This is an update to: Youth pastor slays wife, confesses. Why, oh why?

Eric Brian Golden had his first day in court yesterday. Golden’s confession was read the the court by Detective LaPrentice Mayes, and other testimony was apparently provided, including some of Golden’s statements to the police outside the transcript. (Remember, “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…�). Judge Lawrence Dillon is sending Golden to the grand jury with an charge for murder. I’m not sure how this goes, but based on my extensive reading of popular crime novels and my years spent observation fictional TV crime shows (read: I have no idea what I’m talking about) I’m guessing the grand jury will meet (within a couple months), hear the evidence again, and decide whether or not the “people� of the good state of Georgia are going to try him for murder. Right now he’s only charged, the grand jury would indict (or not). An indictment is not a sentence.

New information paints a more disturbing picture of the Golden family life. According to Brian Golden, his and DeeDee’s marriage had already been “rocky� for two years—with the trouble apparentlly beginning after their move to Southside. There was drinking going on (Golden claims DeeDee had already been drinking by the time he arrived home after work at five pm on that day), and they fought over some unidentified member of the youth group who Brian had taken to the mall.

I struggle whether to blog on tragic news events with real victims still suffering, and about which I can do nothing. I am not a journalist, the story is not local, and I don’t want to prey off of other’s sensational misfortune just to garner a minor increase in blog traffic. But, being a Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) blogger, I do feel that when something newsworthy happens in our niche of culture, it’s worth at least knowing about if only for reflection and with a view toward “big picture” issues.This should go without saying, but I will say it anyhow: please pray for the church and families involved in what I am about to describe. My commentary and reaction follow my summary.

The News

Around 10-10:30 on Thursday, November 17, Southside Assemblies of God youth pastor, Eric Brian Golden, fought with his sweetheart bride, Deadra “DeeDee” Marie Golden. Their Savannah, Georgia, neighbors were not alarmed. Police were not called. Michael, their 15-year-old son, slept soundly through the battle. But before dawn DeeDee would lay at the bottom of a shallow grave outside Fort Stewart, Georgia with a broken neck. She had been strangled to death.