Trial of man accused of killing East Texas pastor continues

According to the documents, Mark McWilliams and his wife Rosemary Mytrez found Woolen on the morning of January 3, 2021, hiding in the church bathroom.

TYLER, Texas – The third day of testimony begins Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of killing an East Texas pastor in January 2021.

Mytrez Woolen, 25, is charged with capital crimes in connection with the Jan. 3, 2021, shooting of Pastor Mark McWilliams at Starrville Methodist Church in Winona. He is also accused of wounding church elder William “Mike” Sellars. The state is not seeking the death penalty for Woolen because he has a “proven mental illness.”

According to the documents, McWilliams and his wife, Rosemary, found Woolen hiding in the church restroom on the morning of Jan. 3, 2021. McWilliams ordered Woolen, who was carrying the church's money bag, to leave the church. Woolen rushed at McWilliams and the two began fighting on the floor. Woolen took the gun from the pastor and shot him several times in the chest, killing the pastor.

Erica Reynaga, a forensic scientist at the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab in Garland, testified that Sellars' DNA was most likely found at the crime scene. Tests showed that Woolen's DNA was most likely the only possible source for the church purse.

The DNA profile on the gun's slide indicated with a high probability that both McWilliams and Woolen's DNA profiles were on that part of the gun. The tests allowed officials to rule out other known samples, such as Rosemary, Sellars and another church member at the scene, Vic Little, Reynaga said.

DNA tests showed with a high probability that Woolen's DNA was on the blood-stained paper towel found in the center console of the truck that Woolen is believed to have stolen after the shooting, Reynaga said.

Sergeant Noel Martin of the Smith County Sheriff's Office forensic team testified that an investigation revealed that fingerprints taken from the broken window of the Methodist Church in Starrville were linked to Woolen.

Martin identified McWilliams' cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head and chest when he arrived at the scene after the shooting. The shooter would have had to be close to the person to produce the gunshot pattern seen at the scene. In his opinion, the shot that killed McWilliams was an “extremely close range shot.”