Marcus Wayne Chenault

On June 30, 1974, Marcus Wayne Chenault attended services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia and shot and killed Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr. as she played "The Lord's Prayer" on the organ. Chenault also killed the Deacon of the Church, Edward Boykin.

Chenault was driven to kill by personal religious beliefs he had devised which involved a hatred of Christianity and of black ministers in particular. Chenault, an African-American, began calling himself "Servant Jacob" in the days prior to the attack, and police found lists of other black ministers in the Atlanta area when they searched his apartment. Fast Facts:

1. Hometown: Winchester, Kentucky
2. Attended: Ohio State University
3. Response when asked why he killed Alberta King: "Because she was a Christian and all Christians are my enemies"
4. Chenault's lawyers claimed he was insane
5. Sentenced to death; later changed to life in prison
6. Incarcerated: Jackson State Prison, Jackson, Georgia
7. Died: August 19, 1995 of a stroke at the age of 44

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