A suspect in the bizarre and gruesome slaying of an Arizona pastor gave a jailhouse interview in which he said he planned to kill 14 Christian leaders across 10 states before he was taken into custody.

Adam Christopher Sheafe, 51, confessed in the TV interview this week to stalking, executing and crucifying Pastor Bill Schonemann at his Phoenix home on April 28. 

Authorities said Schonemann, the 76-year-old faith leader at New River Baptist Church, was found dead in his bed with his hands nailed to the wall and a crown of thorns atop his head.

“‘Are you praying to Jesus right now?’ And he said, ‘Yes’. And I said, ‘Good, because he can’t hear you,’” Mr. Sheafe told KPNX about his conversation with the victim shortly before he was killed. 

“‘God, the Father alone, is God of the First Commandment, and the Son who wears the crown is  … Jesus is the son of Satan.’ He said, ‘Oh, come on.’ And I said, ‘Hold still.’ And I executed him,” Mr. Sheafe said.

The Schonemann family released a statement addressing Mr. Sheafe’s recent media appearances. 

“What we have seen over the last week is this suspect enjoying the attention. His side of the story is half of the whole story, and we see the need to cover it however challenging that may be for us,” the family said. “We are quite surprised by his ability to freely message with county supplied devices. We are concerned about his increasing notoriety and possibly gaining a following.”

After Mr. Sheafe said he killed the pastor, he traveled to Sedona the next day and admitted to wanting to kill two priests at the Chapel of Holy Cross. 

But his plan was foiled when authorities said he was implicated in a burglary and got into a high-speed chase with police. 

Police said they called off pursuit after Mr. Sheafe crashed into another car and injured a driver. He abandoned the vehicle near a trailhead. Authorities said the vehicle had been stolen and had evidence linking it to the pastor’s slaying in Phoenix. 

A Sedona homeowner reported a trespasser to police on April 30 who turned out to be Mr. Sheafe. That night, police said officers chased down the suspect on foot and Tased him.

Mr. Sheafe is being held in Coconino County on burglary, trespassing and assault charges while the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office looks to charge him in Pastor Schonemann’s death.

“The information we have indicates that the motive was religious in nature, and that there were a number of future victims planned, some of those in Arizona, and that he had taken action in furtherance of those additional crimes,” the sheriff’s office Capt. David Lee said earlier this month. “We have been in contact with those identified victims, and we are investigating or assisting with those incidents as well.”

Mr. Sheafe told KPNX he hatched the plan he called “Operation First Commandment” over many months while living on the beach in Oceanside, California. 

He said he observed people preaching that Jesus is God, and that he was “bombarded” by imagery featuring Jesus in that role. 

The suspect attributed pervasive public drug abuse, pornography and the breakdown of marriage with Christian pastors’ elevation of Jesus as the Lord.   

“It all goes hand-in-hand with breaking the First Commandment,” Mr. Sheafe told the station. “‘Oh, there’s a new covenant,’ they say, ‘God’s laws have been annulled. Just worship this man and you go to heaven.’ That’s what Satan would say. That’s why this world is a wreck.”

Mr. Sheafe said he was not mentally unwell, but had used drugs. He also said he didn’t have anything against Christian believers, but against the priests who “led the flock astray.”

The suspect told KPHO that after his planned slayings in Sedona, he was going to target priests in Las Vegas, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; Billings, Montana; Detroit; New York City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama, and Beaumont and El Paso, Texas.

Mr. Sheafe has advocated for his own death sentence to prove, he said, that he is protected by God.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.