Kriti Mehrotra
When Marie Carlson reportedly sent a group text to her loved ones on October 19, 2011, claiming she had left Fort Walton Beach, Florida, for good a day prior, it raised a lot of suspicions. That’s because while the 37-year-old mother of two was often spontaneous, it wasn’t like her not to discuss her plans with her 7-year-old daughter or abandon her newborn second daughter. Her family thus reported her missing, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Secrets on the Emerald Coast,’ shortly following which investigators zeroed in on pastor James Flanders as the prime suspect.
James Flanders Initially Posed as a Well-Wisher For Marie Carlson
As a charismatic man with a seemingly deep-rooted belief system, James Ty Flanders devoted himself to serving as a pastor before growing the Calvary Emerald Coast Church from scratch. He reportedly explained sermons in a way that was easy to understand, and he was modern in the way he preached – he even had a YouTube channel where he was active in uploading his work. More importantly, the Florida native was a pillar of generosity, kindness, and support in the eyes of the local community, especially as it appeared he never hesitated to help those in need.
The positive perception of James only strengthened when he essentially took in Marie Carlson under his wings after she stepped into the church while dealing with some personal issues. Therefore, no one even batted an eye when she moved into the home he shared with his wife, as they claimed they were just helping her out for a few months. They later indicated she was pregnant with the baby of a recent abusive ex-boyfriend, who actually did not exist. The truth as it eventually came to light was that the three of them were in a polyamorous relationship, and she was pregnant with the pastor’s child.
It’s hence no surprise that investigators visited the Flanders household less than 2 weeks after Marie was reported missing, particularly as they had her 3-month-old newborn under their care. That’s when James alleged he’d been worried about the 37-year-old’s mental health for a while, so he had stayed home on October 18, 2011, while his wife, Tanya, took the baby out shopping. He added that the only time he had stepped out was for a short run, just for her, as well as her truck to be gone without her newborn or any of her personal belongings by the time he came back. The couple even showed officers her prescription medication for bipolar disorder before adding that all they knew was that she likely flew somewhere because they had searched for her and found her car in the long-term parking lot of an airport.
James Flanders Fled Town As Evidence Against Him Started Mounting Up
When authorities followed up on James’ claim that Marie’s car had been found sitting in the long-term parking lot of a local airport, they discovered it had indeed been left there on October 18. However, they couldn’t verify if it was the mother of two herself or someone else who drove it there because there was no surveillance footage, and she wasn’t listed as a passenger on any flight. In fact, neither her cell phone nor any of her bank cards had been used since the fateful day, which made it even harder for them to determine exactly what had happened to her or where she had gone.
Investigators suspected that Marie had not gone anywhere willingly, like the text from her phone indicated, because, by all accounts, she was a devoted mother whose daughters were her life. So, they began looking deeper into the Flanders and learned there were rumors that the couple had reached an agreement with the 37-year-old while she was pregnant. It indicated that they had long convinced her to give the baby to them when she was 3 months old and then leave town for good. Another piece of gossip floating around was that since the Flanders wanted a big family but had been unsuccessful after having one daughter years ago, she had agreed to be their surrogate.
It wasn’t until months later that the truth about James, Tanya, and Marie being a throuple came to light, by which point detectives had heard accusations that the pastor killed the mother of 2. Therefore, upon receiving a tip claiming he had buried her remains in his family home’s backyard, they didn’t waste any time looking into it, yet they found no evidence of either Marie or any crime. It was around this time that James and Tanya, with Marie’s younger daughter in tow, fled Florida without any warning – they settled down in Arizona, from where the former pastor was arrested years later in May 2015. After all, phone records revealed that his and Marie’s cells had pinged from the same area when the text was sent from her number and from near the airport when her car was left there.
James Flanders is Incarcerated in State Prison Today
After James was arrested on the charge of second-degree murder in connection with Marie Carlson’s homicide in May 2015, he worked with his attorney to secure a lesser charge. Since the 37-year-old’s remains had still not been found, he agreed to reveal her location and give details about what transpired between them in exchange for the manslaughter charge. He subsequently took investigators to the Fort Walton Beach home he lived in at the time of her disappearance because she was indeed buried in the backyard – he marked the exact location with small flags. She was 5 feet under the ground, which is why authorities missed her when they first searched the place in 2012.
Then, while the hypothesis was that James had strangled Marie to death, he revealed they had a physical altercation after he suggested she be admitted into a hospital for her depression. He claimed he was truly worried about her mental health as he believed it was spiraling, but she erupted until he felt like he had no choice but to control her by placing her in a bear hug. The former pastor then added that what followed was an intense struggle between them. “In the scuffle, we fell down on the floor,” he said in his confession. “When we hit the floor, we hit hard… I realized something wasn’t right. I rolled her over and – – and she wasn’t breathing.”
In the end, James pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Marie’s death in April 2016, three months after which he was sentenced to the maximum term of 15 years in prison. During his sentencing hearing, he gave a statement and apologized for his actions before adding, “I never imagined it was within me to fail and fall the way I did in every way at the time of Marie’s death, and in the days and weeks that followed. It would take an act of God for me to forgive James Flanders… My entire life has been a horrible lie.” Therefore, today, at age 58, he is incarcerated at the mixed-security Madison Correctional Institution, where he is expected to remain until his scheduled release date of February 25, 2028.
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