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. 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. Every bit of it, vividly. Sister Cathy was a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School and went missing in Baltimore in 1969. The Huffington Post reported that Maskell told Wehner, "You see what happens when you say bad things about people?"[1]. Without getting into a bunch of complicated legal jargon, victims of abuse would've had three years to come forward. But I can whole-heartedly say, Cathy has been very much a part of all this.. The autopsy reportedly found that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. But the autopsy results, which were not . Catherine Anne Cesnik SSND (born November 17, 1942; disappeared November 7, 1969) was an American Catholic religious sister who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Police dropped him as a target before he died. Later in 1994, authorities exhumed boxes Maskell had buried in a Baltimore cemetery and found one to contain child pornography. 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. She was valedictorian at the graduation of her high school class in 1960, after being the May Queen and the president of the senior class and the student council. One of those calls went to a retired Baltimore County teacher, Gemma Hoskins. Another article put out by the Baltimore Sun tried to paint a clearer image of the evening. RELATED:Netflixs Tiger King: 15 Best Joe Exotic Quotes. But I do think that there are individuals who are still living who know exactly what happened, she said. Its possible Flaherty and Maskell had some deeper connection at the time that has simply been completely overlooked. Hoskins says at a minimum she wants to see records on Father Maskell. Moreover, she said that along with the priest, she was abused by police officers. Autopsy findings reportedly narrowed the time of death to between 4:30 a.m. and as late as 7:30 a.m. an hour after Krauseneck claimed to have left the house. However, Spitz, who worked on the case, later confirmed that there had been maggots in both the victim's mouth and trachea when found. A search of the park turned up nothing, and there was no lead on her whereabouts for almost two months. RELATED:Everything Available At Launch On HBO Max. The Baltimore Sun explained that Rev. They revealed themselves in "The Keepers" thanks to documentary filmmakers Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave. . According to the autopsy, she had been struck on the back of her head by either a hammer or a brick, there was a hole the size of a quarter in her skull , and there were strangulation marks on her neck. Joyce Maleckis murder is explored as much as it can be as being potentially connected to the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, but theres still so much that Abbie, Gemma, and audiences dont know. Source:https://www.spreaker.com/user/americancrimecast/sistercathy-1Join Gemma Hoskins and Shane Waters in this new podcast series about the unsolved murder . What the show doesnt touch on, however, is Koobs supposed relationship with Sister Cathy. As documentary-maker Ryan White asserted: 'What we discovered during the filmmaking process is that everything wasn't as it appeared to be. A little more digging brought with it the fact that neighbors had seen the car parked there since 10:30 p.m., though it had been in her assigned parking spot behind the building just two hours earlier (via Baltimore Sun). Joseph Maskell knew that the victims of his abuse would want to talk (and that they were talking to Catherine Cesnik, at least), so he had to shut that down with violent threats. Cesnik was 26 and on a sabbatical from the Roman Catholic Church. ', He claimed that the detectives were told to either charge the priest 'or let him go. The next time the young nun was seen, it was by a female student from Cesnik's school, Archbishop Keough High School. [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. 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. 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. 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 . But when he was questioned by the police, he had an ironclad alibi for the night of Sister Cathy's disappearance. I'm not going to name names right now but they know stuff. Sean Caine, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said the archdiocese removed Maskell from his post as soon as they learned of the allegations in 1992, in order to conduct their own investigation. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much [13], Netflix produced a seven-part documentary series about the case called The Keepers, which debuted on May 19, 2017. murders for possible connections to Sister Cathy. RELATED:16 TV Shows Too Disturbing To Binge-Watch, Most dont believe Gerry Koob when he talks, but a member of the police force, Detective Roemer, claimed that Koob confessed to having a sexual relationship with Sister Cathy before her disappearance. Wehner, who reported her allegations about Maskell to the Baltimore Archdiocese in 1992, claimed that the only nun at the school who sought to help the abused girls was Sister Cathy. And after almost 50 years, Sister Cathy's murder has remained unsolved. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com Gemma Hoskins has helped dozens of victims get in touch with their investigators. I do believe in so many other things than I ever did before. I agree. Not every story that Ryan White heard gets told in The Keepers. In the decades since the nuns killing and as DNA testing has become a vital investigative tool, Baltimore County police have compared the DNA of several other people as part of their investigation into the never-closed case, according to Armacost, but those tests did not match the DNA profile from 1970. Advocates, filmmakers say they have not given up. Her co-workers had kind words to say about her. However, theres even more to the story to be considered: Sharon Mays husband used to be a state cop. The idea that he terrorized many, and that the Catholic Church chose not to stop him. Cesnik, a 26 . Sister Catherine Cesnik, a nun from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a teaching order, began her career at Archbishop Keough High School, a private, all-girls Catholic School. It's one of those terrible truths of the world that bad things happen to good people. Now, police are awaiting results of DNA from the body of Maskell, a priest who was accused in the 1990s of sexually assaulting young women. 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. They did stuff. (Handout photo courtesy of . Two women anonymous at the time but who later came forward as Jean Wehner and Teresa Lancaster came forward with allegations of abuse, saying he (and some of his associates) had assaulted them while they were students at Archbishop Keough (later Seton Keough) High School (via Baltimore Sun). 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. Except for that day, she said. Cesnik attended St. Mary's School on 57th Street and St. Augustine High School, both in Lawrenceville. [5] On November 7, 1969, she left the apartment she shared with Helen Russell Phillips at the Carriage House Apartments, at 131 North Bend Road in Catonsville, en route to the Edmondson Village Shopping Center to purchase a gift for her sister's engagement at Hecht's jewelry store. She'd spin stories and excuses, telling Maskell that they were studying or otherwise occupied by something that they couldn't get away from. 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. Really, the whole thing raises a lot of questions, summarized by Huffpost. 'There were a lot of layers that if you peeled them back went a lot deeper. The Catholic Church seems to know how to clean up its messes in general, withThe Guardian uncovering a much wider scandal in Boston (which led to worldwide concerns). CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. 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. Cesnik went missing on the night of Nov. 7, 1969 after stopping by a local shopping center to pick up buns from a bakery, cash a check and buy an engagement present for her sister, the Sun . 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. The call led Hoskins and Keough graduate, Abbie Schaub, to start their own research into Sister Cathy's murder. May 19, 2017. Does he ever reveal them? 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. Both women have said that she was the only member of the school's staff who helped them and other girls abused by Maskell, et al., and have said that she was murdered prior to discussing the matter with the archdiocese of Baltimore. Maskell denied involvement in any form of abuse. The investigation into her disappearance and death revealed rampant abuse at her place of employment, Keough High School, a prominent Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. NEXT:10 Creepy Documentaries To Watch If You Loved The Keepers. Investigating a Catholic priest presented challenges, especially in Baltimore a predominantly Catholic city (via Huffpost). And she has not stopped looking into the murder of her former teacher. Wehner alleged that there was frequent sexual abuse at Sister Cathy's school. In 1992, two female former students came forward to say Maskell abused them. See more ideas about catherine, documentaries, unsolved murders. More than a month later, her partly clad body was found near a garbage dump in a Baltimore suburb. Read on to learn about the victim. There is even more to this than meets the eye; White said there are about thirty-five other survivors just like her, and more reaching out all the time. Despite the time, speculation, and later surge of interest in the case, Catherine Cesnik's murder has still gone unsolved. This is huge news regarding Sister Cathy's case. An autopsy soon revealed the victim was Sister Cathy Cesnik, a beloved 26-year-old nun who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School and had vanished two months earlier during a Friday night shopping trip. (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. The scandals were always covered up by reassigning the offending priests to new parishes or just saying they were "on sick leave.". They were always invited to come to her apartment, where she checked in on the situation regarding Maskell. ', Asked how they could get away with such a crime, Lancaster told the TV news interviewer, 'Power and fear. No one, not even fellow Keough graduates, knew that Jean Hargadon-Wehner was the so-called "Jane Doe" who came forward in the early 1990's and accused the Archdiocese of Baltimore of allowing the abuse to continue. Leads dried up quickly and no one came forward with information about Cathy's whereabouts, and the search dragged on for months. Detectives investigating her death believe she may have encountered her murderer outside her apartment since her car was found parked in the complex the day after her disappearance. Cesnik's murder is still unsolved in 2021, although Maskell was suspected to be involved in Cesnik's murder at the time f his death in 2001, his DNA didn't match the evidence from the . She may have made a purchase at Muhly's Bakery in Edmondson Village, since a box of buns from that bakery was found in the front seat of her car. On occasion, they will attempt to combine all three, as there really isnt too much to life overall than fear, love, and laughter. Prior to the funeral, the city of Frederick put purple ribbons [Shan'ann's favorite color] all over the city. Her body was found January 3, 1970. "The Keepers" premieres on Netflix May 19. Given that Catherine Cesnik actively fought against Joseph Maskell's abuse by standing up for the girls, as well as Maskell's propensity toward really terrible threats, it's easiest to assume that the motive for her murder laid somewhere in that area. 102, September Term 1995, "Baltimore Archdiocese Pays Settlements to a Dozen People Alleging Abuse by Late Priest", "Netflix's 'The Keepers' generates interest in other Md. Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik was last seen alive on November 7, 1969. By 1994, Maskell no longer worked at the high school and was the pastor of Holy Cross Church in Baltimore. It continues to be one of several theories.. Her life had been threatened and she had allegedly been abused by the priest. Priests regularly got away scot-free. When she was reported missing later that night, several dozen cops and half-a-dozen dog teams unsuccessfully searched a wide swath of Baltimore's southwest neighborhood searching for clues to her whereabouts. Two women, both with close ties to an unnamed man who may have been . By 1994, over a dozen allegations had been filed against Maskell by different women, some of whom had been abused, and others who had managed to fend off Maskell's advances. ', 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. True crime is only getting more popular, and Netflix never misses an opportunity to contribute to the zeitgeist, giving us The Keepers. They filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against him, the Baltimore Archdiocese, the sisters who ran the school, and a local gynecologist. (Aside from reports that Maskell invited uniformed officers to assault the girls). A. Joseph Maskell. As police proceeded with their investigation, Father Maskell who was said to have taken a female student to the site where she claimed she saw Sister Cathy's lifeless body came under suspicion. There, on the ground, still clad, her face covered with maggots, was the body of Sister Cathy. Catherine Cesnik was born in 1942, she was a devoted catholic nun who taught drama and English at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. The Murder Of Catherine Cesnik, The Nun Who Knew Too Much. ', One former student, Teresa Lancaster, told WJZ-TV in Baltimore, that Sister Cathy had 'confronted' Maskell 'and she lost her life for it.'. An autopsy attributed her death to a skull fracture caused by a blow to her left temple with a blunt instrument. According to Armacost, in 1994 one of the students who claimed abuse by Maskell when she was in high school said that he took her to a remote dumping area and showed her Cesniks decaying body as a warning of what would happen if she told anyone about him. The Baltimore Sun reported in late 2016 that since 2011 the archdiocese has paid out settlements to Maskell's alleged victims. The news shook a lot of people, to put it lightly. Details. 2. catherine cesnik autopsy photos. He then left to work as pastor of a church in Baltimore, but later returned to his duties after an archdiocese investigation failed to support the abuse allegations. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. I always felt like there was some reason for me to be here and I didn't know what it was. And that often involved stripping them of their clothes, touching them in his "godly manner," or forcing them to pose for nude photos while he and the school's religious director watched with, wellunrestrained pleasure. The Baltimore police has since reopened its investigation. I don't understand what happens on the other side, she said. They scared the living hell out of us.'. Like a scene out of a horror movie, the high school junior was driven to a garbage dump by the school's 30-year-old spiritual counselor, Father Joseph Maskell - who died in 2001 - and reportedly told the 16-year-old student: 'You see what happens when you say bad things about people?'. It started with a freelance journalist, Tom Nugent. Many people first met Gemma Hoskins through her appearance on "The Keepers," a 2017 Emmy-nominated Netflix docuseries, that focused on the death of Sister Cathy Cesnik and cases of sexual abuse at . There might have been more going on here than just bad luck. Discovery Company. 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