
Lorraine Snell, 19, was found strangled in the back of a station wagon on 9/25/1980.
Nearly 45 years after the body of Brooklyn teen Lorraine Snell was found in the back of a station wagon with a jumper cable around her neck, a storefront bishop from Staten Island finally admitted he killed her in the early hours of September 25, 1980.
"On Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, New York," James Burrus, now 68, said plainly when the judge asked him where Lorraine died.
Watching from the second row of the spectator's section in court was the 19 year old victim's mother, Pearl Snell Holder, who is now nearly 87 years old. She has spent half her life pursuing a resolution in her daughter's cold case. Burrus was married to her niece. Lorraine Snell, a legal secretary who was newly engaged in 1980, had been a bridesmaid at Burrus' wedding.
Burrus had just agreed to a plea deal with the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, which knocked down his original charge of murder to manslaughter and then attempted manslaughter. Using sentencing guidelines from 1980, Burrus faces just four to eight years in prison for the crime. He's already spent five years on Rikers Island since his arrest in March 2020.

Storefront ‘Bishop’ James Burrus was arrested in 1980 murder of Brooklyn teen, the day before NYC was shut down by COVID pandemic.
"I want him to stay in jail, and I want him to rot in hell," the angry mother said when she left court. "He can't look at me; he can't face me."
Lorraine's older sister, Leticia, wept when we noted that Burrus didn't offer a motive for the killing.
"He can't say why he killed her," Leticia Snell said, "because he's a natural born killer."
“I Hope He Rots in Hell” Mother and sister of Lorraine Snell, killed at age 19 in 1980, respond to storefront bishop’s guilty plea 45 years later.
The guilty plea marks the end of a long odyssey that dragged on for decades.

James Burrus was a storefront ‘bishop’ for years, using a garage for church services on Staten Island.
James Burrus now uses a walker, like his victim's mother, because he's suffered multiple strokes in the last year. His hair is now gray, and he's grown a gray beard.
Back in August 2014, when I was working on my Mary Murphy Mysteries segments for PIX11 News, Pearl Snell Holder sent me a typed letter begging for some new attention in her daughter's cold case.
When we interviewed Ms. Holder at her Brooklyn home, she explained that Lorraine had left the house on a work night in September 1980 to go to Midwood Terrace in Flatbush, a catering hall where she hoped to hold an engagement party to celebrate with her fiancé, Wayne.
James Burrus later admitted to police he saw Lorraine at Midwood Terrace that night and claimed he walked her part of the way home in the rain. When Pearl Snell Holder, a dietician, went to get the train at Newkirk and Nostrand Avenues the next morning, she had no idea her daughter was dead in the back of the station wagon nearby--behind a supermarket where Burrus used to work. The vehicle belonged to Burrus' former boss.
A defining moment in our 2014 PIX11 story came when we found James Burrus crawling out from under the garage where he lived on Staten Island.

James Burrus spoke to me for 20 minutes in 2014, during a report for PIX11 News.
He was holding storefront church services in the garage, located behind a laundromat, and called himself a bishop. He said he had found religion in prison. Burrus was convicted for a cab stand robbery that happened the same night Lorraine Snell was killed.
Yet when we told Burrus we were there to ask about Lorraine Snell, his immediate reaction was a puzzled look, and Burrus said "Who?" When we told him, "Your wife's cousin," he started to talk about the 1980 case, claiming "Those cops checked me from head to toe."
In 1980, DNA technology was not being used in murder cases.
That had all changed 34 years later, when we did our first story on the Snell investigation.
Rachel Singer, chief of the Brooklyn DA's Forensic Science and Cold Case Unit, gave a fresh look to the case in 2015. DNA technology was now quite advanced, and lab experts were able to match Burrus' DNA--after detectives found a sample--with DNA from the crime scene.
"The defendant's DNA was positively associated to foreign DNA found under the victim's fingernail," District Attorney Eric Gonzales noted, when Burrus was finally arrested on March 12, 2020.
On March 12, 2020, Pearl Snell Holder reacted to footage of ‘Bishop’ James Burrus in handcuffs.
The DA's office had also looked at PIX11's unedited, twenty minute interview with Burrus, which was posted online in 2014, and found inconsistencies with his original statements.

James Burrus arrested on 3/12/2020.
Remarkably, Burrus was arrested on Staten Island on the same day then-Mayor Bill deBlasio issued a directive that would essentially shut much of New York City down, because of the emerging COVID19 pandemic. While Burrus remained on Rikers Island, the city was dealing with a crisis that was soon killing up to 800 people a day in the five boroughs alone.

Emergency directive issued about the COVID19 virus by then-Mayor Bill DeBlasio, on the day James Burrus was arrested.
Court cases stalled for at least two years.
When the courtrooms opened again, Burrus' defense team argued in pre-trial hearings that many of Burrus' statements should not be admissible. The defense and district attorney's office spent another two years discussing possible plea options.
Retired NYPD Detective William Simon, who arrested Burrus on Staten Island on March 12, 2020, returned to court to watch the storefront bishop plead guilty to killing Lorraine Snell.
"It was validation for what we always knew," Detective Simon said when he left the courtroom. "The family needed closure. It's for the family."
Lorraine's sister, Leticia, started sobbing when she stated her belief that Burrus and his wife were jealous of the Snell family accomplishments.
"Oh my God," Leticia wailed. "At least Lorraine got justice."
Lorraine Snell’s mother and older sister, Leticia, think James Burrus was envious of the family’s success.
Lorraine's mother observed that Burrus may not be getting a lot of jail time for killing her daughter but he's paying a price anyway.
"God is going to take care of him," Pearl Snell Holder said. "You see him right now? Four strokes! He has many more to come."
The mother added she may be in the advanced years of her life, but she wants to see what happens to James Burrus.
"I am 87 years old now, and I'm going to live and see what happens to him," the mother vowed.
Judge Denny Chun told Burrus his sentencing will be held on February 26 and noted, "You will receive credit for every day you have been in jail."
PIX11 did a Facebook Live show on Lorraine Snell's cold case in 2019. James Burrus was arrested the next year.
This Bishop is a liar, scammer and a disgrace as a man. It is really sad that he basically got away with murder for all these years. He has always been such a horrible person and portrayed himself as a preacher for others. He’s abused his wife and kids for years, even tried to kill his wife before. His kids have run away from home because of the abuse. He’s always had a temper and become violent towards anyone. I feel bad for this young lady’s family. He deserves to rot in prison. He is not the person that everyone thinks he is. He was able to live life, have kids, all while hiding his identity. Look into his background.…