According to Crime Museum, a hunter and his son found Catherine Cesnik's body at an informal garbage dump in Landsowne, Md. "For now, we've pretty well reached the end of the road when it comes to forensic evidence," Elise Armacost, a spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police Department said. ', Giangrasso also believed Sister Cathy's killing was church-related, telling the Huffington Post: 'I personally thought it was in-house, within her social network the priests and the religious order.'. Details. [1] Her body was discovered on January 3, 1970, near a garbage dump in the Baltimore suburb of Lansdowne. memorial page for Sr Catherine Anne "Cathy" Cesnik (17 Nov 1942-7 Nov 1969), Find a Grave Memorial ID 61142401, citing . 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. Her unsolved murder served as the basis for the Netflix documentary series The Keepers in 2017. CNN reported in 2017 that police had the okay to exhume his body for DNA testing, but even then, the DNA wasn't a match with what was found at the crime scene. He was permanently removed from the ministry in 1994. (Handout photo courtesy of Netflix), Catherine Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun, disappeared after leaving her Southwest Baltimore apartment to go shopping in November 1969. Maskell was a police chaplain and he knew people in high places that's how they got away with it. Rather, people actually trusted him a lot, reportsHuffpost. White is unconvinced that the DNA found at the scene on a cigarette butt would match A. Joseph Maskells DNA, but he remains positive that, eventually, someone will catch whoever murdered Sister Cathy and theyll finally figure out why. ', 'Before I knew it, there was a big man on top of me and then I thought that would be it and another policeman came in and I could hear Maskell in the distance talking and laughing. The student let herself out right away but could tell that Maskell knew what was happening. ', 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 exact area couldn't actually be reached by car, meaning that she would've been forced to walk there, or possibly carried. The green 1970 Maverick had been parked illegally near the apartment. Hoskins says at a minimum she wants to see records on Father Maskell. Crime Museumadds that the car itself was newly caked in mud. 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. So-called Grandma Nancy Drew Gemma Hoskins has spent years asking for the federal case files on Joyce Maleckis murder. There, on the ground, still clad, her face covered with maggots, was the body of Sister Cathy. Maskell denied involvement in any form of abuse. Because of the condition of Cesnik's corpse, police were unable to tell if she had been sexually assaulted. Her co-workers had kind words to say about her. 16:14 EST 18 May 2017, A New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer latest book, 'The Kardashians: An American Drama,' will be published in September. Its possible Flaherty and Maskell had some deeper connection at the time that has simply been completely overlooked. This is presumed to be the source of the DNA sample found at the murder scene, but Ryan White knows theres even more that Baltimore County Police arent saying. According to the Baltimore Sun report on Cesnik's death, Malecki was a 20-year-old from nearby Lansdowne at the time of her death. The Keepers centres on the death of 26-year-old nun, Sister Cathy Cesnik, who went missing from Baltimore, Maryland on November 7th, 1969.Her body was found decomposed two months later, but the . Her body was found in Lansdowne, south of Baltimore, on January 3, 1970. I can still feel her touch my cheek, said Hargadon-Wehner, in a recent interview. Joyce Helen Malecki, 20, disappeared from Harundale Mall a few days after Cesnik; her . 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. But I do think that there are individuals who are still living who know exactly what happened, she said. This seven-episode docuseries explores the still-unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. [2] Her paternal grandparents, John (Jan) and Johanna Tomec esnik, were Slovenians who emigrated from Yugoslavia,[3] while her maternal grandfather, Joseph Omulac, came from Yugoslavia and maternal grandmother, Martha Hudok, came from Austria. The autopsy concluded her cause of death . Leads dried up quickly and no one came forward with information about Cathy's whereabouts, and the search dragged on for months. In the 1990s, Jean Wehner came forward and alleged that Father Maskell had sexually abused her and allowed other men to do the same. Netflix's documentary series "The Keepers" dives into the case and uncovers a web of abuse that may . They were always invited to come to her apartment, where she checked in on the situation regarding Maskell. Jean and other former students of Sister Cathy believe that the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the authorities covered up Sister Cathy's murder after she suspected Father Maskell was sexually abusing several young girls at the school. They scared the living hell out of us.'. Netflix's latest true-crime documentary The Keepers is a hit and everyone who has watched the series has only one question: who killed Sister Cathy Cesnik? The theory that she was killed because she knew something about abuse that was going on by priests within the church continues to be a theory, but is not the only theory. Locating that stash, investigators found, among other things, nude pictures of underage girls. 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In 2013, Facebook page was started by an alum of the school, and more women told of their abuse at the hands of Maskell and others. In fact, people around the world were so distraught at learning about Sister Cathy's case that they started flooding the Baltimore County Police with calls. Many of the parents in the area would regularly attend his masses and let him baptize their children. Autoplay. Armacost says the timing of Maskells exhumation has nothing to do with the documentary, and opening the priests grave was simply a step that cold-case investigators felt needed to be taken to leave no stone unturned. Joanne Suder, an attorney for many of Maskells sexual abuse victims, said, If law enforcement, in general, had done their job back in 1970, theyd have brought Maskell in then and this wouldnt have all been necessary in 2017., Theres no question that my clients told Sister Cathy (Cesnik) what was going on, Suder said. Nearly 20 years ago, Nugent had been calling many former students from the now-closed Archbishop Keough High School, for a story on Sister Cesnik, who was murdered in 1969. Ryan White's aunt attended Archbishop Keough High School, and had stayed in touch with Jean Hargadon-Wehner. Often, survivors would choose to remain anonymous, and the crew of The Keepers respected that choice and removed their stories, names, and/or faces from the series. They already knew the murderer, but looking further would unearth information he wasn't supposed to know. As for filmmakers Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave, after The Keepers they produced a documentary with Dr. Ruth, and then another one about the two women who assassinated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's brother. Sister Cathy was a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School and went missing in Baltimore in 1969. 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. Either way, theyre lying and withholding information that would be helpful to the case. The Baltimore Sun explained that Rev. Friends which, reportedly, also included uniformed police officers. An autopsy attributed her death to a skull fracture caused by a blow to her left temple with a blunt instrument. 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. With that came the ominous warning "You see what happens when you say bad things about people?" Theres no question she told them she would do something about it.. They filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against him, the Baltimore Archdiocese, the sisters who ran the school, and a local gynecologist. Students, parents and the local media buzzed about the 26-year-old's disappearance. Something was clearly wrong, and so, according to the Baltimore Sun, Helen Russell Phillips called on the help of a few friends revs. Teresa Lancaster also mentioned times when he would take them to a gynecologist Dr. Christian Richter for check-ups, during which he would occasionally assault them on the table (Richter would later deny being a part of the abuse). The autopsy reportedly found that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Another time, he pressed his gun to the side of Jean Wehner's head, actually pulling the trigger only for her to realize it was unloaded. And after almost 50 years, Sister Cathy's murder has remained unsolved. She'd spin stories and excuses, telling Maskell that they were studying or otherwise occupied by something that they couldn't get away from. Many have speculated on the identity of this mysterious Brother Bob, with most pointing to Ed (Edgar Davidson) as being the most obvious answer, but some are now speculating that Father Robert Flaherty is Brother Bob. Now, WJZ has learned Baltimore County Police may be closer than ever to solving the murder of 26-year-old Sister Cathy Cesnik. One of Baltimores most infamous cold cases, Cesniks death is the subject of a new documentary series, The Keepers, which releases May 19 on Netflix. The show is responsible for initiating a deeper look into the case of A. Joseph Maskell and Sister Cathy Cesnik, as Baltimore County Police start investigating again due to a public outcry. . Despite the time, speculation, and later surge of interest in the case, Catherine Cesnik's murder has still gone unsolved. So we didn't want to set that as our bar, Hargrave said. By 1994, Maskell no longer worked at the high school and was the pastor of Holy Cross Church in Baltimore. If the Archdiocese is willing to blatantly lie about this, what else are they lying about? The call led Hoskins and Keough graduate, Abbie Schaub, to start their own research into Sister Cathy's murder. Though, of course, they insist theyre doing everything they can to help victims of abuse, on the subject of Maskell, they remain as vague and unhelpful as ever. And it was the students who really benefited from that, as Huffpost describes. Without getting into a bunch of complicated legal jargon, victims of abuse would've had three years to come forward. The trial court dismissed the action as time-barred by the statute of limitations. They have internal records on everyone including A. Joseph Maskell. Catherine Anne Cesnik was born on November 17, 1942, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ', He theorized that because there had been no signs of a struggle, 'it looked too clean. The sisters were incredibly close, even after Cesnik felt that God had called out to her to become a nun. But some thirty women soon came forward with accounts of sexual abuse at the school. By William Cannon The Boston Archdiocese had been regularly making private settlements, paying for silence when it came to reports of abuse by priests. [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. Exposs on the Catholic Church have been steadily being released, with more and more people coming forward over time, but the Church refuses to make a clear statement in the case of A. Joseph Maskell. Inside, a bakery box filled with buns sat on the front seat (probably from Edmondson Village), along with some leaves and twigs. Her case has remained open ever since, Armacost said. In spite of the Freedom of Information Act, the federal government has continuously neglected to provide Gemma Hoskins with this information. ", court of Appeals of Maryland, No. Soon they were linking that abuse to Sister Cathy's murder, and speculation that she was going to blow the whistle and tell all. When he was removed from the ministry he fled to Ireland, where he lived for a time before returning to the Baltimore area, according to police. 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. Sister Cathy Cesnik was reported missing after she failed to return home from a shopping trip in November 1969. But Maskell's case was complicated further by his ties to the police force through his work as a military chaplain. Discovery Company. Something was clearly wrong, and so, according to the Baltimore Sun, Helen Russell Phillips called on the help of a few friends revs. Does he ever reveal them? Born in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1942, reports the Baltimore Sun, Cesnik was described by her younger sister as devoted and rather ambitious. Her body was discovered on January 3, 1970, near a garbage dump in the Baltimore suburb of Lansdowne.Her unsolved murder served as the basis for . They were all young, attractive women, police said, who looked similar. The plaintiffs appealed. Priests regularly got away scot-free. And why should they? On Nov. 13, 1969, six days after Sister Cathy Cesnik vanished, not to be found murdered for two long months, a second young woman20-year-old Joyce Maleckiwas found strangled and stabbed to death in a small creek located on the U.S. Army's Fort Meade military base in Anne Arundel County, only a few miles from where Cesnik's body would . ', The cop, who died in 2009, said it was a shame because he was certain the priest 'knew more than he was telling. Wehner says she remembers trying repeatedly to brush off the maggots crawling on Cesnik's face while frantically repeating the words, "Help me, help me." Photo of Sister Cathy Cesnik (Image Source: Daily Mail) On November 7, 1969, Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik disappeared. Police have also looked into whether Cesniks death is related to the deaths of three other young women in the Baltimore area around the same time. The mutilated body of the 26-year-old teacher was found on January 3, 1970. People from all over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas for any sign of her. Police then announced that the DNA taken from A. Joseph Maskell was not a direct match to the DNA found at the two-month-old murder scene, where 26-year-old Sister Cathy was found decomposing in 1970. [13], Netflix produced a seven-part documentary series about the case called The Keepers, which debuted on May 19, 2017. In the 1990s, sexual assault and abuse allegations began to surface against Maskell, who had served as a chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore. She "was found strangled and stabbed to death in a small creek . 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. Another detective was looking into the case, only for a superior to tell him to stop. Regardless of why the school is closing, the walls will never be able to talk now. All of them took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s generally around the Baltimore area, with many of the crime scenes and bodies sharing physical characteristics. The exhumation of a Catholic priests body by Baltimore County Police could hold the key to solving the 47-year-old cold case of a murdered nun. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. [6] At 4:40am the next morning, Russell's friends, Peter McKeon and Gerard J. Koob, both Catholic priests, found Cesnik's car, in muddy condition, and illegally parked across from her apartment complex. The Keepers, a 7-part documentary, is currently available to stream on Netflix. However, the Catholic Church is completely unwilling to share these documents, even though White says he would love for them to be transparent and show the world what they have.. However, White did still get to talk to them he even got to talk to the anonymous student he mentions in the series. It started with a freelance journalist, Tom Nugent. They revealed themselves in "The Keepers" thanks to documentary filmmakers Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave. She Was Found Fatally Beaten Two Months After Disappearing in 1969. Her body was found a few months later, discarded unceremoniously in a garbage dump. 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