Reverend Accused of Murder, Witness Details Crash Scene

Stroudsburg, Monroe County - It's day two of testimony in Arthur Schirmer's Monroe County homicide trial. Schirmer is accused of murdering his wife Betty Jean while he served as Reverend of Reeders United Methodist Church.

Schirmer claims Betty Jean died in a car crash on route 715 in 2008. But police believe he beat his wife then staged the accident.

Wednesday Jurors heard from the first people to arrive at the crash scene. Stan Dickerson said he and his girlfriend stopped when they saw Schirmer's car smoking against a guide rail. They wanted to see if they could help. Dickerson told the Jury that Arthur seemed just fine but Betty Jean was severely injured and struggling to breath. He added, "She seemed to have some sort of a cut on her head. There was blood all over the car."

Dickerson told Eyewitness News he was surprised at Arthur Schirmer's demeanor at the crash scene. He explained, "From what I saw he was pretty calm about it. He seemed almost indifferent as to what was going on. I don't know if maybe he was injured too, you know bumped his head. But he didn't seem to be as concerned as maybe most people might be if their wife was dying."

But Defense Attorney Brandon Reish cited an early investigation report in which Dickerson said Schirmer seemed "shaken up." Dickerson said the Defense Attorney misused his comment. He explained, "That conversation was really brief maybe a couple minutes or so."

In addition to the Eyewitness testimony jurors heard detailed forensic testimony. Prosecutors focused on photos of blood in Schirmer's garage. The blood was illuminated with a special chemical. The defense argued the prosecution used "bad science" and digital photo manipulation to make it look like there was more blood than there really was.

Schirmer had no comment about Wednesday's testimony and did not answer repeated questions from reporters.