The prosecution of Adam Sheafe now spans a grim discovery in New River, alleged crimes in multiple Arizona communities and a failed push to rush the case to sentencing.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — The case against Adam Sheafe has moved from a 2025 welfare check at a pastor’s home in New River to a 2026 courtroom fight over whether a defendant who says he is guilty can force a faster path to a death sentence.
The timeline matters because nearly every major stage has changed the shape of the case. First came the discovery of William “Bill” Schonemann’s body. Then came public descriptions of the scene, a suspect linked through other alleged crimes, a sweeping indictment, a death-penalty notice and, most recently, Sheafe’s own demand to skip ahead. Together, those steps explain why the prosecution has drawn so much attention and why the next hearing, set for April 24, remains important even after a public confession.
The earliest known event in the case was April 28, 2025. Two members of Schonemann’s congregation went to the pastor’s home on the 1900 block of Calvary Road in New River and found him dead. Deputies responded at about 7:31 p.m. and said the scene appeared to involve foul play. The victim was 76 and was known locally as Pastor Bill, the longtime pastor of New River Bible Chapel. Soon after, the Maricopa County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Reports that followed described a scene so unusual that investigators and media accounts emphasized it from the start: prosecutors later said the body had been positioned with the arms outstretched, similar to a crucifixion.
The next stage came as investigators moved beyond New River. Prosecutors said Sheafe was accused of breaking into a home in Cave Creek two days before Schonemann was found and stealing a pickup truck. The truck later turned up in Sedona, where police were investigating another burglary in which surveillance video reportedly captured both Sheafe and the vehicle. Authorities said he was caught the following day after another break-in in Sedona. Those events gave detectives several points of comparison. According to the county attorney’s office, evidence from the pastor’s home, the Cave Creek burglary, the stolen truck and items found in a backpack all helped connect Sheafe to the homicide. By then, what began as a local murder investigation had become a case crossing agencies and counties.
Stage three arrived in July 2025, when a grand jury indicted Sheafe. The charge list showed that prosecutors viewed the case as broader than one killing. It included first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, burglary in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, kidnapping, theft of means of transportation and criminal trespass. Prosecutors also said Schonemann’s death was part of a wider plan to kill 14 Christian leaders around the country. That allegation, though still to be tested in court, added national scope to a case that had already unsettled Arizona communities. It also offered a possible explanation for why investigators and prosecutors treated the case as unusually serious from the beginning.
Months later came stage four: the state’s decision to seek death. ABC15 reported that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office filed its notice of intent to pursue the death penalty in October 2025. After that, the case entered the slow and rule-bound territory of capital litigation. Sheafe nevertheless tried to speed it up. At a March 12, 2026 hearing, he appeared with advisory counsel while representing himself and first attempted to plead no contest. Prosecutors objected. He then said he wanted to plead guilty to all counts, waive a jury and move straight toward sentencing. In court, he argued that the victim’s age and the heinous nature of the crime made the outcome plain. He told the judge he intended the crime to be heinous and said there was no reason to keep delaying.
The fifth and current stage is procedural rather than investigative. Judge Patricia Starr did not grant the immediate resolution Sheafe sought. Instead, she left the case on course under Arizona law and set another hearing for April 24. That matters because a capital case does not end simply because a defendant says he wants it over. The court must determine whether any plea is voluntary, whether the legal prerequisites for sentencing have been met, and whether the defendant’s choices about counsel, jury rights and punishment are valid. In that sense, the newest turn in the case is also the oldest lesson of criminal procedure: the louder the push for speed, the more carefully the court may need to move.
So the timeline now has one more date but no final chapter. April 28, 2025 remains the day the case began in public. July 18, 2025 marked the indictment. October 2025 brought the death-penalty filing. March 12, 2026 produced the failed bid to rush sentencing. April 24 is next. Each date has narrowed some questions, but the central one — how and when this case will end — remains unanswered.
Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.