Elder Olander Cassimere Sr. would have preached the Mother's Day service at noon at the Lower 9th Ward church where he was pastor.
His wife, Alphathada, the church's first lady, would have been in the sanctuary, too, singing to the congregation before her husband's sermon.
And the Cassimeres would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on Friday.
Elder Olander Cassimere Sr. would have preached the Mother's Day service at noon at the Lower 9th Ward church where he was pastor.
His wife, Alphathada, the church's first lady, would have been in the sanctuary, too, singing to the congregation before her husband's sermon.
And the Cassimeres would have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on Friday.
But on Mother's Day, New Orleans police said, relatives discovered the couple fatally shot in the Pontchartrain Park home where the Cassimeres raised nine children. One daughter -- who family members say is autistic and lived with her parents -- was unharmed, police said.
"They were good people who lived the life that they preached about," said daughter Carmen Cassimere-Fisher, 39.
Police haven't announced any arrests in the double murder, which occurred in the 5400 block of Seminary Place shortly before 8 a.m.
Cassimere-Fisher, a home health care worker, arrived at the family home close to 8 a.m. to take care of her autistic sister. She noticed the front door open, its hinge broken.
Cassimere-Fisher said she found her mother lying on the floor close to a bedroom door. Alphathada Cassimere, 77, was clutching a pair of scissors, she said.
Olander Cassimere, 79, had been shot in another bedroom as he lay on a bed, his legs stretched out and ankles crossed as if he were sleeping.
The house wasn't ransacked, and the family wasn't robbed, family members said.
The relatives said they don't understand the violent murders. Two of them said they believe the murders are connected to another relative's plan to testify in a kidnapping and attempted-murder case.
Cassimere-Fisher said someone came to the Seminary Place home recently asking whether the grandparents of the witness lived there. The inquiring man didn't have identification and used the witness's nickname, she said.
"It wasn't a burglary," son Olander Cassimere Jr., 53, said as he stood outside the house Sunday morning. "It was an execution."
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