Florida pastor who hosted popular Christian radio show kills himself after being charged with raping teenage girl
A FLORIDA pastor and Christian radio host has killed himself after being charged with the rape of a teenage girl.
Bryan Fulwider, 59, had been arrested on October 2 after a young woman told police he had begun abusing her in 2014 when she was 14.
She accused him of raping her more than 100 times while a senior minister at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park.
Arresting documents said that police had recorded Fulwider in an hour-long phone call with his accuser admitting to having had a sexual relationship her.
He was facing more then 30 counts of sexual battery of a person younger than 18 by a person in a position of custodial authority.
He had been released on a $700,000 (£544,000) bond, but was found dead in his home on Sunday night.
The Medical Examiner's Office for Seminole County ruled the death a suicide.
Fulwider's accuser told the Orlando Sentinel that her “story doesn’t stop with his cowardice”.
She also suggested he could have had other victims besides her.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said: “Fulwider’s day in court will never come because he knew all the truths I could tell."
During the call recorded by police, Fulwider is reported to be heard telling the woman: "[T]here was never anything salacious or bad about it, and you were always too damn mature for your own good, and I have always loved you."
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Fulwider was known publicly for his role on Good Religion Radio show Friends Talking Faith.
A statement on the show's Facebook page said: "We are shocked at the death by suicide of Bryan Fulwider.
"Our sympathies are with his family in their time of anguish.
"We stand in solidarity with the victim or victims in this case that will now not have their day in court and receive the justice due to them."
The Reverend Shawn Garvey, the current senior minister at the First Congregational Church, said the church was still "trying to absorb the impact of all the events".
"For now, all we can do is pray for Bryan’s family and the victim [to] at some point, find a path to healing," he added.
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Fulwider’s lawyer, Jacob V. Stuart Jr., had previously said his client “vehemently” denied the allegations.
After Fulwider's death, he claimed his client had been treated unfairly by the legal system, the media, and the community.
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