She wanted to be more. The plaintiffs appealed. Mom Found Next to Her Car with Toddler Son Inside, Wife Wrote 'Letter from the Grave' Before 2008 Death Now Husband Is Guilty of Poisoning Her with Antifreeze, Body of Missing Md. Her cousin was soon to be married and Sister Cathy wanted to shop for an engagement gift, she told her roommate, Sister Helen Phillips, with whom she shared a small garden apartment in Southwest Baltimore, a blue-collar area of the city. Cathy's Ford Maverick, which she had recently purchased, was found just a block from her apartment parked illegally in a no parking area and unlocked. In 1994, Fr. Its important to take this confession from Koob with a grain of salt, as he is proven in the show to be less than the most reliable of witnesses, but, as White says, I dont know where the truth lies.. Were you scared of taking on the Catholic Church? He and his friend and fellow priest, Peter McKeon, discovered Sister Cathys car parked at a strange angle across the street from her apartment. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. They have internal records on everyone including A. Joseph Maskell. It deals with, among other subjects, the unsolved brutal murder on November 7, 1969, of a popular nun, Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, known to many as simply Sister Cathy.. accessed ), memorial page for Sr Catherine Anne "Cathy" Cesnik (17 Nov . New look at the murder of Sister Cathy - Irish Echo Newspaper Is Sister Cathy Cesnik's Death Connected to Sex Scandal? - PEOPLE.com But officials have declined to identify that person. The series also renewed the investigations into the murders of two women, Sister Cathy Cesnik and Joyce Malecki. [7], In 2017, CBS Baltimore reported allegations from three women that during Cesnik's tenure at Archbishop Keough High School, two of the priests, Joseph Maskell and E. Neil Magnus, were sexually abusing the girls at the school in addition to trafficking them to others. As The Keepers details, Radakovics engagement may have been one of the last things on Cesniks mind before she vanished while shopping on Nov. 7, 1969. All rights reserved. I thought they would have been more participatory. And I can hear Cathy saying 'I told you I'd take care of this' and I said, I didn't think you meant 20 years later. She was the eldest child of Joseph and Anna Omulac Cesnik. Authorities said results will take up to six more weeks. He wrote that the evidence, all circumstantial, shows that Sister Cathy was probably killed because she was ready to blow the whistle on widespread sex abuse at Keough by Father Maskell and others, in the late 1960s. Though the documentary includes much of the story, director Ryan White doesnt include every piece of evidence, and some of the most crucial information gets left out. Im also not a journalist or a detective but I borrowed a lot of skills from Gemmas skillset over the years. However, this is a small step towards justice. Days later, after an engagement party with her then-fiancs family, Radakovic got a call from her mother. Find out what it is in TheWraps Q&A with White below. The Murder Of Catherine Cesnik, The Nun Who Knew Too Much - Grunge.com They encourage everyone reading this to question everything, stay hydrated, and treat others with kindness. Her life had been threatened and she had allegedly been abused by the priest. Sister Cathy went missing on Nov. 7, 1969, but her body was only discovered on Jan. 3, 1970. And just kind of came up behind me and put it on my neck." It. Sister Cathys battered body - she had been beaten over the head - was discovered off Monumental Avenue, in a Landsdowne, Baltimore County, Maryland, garbage dump by hunters, on January 3, 1970. This is huge news regarding Sister Cathy's case. Marilyn Cesnik RadakovicSister Cathy's younger sister, who joins the investigation with Hoskins and Schaub during "The Keepers.". One of those calls went to a retired Baltimore County teacher, Gemma Hoskins. The filmmakers said they were not trying to solve the murder of Sister Cathy, or the murder of Joyce Malecki, which is also featured in the series. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. . Together, she and Hoskins started the Justice for Catherine Cesnik and Joyce Malecki Facebook page in 2013 to try to solve the case, which has become a network of Keough alumni and abuse survivors. Peter McKeonMcKeon was also a priest, and accompanied Koob to Sister Cathy's apartment when Sister Russell called to say she was missing. Despite the fact that Father Maskell's DNA does not match the DNA found at the crime scene, Armacost notes that the results don't necessarily clear him as a suspect. But I can whole-heartedly say, Cathy has been very much a part of all this.. Since then, he's been tracking and investigating the story over the years and is one of the investigators of her death in "The Keepers.". Jean claims that Father Maskell took her to Sister Cathy's body and said to her, "See what happens when you say bad things about people.". [13], Netflix produced a seven-part documentary series about the case called The Keepers, which debuted on May 19, 2017. They say they were trying to find enough evidence for viewers to conclude that the nun's murder, and the sexual abuse must be related. 'The Keepers' Update: New DNA Evidence Found In Sister Cathy Cesnik's Their work is featured prominently, in "The Keepers.. Detective Gary ChildsBaltimore County Police Detective Childs is assigned to the cold case file for Sister Cathy's murder at the time of "The Keepers. He had been a chaplain and counselor at Archbishop Keough while she taught there. He was never charged with Sister Cathys murder. [10], Wehner says that, two months before Cesnik's body was discovered, and only a day or two after Cesnik disappeared on November 1969, Maskell drove her to a wooded site near Fort Meade and showed her the body. Mine isdifferent than Gemmas theory, but we were all looking at the various versions of the truth and deciding what we believed was true. Radakovic still tears up when she talks about Cesnik, who died more than 46 years ago. The girl left but the next day, she later claimed, Maskell waved a gun at her, warning he'd kill her and her family if she revealed the abuse. Eluding police questioning, Maskell eventually ran off to Ireland in 1994 to work as a priest. Whats worse than considering the fact that A. Joseph Maskell terrorized one community? One of the initial persons of interest was a Jesuit priest who had been romantically involved with the pretty nun, and had once asked her to marry him, before she took her vows. More than 40 years after her death, the case of Sister Cathy Cesnik's murder is still unsolved. Cesnik was found on a freezing January day in 1970 in Baltimore County, nearly two months after she vanished near her apartment. Part 1 - Victim Featured in The Keepers Tells Story of Survival in New Book, Part 2 - Attorney Believes Criminal Charges A Possibility in Sex Abuse Investigation. There is one living suspect in Cesniks homicide, according to police spokeswoman Elise Armacost. On January 3, 1970, her body was found by a hunter and his son in an informal landfill located on the 2100 block of Monumental Road, in a remote area of Lansdowne. On November 7, 1969, Cesnik disappeared. I ran over, bent down and began wiping maggots off her face. White tells us there is some dogged reporting happening right now in Ireland, digging deeper into the time that A. Joseph Maskell spent there, in addition to his time spent in the United States. In 2016, the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) reassigned the case due to retiring officers, prompting new interviews and further investigation into the alleged sexual abuse at Keough. And I looked at my husband and I said, Oh my God, Radakovic remembers now. Copyright 2023 PopCulture.com. Everyone has a different theory. Sister Cesnik had been reported as a missing person on November 7, 1969, from her residence at the Carriage House Apartments in Baltimore City, 21229. I think it's pretty undeniable by the end of The Keepers that they are, and Jean is the nexus of that, White said. A retired, unnamed police homicide detective revealed to Nugent that the church authorities had allegedly used influence to impede the police investigation into Sister Cathys murder. Meteorological records also reveal that temperatures during the week in question were warm enough for maggots to hatch. RELATED:Everything Available At Launch On HBO Max. However, with each day that passes, internet sleuths and hard-boiled detectives alike unveil a new connection or a potential piece of evidence that had been overlooked before in the case. I can still feel her touch my cheek, said Hargadon-Wehner, in a recent interview. Father Neil MagnusAnother of the administrators at Keough, Magnus was accused of participating in sexually abusing students along with Maskell. People walked to suicide, people are still hiding and keeping their secrets, and I think all of the survivors recognize the power in numbers. Making a Murderer was sucha phenomenon and if we have a fraction the popularity of Making a Murderer, I will be a happy filmmaker. And as long as youre alive, Cathy will be alive and dont ever forget that.. Audiences reacted poorly to how cold, smarmy, and arrogant Sharon May appeared to be, and with good reason: they have every reason to believe she was very much involved in a cover-up for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, evident enough from her complete inaction throughout the case. Jean is the most incredible survivor that Ive ever witnessed. He was said to have allowed girls at the school to talk about sex and drugs in his office, and even permitted alcohol and cigarettes during gatherings in his rectory living quarters. His aunt was also friends with Jean Wehner, one of multiple people in the documentarywho say they were sexually abused by Father Joseph Maskell in the Baltimore, Maryland area. ", court of Appeals of Maryland, No. Tricky geometry baffles the internet - but can YOU train your brain to solve how many triangles are in this image? Her account was brought into question by scientific evidence showing that it would have been impossible for maggots to be alive at that time of year. And this update involves Father Joseph Maskell. As documentary-maker Ryan White asserted: 'What we discovered during the filmmaking process is that everything wasn't as it appeared to be. Netflix documentary series explores the 1970 murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik. Frightened and feeling threatened by the strapping, dominating clergyman who was popular with churchgoers for his Sunday masses the girl decided to keep secret her gruesome discovery. She believes they might contain the names of people who were complicit in his crimes, or in covering them up. Joyce MaleckiThe 20-year-old Baltimore woman went missing on Nov. 11, 1969. ', While the murder of Sister Cathy is in the forefront of the series, White noted that there were other crimes 'happening before and after, and still filter down to today and may be linked to her murder.'. The Keepers: Pieces Of Evidence The Show Leaves Out - ScreenRant [6] Residents at the apartment complex noticed Cesnik in her car at approximately 8:30 that night, and others spotted her car illegally parked across the street about two hours later. She was very, very, very important to me.. Her body was found January 3, 1970. With new evidence cropping up recently, this article has been updated to reflect evenmorefacts and clues that the docuseries overlooked. In 1969, at 26 years old, Cesnik faced an impasse in her life and career, Radakovic says. Tom Nugent, author of the acclaimed Death at Buffalo Creek, and an investigative journalist, has been writing about Sister Cathys case since 1994, and recently in his online publication, Inside Baltimore.. As one of the Baltimore detectives who initially worked on the case, Nick Giangrasso, told a reporter for Huffington Post: 'The Catholic Church had a lot of input into the police department. That was the first time I had learned of any of this.. According to the Baltimore Sun, as evening fell on Nov. 7, 1969, Sister Catherine Cesnik left her unassuming apartment, heading to the Edmondson Village Shopping Center around 7:30 p.m. As far as her roommate, Sister Helen Russell Phillips, could tell, she was headed out to buy an engagement gift for her sister, as well as run a few errands. In The Keepers another Keough graduate - Jean Hargadon-Wehner - talked on camera about her abuse by two priests, Neil Magnus and Joseph Maskell, and other men at the school. Billy SchmidtSister Cathy's neighbor in the Carriage Hill Apartments building. Sharon Mays husband, V. Eric W. May, Sr., was a state cop while Sharon was a prosecutor, providing the two of them even more opportunity to participate in a cover-up. When she first went in [to the convent], they had visitation days and my parents and I always went down for the visitation days, we never missed them, Radakovic says. But through Gemma and Abbie, we talked to about 25 for the documentary. Everything Ive done, Ive really tried since that time which is just a little over a year ago for me Ive tried to give them all the information that Ive learned, she says of working with authorities. Her unsolved murder served as the basis for the Netflix documentary series The Keepers in 2017. And now the streaming, seven-part Netflix documentary, The Keepers, has investigated the case and will feature interviews with victims of the school abuse, and new revelations. In 2004, a retired Baltimore homicide detective told the Baltimore City Paper that the church lawyers had 'stepped in and they talked to the higher-ups at the police department. It allowed for Cesnik's . Police exhume priest's body in murdered nun cold case | CNN She had a very soft spot in her heart for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Radakovic says, but I think she felt she was called to do something other than live in the convent.. Her hope clung to a strange letter she had received in the mail, apparently sent by Cesnik and postmarked the day after she went missing. Her body was partially naked and her head had been bashed in, but there was little physical evidence at the scene. [8], In 1995, Teresa Lancaster and Jean Wehner (ne Hargadon), former students at Keough who say they were sexually abused by Maskell, filed a lawsuit against him, the school, gynecologist Christian Richter, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and William H. Keeler. In the end, The Keepers doesnt solve its biggest question: Who killed Sister Cathy? He refuses to be identified, allegedly because he fears reprisals from people responsible for the cover-up of Sister Cathy's death and Maskell's abuse. [12] After obtaining permission from the state's attorney's office, the BCPD exhumed the body of Maskell, who died of a major stroke in 2001, but did not find a DNA match to evidence from the crime scene. One of them, Jean Wehner, was the student who claimed Maskell had taken her to view Cesnik's body in the dump. - May 30, 2017 05:42 pm EDT. (Radakovic was, in many ways, her sisters first student.) Joseph Cesnik in 1930 Census; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; 1930 United States Federal Census; National Archives and Records Administration. She said, You need to come home right away. He said that when he told his mother of the abuse, she told the Baltimore Archdiocese in 1967 -- two years before Sister Cathy's murder. The comments below have not been moderated. Their interactions have sometimes been fraught, and she tells PEOPLE, Theres a lot that we still would like to see them do.. The trial court dismissed the action as time-barred by the statute of limitations. Father Joseph Maskell's body was exhumed from a Baltimore cemetery earlier this year as part of the investigation into the unsolved slaying. "Our best hope for solving this case at this point lies with the people who are still alive. The idea that he terrorized many, and that the Catholic Church chose not to stop him. [1] Her body was discovered on January 3, 1970, near a garbage dump in the Baltimore suburb of Lansdowne. The prime suspect in Sister Cathys murder was a priest, the late Father A. Joseph Maskell. Well, its funny how you asked that because I never saw it as taking on the Catholic Church. [11] Cesnik's body was not found until January 3, 1970, and its discovery by two hunters was not in the wooded location near Fort Meade, but on the open hill trash dump of a small business property in Lansdowne. Her mutilated remains were found on January 1970 and her murder is still unsolved. Netflix's documentary series "The Keepers" dives into the case and uncovers a web of abuse that may . What is the prevailing theory about Sister Cathy's murder? Our focus was definitely on the survivors of Keough, but many Maskell victims cameafter Keough, and its horrifying. "The Keepers" premieres on Netflix May 19. Much like the government, the Catholic Church has their own internal system for keeping track of the people who make up their organization. Hargadon-Wehner's new book "Walking With Aletheia" details her healing process, and what she's learned from - she says - communicating with several different aspects of her personality. Cesniks body was found on Jan. 3, 1970. Unless some brave sleuths or particularly inspired detectives go digging, Keough High School is now, for better or worse, closed to a continuing story. He claims he interviewed more than 100 girls in the case who knew of or were involved in sexual abuse. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. What the show doesnt touch on, however, is Koobs supposed relationship with Sister Cathy. So we didn't want to set that as our bar, Hargrave said. Nearly 10 years ago the filmmakers started to meet with her; this was long before Netflix got involved.
