Poisoning Is Suspected in ’98 Death of Pastor’s Wife

For weeks, no one thought there was anything unusual about the death of Sharon Herrington, the wife of a retired minister and mother of three adult children.

At 58, she was a woman who had suffered from cancer, underwent a double mastectomy, battled depression, and regularly appeared on the church prayer list. Her death on Sept. 2, therefore, did not raise any immediate questions.

But several weeks later, relatives of the dead woman went to police fearing something was not right.

An autopsy later revealed a foreign substance in Herrington’s blood. Now police are trying to piece together what stopped her heart--pursuing possibilities that range from an accidental poisoning to homicide.

The county medical examiner has yet to rule on a cause of death.

But police say there is medical evidence suggesting Herrington, wife of retired minister Robert Herrington of Ventura Missionary Church, could have been poisoned.

“We are looking very strongly at that possibility,” said Ventura Police Lt. Brad Talbot.

Authorities declined to identify the substance found in Sharon Herrington’s blood other than to say it is not normally found in the body.

In the hours before her death, Herrington returned home from a trip to Wyoming to visit her newborn grandchild. Shortly after her husband picked her up from Los Angeles International Airport, Herrington appeared to drift into sleep.

That’s not unusual, Robert Herrington would later tell his attorney, Frances Diaz. Herrington often slept during the long drive home from the airport. But as the couple pulled into the driveway of their Ventura home, Sharon Herrington would not wake up, Diaz said.

Robert Herrington rushed his wife to Ventura County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, Diaz said.

Two months would pass before relatives told authorities they suspected Sharon Herrington may have been killed.

“People came to us suggesting there may be something suspicious in her death,” Talbot said. “Friends and family members said, ‘Just do a good job on the autopsy.’ To them, it just didn’t look right.”

The couple, married for over four decades, were having marital difficulties, said Diaz, a Beverly Hills attorney who called Robert Herrington her client and a longtime personal friend.

Herrington had an affair with a secretary at the church, Diaz said. In August, a month before his wife’s death, Herrington retired as executive pastor, ending his four-year employment with Ventura Missionary, a 1,200-member Evangelical Christian church founded in 1960. The church is part of Missionary Church Inc., based in the United States and Canada with fellowships in Latin America, Africa and Europe.

In October, Herrington moved to La Quinta, where he bought a home with the church secretary.

Diaz feels the accusations about Sharon Herrington’s death have been made by relatives who became angry after learning in November of her husband’s affair.

“It’s a sad situation,” Diaz said. “Things got real awkward because her husband, unfortunately, had an indiscretion.”

Through his attorney, Robert Herrington declined a request for an interview.

Diaz, speaking on her client’s behalf, said Sharon Herrington was very depressed over her failing health and her husband’s affair.

“It was no great secret that she had some emotional problems,” said Diaz, who added that Herrington had “incidences of attempted suicide within the last few years.”

“That’s why this wasn’t so shocking to me,” Diaz said. Authorities, however, say they do not believe Herrington took her own life.

“We are generally of the opinion that Sharon Herrington was not suicidal,” Talbot said. “I don’t want to eliminate that as a possibility, but at the time of her death in September, we don’t have any strong indications she had been suicidal.”

Talbot also said investigators do not believe that cancer played any part in her death, noting “we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t have a strong suspicion it was something other than natural causes that resulted in her death.”

Talbot stressed, however, that Herrington’s death has not yet been labeled a homicide. Investigators are simply “taking precautions in the event we determine later that there is a crime,” he said.

Detectives have interviewed Robert Herrington, whom police describe as cooperative. Several church members have also been questioned, police said.

But authorities are reluctant to name anyone as a suspect in the woman’s death.

Bob Klamser, who succeeded Herrington as the church’s executive director, said parishioners were shaken by Sharon Herrington’s death.

“So many people know and love this family,” Klamser said. “Right now we’re keeping all people involved in our prayers while the authorities do their job.”

Times Community News reporters Anna Gorman and Jennifer Hamm contributed to this story.