Rural Miss. church mourns stabbing death of pastor

Associated Press - November 17, 2009 1:14 PM ET

HOLCOMB, Miss. (AP) - Members of a church in the Mississippi Delta are mourning the loss of their pastor, who was found stabbed to death in his home this past weekend.

Authorities say no one had been arrested in the slayings of the Rev. Jimmy Stauddy and his caregiver, Martha Stoker.

Stauddy was a retired Grenada police investigator and had worked in the Greenwood office of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. In 2002, he became pastor of Minter City United Methodist Church, a congregation of about 20.

Church members tell the Greenwood Commonwealth that the 69-year-old Stauddy had continued to preach, even though he was in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease.

Information from: The Greenwood Commonwealth, http://www.gwcommonwealth.com