Pastor busted in T’giving kin slay
A Virginia youth pastor allegedly gunned down his family in a Thanksgiving Day bloodbath, police said.
Police in suburban Richmond, Va., arrived at Christopher Gattis’ Chester home to find the bodies of the pastor’s wife, Jeanett, 58, and stepdaughter Candice “Candy” Kunze, 30, inside. Kunze’s boyfriend, Andrew Buthorn, 36, was dead on the front lawn, according to reports.
There was no hint of the domestic turmoil police believe sparked the churchman’s deadly rampage, neighbors said.
Family photos show the Gattises beaming, lovingly cuddling at their 2009 wedding, or stand- ing on a pier waving happily. A recent profile photo posted by Jeanett captures the accused murderer and the three now-victims laughing with their arms around each other.
“Love my family,” Jeanett wrote on Facebook.
The killings shocked neighbors, who said Kunze and Buthorn had just moved from Oregon about six weeks ago to live with the Gattises.
“They were good people,” neighbor Larry Patton told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Christopher Gattis, 58, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Cops arrested Gattis at the scene. He was being held in the Chesterfield County Jail without bail.
Jeanett Gattis, a real-estate agent, was a “dedicated, hardworking” employee, Napier Realtors said in a statement.
Grace Lutheran Church, where Christopher Gattis worked as a youth ministries coordinator, said, “This heartbreak has unique challenges.”