him and telling him how their marriage was a huge mistake.

In one instance, a co-worker of Rob eavesdropped on one of their phone conversations. He asked Rob why he never told Brenda he loved her at the end of their phone conversations. Rob stated that he did it once and Brenda told him that it made her feel uncomfortable. So he stopped doing it. Furthermore, after their children were born, they no longer had intimate relations. Robert would come home, see all of this racy lingerie that Brenda would buy and get his hopes up until to have them crushed by bedtime.

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By 1994, it seemed that Brenda had undergone a complete personality change. The once shy and conservative woman had entirely altered her wardrobe. She trashed her modest wardrobe and now wore tight jeans and tops would show her cleavage. Friends and family recalled not knowing what had caused the sudden change in her appearance and whether something in her had snapped.

Whose the hussy? one of Robert's co-workers asked Brenda showed up at a company function attired like a street walker.

Nearing forty years of age, Brenda began going through a mid-life crisis. This anxiety was fueled by her being in a relationship with a man she no longer loved. In 1997, Brenda and her husband’s friend, Rick Nunley, had begun having an extramarital affair. They had known each other from their past job working for the same Oklahoma bank. Nunley told investigators that their relationship had ended in spring of 1998, but the two cheaters maintained contact through phone calls.

Her intimate relationships with people other than her husband didn’t end with Nunley. In 1999, Brenda met James Higgins at a grocery store where he worked. He testified that Brenda would wear revealing tops and mini-skirts to his grocery store, and they would often spend time flirting with each other.

After this went on for several weeks, Brenda handed Higgins the key to a hotel room she was renting and told him to come after work. Their relationship lasted for roughly two years until in May 2001 she told him that she wasn’t enjoying the thrill of their sneaking around anymore. Brenda and Higgins remained close friends after their relationship ended, and he was even hired by Robert and Brenda to do renovations on their home.

AND SHE GOES TO CHURCH?!

Members of their church began to suspect something was amiss. Brenda’s new appearance during her mid-life crisis drew stares and whispers during worship service.

While the Andrews attended the North Pointe Baptist Church in the quiet town of Edmond, Oklahoma, they came to befriend James Pavatt – a Prudential Life insurance agent and fellow Sunday school teacher with Brenda. James befriended Robert and they would have family get-togethers at their home.

Pavatt had been in the Air Force and was stationed in Southeast Asia. After returning to the United States, he served in the military police. He then married Suk Hui Pavatt, staying together for nine years. But his Sunday school teachings belied his true nature. His co-workers characterized Pavatt as a very cold, manipulative person who would do basically anything to get his way. One of his co-workers even said that something about Pavatt was off-center. Pavatt – the classic villain – spoke sadistically about shooting dogs and other small animals. Every time he saw a dog, he would talk about shooting it. Others would describe him simply as creepy.

But Brenda may have seen him as a patsy.

Pavatt was not much to look at. He was a forty-eight-year-old man who could pass as a sixty-year-old senior citizen. Jowly and unsmiling, he couldn’t help but notice the attractive brunette with the nice smile and perky breasts.

In 2001, Pavatt sold Robert a life insurance policy with $800,000 payout to Brenda. Around this time, Brenda and Pavatt began seeing each other romantically. They callously flaunted their affair and church members were appalled. Their affair resulted in their being banned from teaching Sunday school classes at the church. But Brenda and Pavatt continued, even going so far as to go on vacation together to Mexico, taking the children along with them.

I lived this out and was a member in this church and good friend of Rob’s, wrote a member of the couple’s church. He was a kind godly man who loved his family. Jim and Brenda need the mercy of God in their lives. My son was in their Sunday school class and I witnessed all the shenanigans. We begged the leadership to do something about it to no avail. The original pastor that should have dealt with it left. Our new pastor got blind sided with it, and before he could do anything about it Rob was murdered.This affected our families and church like nothing else you could imagine.

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Despite all of this, Robert still wanted to salvage the marriage. He told friends and family that he was putting things in God’s hands. Whatever happens, he would accept.

But Brenda opted for divorce, filing the papers and forcing Roberto to leave the home as Pavatt separated from his own wife.

The divorce between Brenda and Robert was a tempestuous one. Brenda had nothing but contempt for Robert. She frequently told friends that she had a deep hatred for the man she married eighteen years ago.

I wish he would die, she would say to anyone willing to listen.

On October 26th, 2001, he almost did.

Robert discovered that the brake lines on his car were severed. Initially, he was unsure as to why someone would cut his car’s brake lines, but everything became apparent the next day. On the following morning, Robert received a phone call from an untraceable phone number from Janna Larson – Pavatt’s daughter – alleging that Brenda was admitted to a hospital in Norman, Oklahoma. She further said that Brenda was in need of Robert’s help and requested that he immediately come to visit her. Robert later received a phone call from an unknown man who delivered the same news.

The plan was to get Robert to drive down at a high rate of speed and when he would hit the brakes, they would fail.

According to Larson, the two phone calls made to Robert on October 27, 2001, were part of a plan concocted by both Brenda and Pavatt. Her father convinced her to make the phone call and tell a false story about Brenda’s whereabouts to Robert, a man whom she had known and held no animosity towards. She was unaware of the call made by the mysterious man.

The plan that the lovers devised failed since Robert discovered that someone had tampered with his car’s brake lines before the calls were made, and he immediately went to the authorities and explained his suspicion that his ex-wife and her boyfriend had something to do with his car trouble. He told police that he suspected the motive to kill him was for his insurance money.

After the incident, Rob wanted to change the sole beneficiary of his insurance policy. He wanted to name his brother as the new beneficiary, effectively replacing Brenda. Pavatt, the man who helped create the insurance policy for Robert in the first place, caught wind of Robert’s intentions to change the policy.

Pavatt informed Robert that he couldn’t change the plan. Brenda owned the policy and she would be the only one who could make modifications.

Suspicious of Pavatt after the failed murder plot, he promptly contacted Pavatt’s supervisor who assured him that he was indeed the owner of the policy and could alter it as he saw fit. Robert also confided in Pavatt’s supervisor that he suspected his life was in danger and Pavatt was planning on killing him. After learning that Robert had a discussion with his supervisor about the policy issue, Pavatt would confront Robert again.

Don’t try and do anything to get me fired, Pavatt hissed.

Subsequent findings during the investigation uncovered facts that showed that Brenda and Pavatt had made a previous attempt to transfer the ownership of Robert’s insurance policy to Brenda without his knowledge. The couple forged her ex-husband’s name and backdated the document to March 2001.

On November 20, 2001, Robert went to his and Brenda’s old residence to pick up his children as they now had shared custody. Robert’s intentions were to keep the children through Thanksgiving.