Bible-Toting Prophet Stands Trial for Killing Wife and Raping Young Stepdaughter

Anthony Hopkins was a God-fearing Christian. As he traveled throughout the rural South, preaching the word of the Lord, he would always have his Bible in tow. Folks who would gather to hear him preach stood in awe. Many even referred to him as a "prophet." This preacher did more than spread the Holy word, though. Little did Hopkins' followers know that he was a possible murderer, rapist and child molester.

In 2008, the 39-year-old was arrested when police swarmed around a revival that he had organized in Clarke County, Alabama.

One of his stepchildren, who had allegedly been raped and sexually molested as a child for years by Hopkins, led police to the grave of a murder victim, her mother and Hopkins' wife, Arletha.

The 36-year-old woman was killed in 2004, and her body had been jammed in to a freezer that was kept in the couple's Mobile, Ala., home. The couple had six children together and also raised two stepchildren, whose ages ranged from infant to teenaged.

Police records state Arletha was allegedly killed by Hopkins, after she caught him having sex with her daughter, who was pregnant at the time with his child.

The stepdaughter, who is now 21 years old, testified at Hopkins' trial, which took place on Tuesday. She spoke of the tormented years of having to endure physical and sexual abuse and being powerless. She told the jury that her ordeal began when she was only 11 years old and continued until 2008.

The young woman explained during trial that Hopkins would cleverly translate Biblical passages that seemed to sanction what they were doing sexually. He would then swear her to secrecy after their trysts.

She also recounted how she actually heard her mother being murdered, desperately yelling out to her children to call the police. When prosecutors asked why she had not sought aid for her mother, she sobbed uncontrollably, saying that she was confused at the time.

Hopkins' stepdaughter also said that when she saw her mother lying on the floor, gasping with her foot twitching, she took her 1-month-old sister and locked themselves in the bathroom until Hopkins banged on the door. According to her, Hopkins was crying hysterically, apologizing and pleading for her to help him.

The victim decided to help Hopkins dispose of Arletha's body, because she was afraid of what he might do to her. She helped Hopkins bury the corpse in one remote area, then another, but soon, the alleged killer worried that a dog would dig up the evidence.

So Hopkins purchased a freezer that he placed in a utility shed and the young woman helped him again to cram Arletha in to it.

The body at one point unthawed, then it was frozen again; this process caused it to decompose to the extent that medical examiners could not determine a cause of death.

If convicted of the murder, Hopkins faces life in prison.