By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-08 20:02:25 | Updated at 2026-08-09 03:58:27
9 hours ago
A Missouri pastor, who has married five times, is now under investigation by two different police departments into the deaths of two of his ex-wives decades later.
More than 30 years ago, Astrid Bridges was found unresponsive outside her Oregon home by her husband, John Bridges, now 86.
Her death was ruled an accident after neighbors said they believed she fell while cleaning the gutters.
On July 29, John became the suspect in a reopened investigation of the homicide of Bridges, his second wife.
But it's not the only investigation the elderly pastor faces, as across the country, the Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky has reclassified his first wife Joyce 'Mable' Bridges' death as a homicide and are asking for the public's help.
Joyce was also found unresponsive at her home by John in Kentucky in 1972. He brought her to the hospital, where she was declared deceased.
Her death had been ruled an accident, as there was no police or EMS involvement. However, her body was exhumed in 2015, and a new autopsy determined she had died by homicide, police said.
John has been officially named a suspect by the Gresham Police Department, however, Louisville has not yet done the same.
Pastor John Bridges is now being investigated in the homicides of two of his ex-wives decades after they were found dead
'We consider her husband at the time, John Bridges, to be a suspect in her murder,' Detective Adam Wright, of the Gresham Police, told WDRB.
John, who is currently married to Janice Sue Grote, had two other wives, who also mysteriously died.
His third wife, Tama Jo Bridges, died in 2011 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the coroner's report, viewed by NBC News, said.
His fourth wife, Gail Hope Mizell, died in 2024 in Texas. Grote told NBC News that Mizell died after being diagnosed with cancer.
Criminal investigations into the deaths of Tama Jo and Mizell have not been opened.
Grote, however, kicked her elderly husband out the door after the Gresham Police Department served a warrant to search their Missouri residence.
'I am not afraid of him, and I don’t think he would come back to hurt me,' the 65-year-old wife, who married John five years ago, told NBC News.
'But I don’t want to sleep with a man who is under suspicion of murder. I don’t want to be stupid,' she continued. 'It wasn’t until the police came here from Oregon that I found out they might have been killed.'
Astrid Bridges was found unresponsive outside her home in Oregon in 1993. Her death was ruled an accident after neighbors thought she fell while cleaning the gutters
Joyce 'Mable' Bridges' was found dead by John inside their Kentucky home in 1972. John has married five times, and four of the wives have died. The other two deaths are not being reinvestigated
It is unclear what caused the two police departments to reopen the cases. The Daily Mail has reached out to Bridges and police for comment.
In hindsight, Grote is now wondering about the man she married and said his past marriages 'should have been red flags.'
'That’s where I goofed,' she told NBC News. 'I should have listened to the Holy Spirit. I would not be in this position if I had listened to the Holy Spirit.'
The pair, who have a 21-year age gap, connected through their faith. She had been on the cover of a magazine published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the pastor had reached out.
Their first conversation was about the faith, the massage therapist said.
Despite the age gap, she said it never concerned her, as his previous wives were all around his age.
'It wasn’t a pattern with him. It didn’t worry me,' she told the outlet.
Another thing that drew her to John was his storytelling abilities, which she now is questioning.
'I’ve come to realize that the truth doesn’t come easy for John,' she said. 'He didn’t tell me the whole truth about his marriages.'
