One of the most frustrating aspects of being a true crime fan is dealing with endless cover-ups from authorities and government entities, like police and the FBI. But now, because of witness testimony, and a multi-part documentary about the Cesnik murder to be aired on Netflix beginning on May 19, there is hope that her killer may be identified and the case finally be put to rest. [6], Immediately after Cesnik's disappearance, police searched the area for her body without success. 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 . 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. 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 . After Maskell died in 2001, the two women decided to go public, using their real names. The only evidence that she had been out, were the buns she had bought at the bakery. In another scenario, James Maskell arrested a man named Phillip Shane after the two of them got into an altercation and Maskell lied about how they came to blows. 9:08 PM EDT, Tue May 9, 2017, Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik; Rev. She was "Jane Roe" in that ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit. ', He theorized that because there had been no signs of a struggle, 'it looked too clean. But amidst the many . At some point probably the first thing on her trip Cesnik stopped by a Catonsville bank and cashed a check for $255, part of a pretty regular routine. Theres no question she told them she would do something about it.. See more ideas about catherine, documentaries, unsolved murders. A headline in a Baltimore newspaper blared: 'City Police Fail To Find Missing Nun.'. There was a general backlash against it, and a Catholic psychiatrist argued that memories like that couldn't be repressed then recovered. A. Joseph Maskell after securing an order from the states attorney, according to Elise Armacost, director of public affairs for Baltimore County Police. 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 . He later became a Methodist minister, but before that (and before Cesnik had taken her final vows as a nun), he'd asked her to marry him. According to Hollywoodlife.com, Joseph Maskell's body was exhumed in Feb. 2017 and his DNA was tested by a forensics lab against DNA evidence found near the crime scene of Sister Cathy. And she has not stopped looking into the murder of her former teacher. Baltimore Detective Lt. Sam Bowerman always believed Sister Cathy was killed by a man who either lived in, or was familiar with, the area around the Carriage House Apartments, knew the location off Monument Avenue where her body was dumped, and that the murder was unplanned. Expand. 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. Following her disappearance, investigators plotted her movements and determined she had cashed her $255 paycheck at a bank before heading to a small shopping center where she bought some baked goods. The current team of cold case detectives, assigned the Cesnik case in 2016, began discussing the exhumation of Maskell almost immediately, but it took time to get proper authorization. With that came the ominous warning "You see what happens when you say bad things about people?" It just means that there's no link between Maskell and the crime scene. They were last known to have been at shopping centers in the area, the same as Cesnik. The student let herself out right away but could tell that Maskell knew what was happening. If the Archdiocese is willing to blatantly lie about this, what else are they lying about? They encourage everyone reading this to question everything, stay hydrated, and treat others with kindness. The car was parked illegally but only a block away from the apartment, and there were no signs of struggle. 'There were a lot of layers that if you peeled them back went a lot deeper. (Cesnik) was a nun. Malecki's body was even found near Fort Meade, where Maskell was a military chaplain. . Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. But that's where things get hazy. She Was Found Fatally Beaten Two Months After Disappearing in 1969. 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 most terrifying though? Her life had been threatened and she had allegedly been abused by the priest. While the case remains open, allegations of sexual abuse by Father Maskell, and Sister's Cathy's plan to blow the whistle along with a possible cover up by the Catholic Church with close ties to law enforcement are at the heart of the horrendous case. ', 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.'. The week prior, Sister Cathy Cesnik, a popular young nun who taught English and drama at Keough, had vanished while on a Friday-night shopping trip. Joyce Helen Malecki (born June 12, 1949; disappeared November 11, 1969) was a 20-year-old American office worker from Baltimore, Maryland, who was employed at a liquor distributor.She disappeared on November 11, 1969, and was found dead two days later at the Soldier Park training area of Fort Meade.Malecki's murder remains unsolved; the Netflix documentary series The Keepers, released in May . Youtube. The Maryland Attorney Generals office has been investigating sexual abuse in the catholic church for nearly four years. They are waiting to learn if those results link Maskell to the death of a nun who, according to an attorney, was a confidant to young women who had been assaulted by the priest. Her former students believe that Sister Cathy was murdered as part of a cover-up to protect a priest at the school, A. Joseph Maskell, who Cesnik suspected was guilty of sexual abuse of students. Stuff being crimes, and they're walking around.. Sister Cathy's life and death have both deeply inspired and haunted Gemma in a number of ways, and she's made it her life s purpose to uncover what really happened on that November night in 1969. He was permanently removed from the ministry in 1994. In that case, Cesnik might've been killed to stop her from actually being able to do that. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com At the time of her disappearance, Sister Cesnik was on a sabbatical from the Roman Catholic Church and was teaching at Western High School in Baltimore City. 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. But she wasn't fully happy there, and by 1969, at the age of 26, Cesnik knew she had potential that her order was stifling, knew she could become so much more, and moved out to take a job at Western High School. The 26-year-old nun had been missing for nearly two months. Details. After that, it seemed like she paid a visit to Muhly's Bakery inside the Hecht Company store in Edmondson Village. On November 7, 1969, 26-year-old Sister Catherine Cesnik vanished. 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. 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. In spite of the Freedom of Information Act, the federal government has continuously neglected to provide Gemma Hoskins with this information. 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. In fact, people around the world were so distraught at learning about Sister Cathys case that they started flooding the Baltimore County Police with calls. 1. But Maskell's case was complicated further by his ties to the police force through his work as a military chaplain. We know this speculation about the circumstances is not false, because Jean Hargadon Wehner tells us in the show that she has evidence proving otherwise. RELATED:Everything Available At Launch On HBO Max. Something was clearly wrong, and so, according to the Baltimore Sun, Helen Russell Phillips called on the help of a few friends revs. It was no wonder that in the wake of the news, the students were all quietly shocked, worried that the police might stop looking for her. And when those kids got older, Maskell would give them rides home or to appointments. Unfortunately, Russell is . ', The comments below have not been moderated, By 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. The youngest I've talked to myself was three, Hoskins said. Many of the parents in the area would regularly attend his masses and let him baptize their children. A young, conspicuously attractive woman, 1 she connected with her students. Determining whether Maskells DNA matches the evidence remaining from the crime scene is a box that must be checked, said Armacost. I can still feel her touch my cheek, said Hargadon-Wehner, in a recent interview. 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. Gerard Koob it depends on the report) found her car unlocked around 4:40 a.m. on the day after her disappearance. [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. But that argument didn't fly in the 90s. After the series premiered, messages started to arrive from around the world with new information. One of those calls went to a retired Baltimore County teacher, Gemma Hoskins. Either she or Phillips would always make to stop on every second Friday to cash their paychecks. . 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? There is no word on whether the Attorney General's investigators will gain access to those records. . 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. One of the major theories that The Keepers hypothesizes is that Maskell either killed Sister Cathy or had her killed. The Baltimore Sun reported in late 2016 that since 2011 the archdiocese has paid out settlements to Maskell's alleged victims. And it was the students who really benefited from that, as Huffpost describes. 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. It started with a freelance journalist, Tom Nugent. 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. 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. However, theres even more to the story to be considered: Sharon Mays husband used to be a state cop. memorial page for Sr Catherine Anne "Cathy" Cesnik (17 Nov 1942-7 Nov 1969), Find a Grave Memorial ID 61142401, citing . [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. [7] She cashed a paycheck at First National Bank in Catonsville that night. Baltimore County Police exhumed the body of a priest for DNA testing in the case Western's principal noted that she was an especially "fine teacher," while others pointed out that she was known for her compassion. prior to the release of the Netflix documentary series 'The Keepers', for DNA testing involving the murder of Cathy Cesnik. The plaintiffs suits are thus barred by the statute of limitation. Cold cases", "About the BCoPD Cold Case Unit and the Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik Homicide", "Police: Exhumed Priest's DNA Does Not Match Evidence from Crime Scene Killing of Sister Cathy", "Priest's Body Exhumed from Randallstown Cemetery in Investigation of Baltimore Nun's Decades-Old Killing", "The Dead Nun, the School Sex Scandal, and the Amateur Detectives Fighting for Justice", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Catherine_Cesnik&oldid=1117759661, This page was last edited on 23 October 2022, at 12:23. Photos hit the internet, many of which have been taken down, that where morbid and graphic of the crash site where Kobe's helicopter went down, killing 9 people. [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 had moved to an apartment outside the convent with another nun and began teaching at Western High School in Baltimore on November 7, 1969, when she left her apartment to run an errand at Edmondson Village Shopping Center in Baltimore, according to Armacost. In 1992, two female former students came forward to say Maskell abused them. 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 . It would be two months later, on January 3, 1970, that a couple of hunters came upon Sister Cathy's decomposed, frozen and mutilated body, and notified police. What we do know is that the FBIs continuing failure to contribute meaningfully to this case has negatively impacted any chance at an ending to the story. Ryan White's aunt attended Archbishop Keough High School, and had stayed in touch with Jean Hargadon-Wehner. He ignored the order, only to be forced into an early retirement (via Inside Baltimore). [deleted] 6 yr. ago. Sister Catherine Cesnik is pictured with her father, Joseph Cesnik. Now, WJZ has learned Baltimore County Police may be closer than ever to solving the murder of 26-year-old Sister Cathy Cesnik. The service at the at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pinehurst, North Carolina lasted 1 hour. This begs the question, though, that if White says he included everything he knew, and we know he had to remove names for legal reasons where in the documentary does he reveal these hidden suspects? She'd said no, but they still kept writing love letters and spending time together. He'd even leave his position as a priest and marry her, if only she would agree. People from all over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas for any sign of her. Anyone who saw The Keepers remembers former priest Gerry Koob and his story about the police bringing in Sister Cathys genitals wrapped in newspaper and tossing them on a table in front of Koob. A lot of power. Source:https://www.spreaker.com/user/americancrimecast/sister-cathy-cesnik-part-5-if-i-told-i-wThis episode may not be appropriate for all listeners. On May 17, the Baltimore Sun reported that his DNA did not match a sample that was taken. But I do think that there are individuals who are still living who know exactly what happened, she said. 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. But, on top of that, she had a natural gift for teaching. Savvy internet sleuths have found evidence that James Maskell, a former patrolman, got a woman named Sarah Nell sentenced to a year in prison for biting him while he attempted to assault her. Catherine Cesnik's disappearance scared a lot of people. Her body was found January 3, 1970. 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. Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik was 26 when she disappeared in 1969; her body was found weeks later. Because the federal government keeps stalling and refusing to release information under the FOIA regarding Joyce Maleckis murder, there are likely countless pieces of possibly helpful evidence related to the homicides of both Joyce Malecki and Sister Cathy. And after almost 50 years, Sister Cathy's murder has remained unsolved. 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. They have another project scheduled to come out later this year. It continues to be one of several theories.. More than 40 years after her death, the case of Sister Cathy Cesnik's murder is still unsolved. Another dead end, apparently. Her body was found in Lansdowne, south of Baltimore, on January 3, 1970. They were all young, attractive women, police said, who looked similar. Detectives revealed on Wednesday that after weeks of testing, Maskell's DNA did not match evidence found from the murder scene nearly 50 years ago. 'After that we had to break away from him. [13][14] Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost announced that this discovery does not exclude Maskell from being a suspect in the case. In the show, the audience briefly hears about the fact that Ireland has claims on A. Joseph Maskell, as well, that the Catholic Church continues to cover up. Hoskins and Schaub looked into each of those tips, and the tips have kept coming in for the past five years. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. But, somehow, that evidence vanished, never making it to court. Regardless of why the school is closing, the walls will never be able to talk now. Her unsolved murder served as the basis for the Netflix documentary series The Keepers in 2017. There are a lot of people that are living that should be behind bars, she said. In the 1990s, Jean Wehner came forward and alleged that Father Maskell had sexually abused her and allowed other men to do the same. ', The cop, who died in 2009, said it was a shame because he was certain the priest 'knew more than he was telling. With new evidence cropping up recently, this article has been updated to reflect evenmorefacts and clues that the docuseries overlooked. There are a lot of different stories about how Maskell threatened the girls into silence, and Huffpost has the details. Koob had an alibi for the night he'd been out at a movie with another priest and claimed not to know anything. The words scared Wehner into silence for decades. Maskell was a police chaplain and he knew people in high places that's how they got away with it. She still spends at least part of every day trying to find those people. One of the major theories that The Keepers hypothesizes is that Maskell either killed Sister Cathy or had her killed. Really, the whole thing raises a lot of questions, summarized by Huffpost. However, this is a small step towards justice. 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