death cathy cesnik autopsy photos

However, this is a small step towards justice. There were actually six different murders that might all be connected with each other three teenage girls, a teenage boy, Cesnik, and Joyce Malecki. Cesnik, a 26 . Many of the parents in the area would regularly attend his masses and let him baptize their children. 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. 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. Her body was left out in the open on a slight rise. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. A 1994 story in the Baltimore Sun, revealed that she had information about Cesnik's murdered condition, such as the maggots on her face, known only to the cops. The idea that he terrorized many, and that the Catholic Church chose not to stop him. Inside Baltimore sheds some light on the idea that Cesnik's murder wasn't a lone incident. 15:36 EST 18 May 2017 ", Up Next: Netflix Hidden Gems For Sci-Fi And Fantasy Lovers. Today, almost a half-century later, the murder of Sister Cathy who was once compared to Julie Andrews' character in 'The Sound of Music' because of her beauty and bubbly personality is still one of law enforcement's most mysterious cold cases. May 11, 2017 at 2:54 pm. 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. Sister Cathy was a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School and went missing in Baltimore in 1969. 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. No matter how wrong it seems, it's happened too many times, and the case of Sister Catherine Cesnik is one of those examples. A writ of certiorari was granted by the Maryland Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court decision, ruling in part, "that the mental process of repression of memories of past sexual abuse does not activate the discovery rule. She was last seen just before leaving . Huffpost added that choke marks colored her neck, and a quarter-sized hole in the back of her skull pointed to her actual cause of death blunt force trauma, leading to a skull fracture and brain hemorrhaging. 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. I don't understand what happens on the other side, she said. Peter McKeon and Gerard J. Koob. Then there was a Baltimore gravedigger who told the police Maskell had ordered him to dig a hole in 1991 to bury files. Prior to the funeral, the city of Frederick put purple ribbons [Shan'ann's favorite color] all over the city. 1 of 40. 9:08 PM EDT, Tue May 9, 2017, Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik; Rev. 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. Sister Cathy was left in a remote area of Lansdowne, near a garbage dump. 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. Father Joseph Maskell's body was exhumed from a Baltimore cemetery earlier this year as part of the investigation into the unsolved slaying. Read on to learn about the victim. As it turned out, he had close ties to the police: his brother was a lieutenant, and Maskell was chaplain for the Baltimore County force, along with the state police and the Maryland National Guard. Unless some brave sleuths or particularly inspired detectives go digging, Keough High School is now, for better or worse, closed to a continuing story. They got in touch with the local police, reporting that Cesnik had gone missing. Soon they were linking that abuse to Sister Cathy's murder, and speculation that she was going to blow the whistle and tell all. Sandra Onorati Rzucek, Shan'ann's mother, described Shan'ann as a "fireball". One of the most famous pieces of evidence from the show is the cigarette butt shown in episode six, found near Sister Cathys body. 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. Stuff being crimes, and they're walking around.. Two months later, her body was found in a frozen field in Baltimore County. Maskell's DNA did not match the forensic profile from 1970, although investigators noted that this . There, on the ground, still clad, her face covered with maggots, was the body of Sister Cathy. The words scared Wehner into silence for decades. Investigating a Catholic priest presented challenges, especially in Baltimore a predominantly Catholic city (via Huffpost). Cesnik was 26 and on a sabbatical from the Roman Catholic Church. 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. 1. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. In 1992, two female former students came forward to say Maskell abused them. 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. She still spends at least part of every day trying to find those people. 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. It didn't take long for him to lose his position as a pastor, spending some time in a psychiatric hospital (though he was released shortly after, apparently perfectly fit to work at another 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. Koob had an alibi for the night he'd been out at a movie with another priest and claimed not to know anything. Her body was found in Lansdowne, south of Baltimore, on January 3, 1970. Father Maskell was a counselor and chaplain at Archbishop Keough from 1967 to 1975. 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. People from all over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas for any sign of her. 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.. But, again, that didn't go anywhere, with Maskell always conveniently too busy to talk. True crime is only getting more popular, and Netflix never misses an opportunity to contribute to the zeitgeist, giving us The Keepers. The Keepers was an intense docu-series on Netflix about an unsolved murder, and here are some bits of evidence the show has left out. The only evidence that she had been out, were the buns she had bought at the bakery. This family evidence of anger problems, assaults on others, using a position of power over others to avoid punishment, and the assault on a young woman much like Sister Cathy all point towards a potential pre-existing rage in A. Joseph Maskell that nobody has ever explored. A lot of power. 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. They encourage everyone reading this to question everything, stay hydrated, and treat others with kindness. I've talked to the hunter that found Cathy, and he said that since the day he found her the police have never talked to him. Gemma Hoskins has helped dozens of victims get in touch with their investigators. Outwardly, it seemed like there was little wrong with him. And that wasn't the only time he threatened to expose his victims, saying he would get one of the girls expelled and sent to a facility for having done drugs a secret she'd confided in him because she'd thought he loved her. They already knew the murderer, but looking further would unearth information he wasn't supposed to know. This is huge news regarding Sister Cathy's case. The Huffington Post reported that Maskell told Wehner, "You see what happens when you say bad things about people?"[1]. 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. 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. But it's not the only theory. Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Another article put out by the Baltimore Sun tried to paint a clearer image of the evening. > Licensing inquiries: Email tim.thomas@baltsun.com. 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. They filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against him, the Baltimore Archdiocese, the sisters who ran the school, and a local gynecologist. Her body was found a few months later, discarded unceremoniously in a garbage dump. There might have been more going on here than just bad luck. 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. Another dead end, apparently. Shortly before her disappearance, he'd called her again, telling her that he was still in love with her. Friends which, reportedly, also included uniformed police officers. The church was her life and the people important to her were in the church, said Armacost. Born in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1942, reports the Baltimore Sun, Cesnik was described by her younger sister as devoted and rather ambitious. Youtube. [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. "Buried in Baltimore: The Mysterious Murder of a Nun Who Knew Too Much", "Justice for Sister Cathy is Long Overdue", "With New Lead, Police Reopen Old Murder Case", "Timeline: The Sister Catherine Cesnik Case", "Sister Catherine Cesnik Case: Missing Nun's Body Found in Lansdowne", "Baltimore Priest Victim: Police Were in on Sexual Abuse", "Jane Doe et al. As in, a three-year-old who remembers it. Her unsolved murder served as the basis for the Netflix documentary series The Keepers in 2017. Police dropped him as a target before he died. A young, conspicuously attractive woman, 1 she connected with her students. The sisters were incredibly close, even after Cesnik felt that God had called out to her to become a nun. 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. Either she or Phillips would always make to stop on every second Friday to cash their paychecks. November 1969: Sister Cathy Cesnik disappears. The body was in poor condition but an autopsy revealed that Sister Cesnick died from a blow to her left temple by a blunt . Detective Nick Giangrasso still thought it was someone tied to the church, though, and began to look into Father A. Joseph Maskell. I agree. The plaintiffs appealed. More: Every Original Series Cancelled By Netflix. What the show doesnt touch on, however, is Koobs supposed relationship with Sister Cathy. Locating that stash, investigators found, among other things, nude pictures of underage girls. 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. Hoskins did write about her theory on the killer in her book "Keeping On: How I came To Know Why I Was Born.. 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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. 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 . After the series premiered, messages started to arrive from around the world with new information. After a week of teaching, Sister Cathy, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame, and the daughter of a Pennsylvania postal worker, decided on Friday night that she was going to go shopping. By 1994, they and several other students had filed a lawsuit alleging physical and sexual abuse by Maskell through the 1960s and 1970s, according to Armacost. But I can whole-heartedly say, Cathy has been very much a part of all this.. [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. 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? [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. 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. According to CNN, Bode Cellmark Forensics laboratory in Lorton, Virginia was responsible for comparing the DNA to the sample from the murder scene. The autopsy reportedly found that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. 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 . 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. The Baltimore Sun is republishing archived coverage of the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, which is the subject of a Netflix documentary series set to debut May 19. 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. 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. Netflix's documentary series "The Keepers" dives into the case and uncovers a web of abuse that may . Fans of The Keepers may be surprised to hear that Keough High School, where Sister Cathy and A. Joseph Maskell both taught, closed in July of 2017, following confirmation from the Archdiocese of Baltimore that they paid settlements out to students who had been sexually abused by Maskell. 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. The case made against Joseph Maskell in the 1990s didn't actually last. memorial page for Sr Catherine Anne "Cathy" Cesnik (17 Nov 1942-7 Nov 1969), Find a Grave Memorial ID 61142401, citing . - May 30, 2017 05:42 pm EDT. 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. (Cesnik) was a nun. "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. Their work is featured prominently, in "The Keepers.. 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. ', 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 murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik remains unsolved to this day. There are a lot of people that are living that should be behind bars, she said. "Our best hope for solving this case at this point lies with the people who are still alive. 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. Hoskins and Schaub looked into each of those tips, and the tips have kept coming in for the past five years. Updated Sister Cathy Cesnik & Joyce Malecki. (Handout photo courtesy of . Stories shared by Capital Gazette showed that Cesnik was thought of fondly by all the people she'd worked with, despite being a teacher at Western High School for only a couple months. The news shook a lot of people, to put it lightly. The most terrifying though? Feb 7, 2019 - Justice for Sister Cathy . The youngest I've talked to myself was three, Hoskins said. According to Armacost, Baltimore County police in 1994 took the alleged victims statement seriously and interviewed Maskell, himself once the chaplain for the Baltimore County Police and other area law enforcement agencies. [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. v. A. Joseph Maskell et al. But Maskell's case was complicated further by his ties to the police force through his work as a military chaplain. All Rights Reserved. It started with a freelance journalist, Tom Nugent. 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. 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. We had no idea that people would still be talking about it five years later, and that people would still be watching it five years later.. 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. ', '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. Sister Catherine 'Cathy' Cesnik, a pretty and popular 26-year-old nun who taught at an all-girls Catholic school in Baltimore, was last seen by her roommate, another nun, going off to shop on the evening of Friday November 7, 1969. The 26-year-old nun had been missing for nearly two months. Something was clearly wrong, and so, according to the Baltimore Sun, Helen Russell Phillips called on the help of a few friends revs. Ryan White's aunt attended Archbishop Keough High School, and had stayed in touch with Jean Hargadon-Wehner. 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. More than 40 years after her death, the case of Sister Cathy Cesnik's murder is still unsolved. So-called Grandma Nancy Drew Gemma Hoskins has spent years asking for the federal case files on Joyce Maleckis murder. 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. Expand. See more ideas about catherine, documentaries, unsolved murders. And it was the students who really benefited from that, as Huffpost describes. 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 Keepers' Update: New DNA Evidence Found In Sister Cathy Cesniks Murder Case, 'Yellowstone' Fans Shocked at Series' Reported Demise, Jessica Biel Reacts to Elizabeth Olsen's Candy Montgomery Show 'Love & Death', 'True Lies' Stars Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga Talk Stunts, Style, and the Iconic Beverly D'Angelo Ahead of New CBS Action Series Premiere (Exclusive), 'The View' Hosts Defend Marjorie Taylor Greene: 'I Have to Say, I'm on Marjorie's Side', Eugene Levy Gives Hope to Potential 'Schitt's Creek' Revival, 'Today' Show Fans Concerned as Hoda Kotb's Week-long Absence Continues, Tom Selleck and Larry Manetti Reunite for 'Mangum, P.I.' Catherine Anne Cesnik was born on November 17, 1942, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Just a few days before she vanished, the priest reportedly called her and, once again expressing his love, had asked her to marry him. It had to be somebody who knew her.'. A. Joseph Maskell after securing an order from the states attorney, according to Elise Armacost, director of public affairs for Baltimore County Police. It's been almost five decades since 26-year-old nun and teacher Sister Cathy Cesnik was senselessly murdered back in 1969 and to this day, those closest to her are still looking for answers . prior to the release of the Netflix documentary series 'The Keepers', for DNA testing involving the murder of Cathy Cesnik. They scared the living hell out of us.'. When Wehner could only nod in reply, Cesnik promised that she would take care of it (though Maskell did continue to abuse students after that, too). It's one of those terrible truths of the world that bad things happen to good people. 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. An autopsy attributed her death to a skull fracture caused by a blow to her left temple with a blunt instrument. She left for Baltimore at 18 to join the School Sisters of Notre Dame, eventually going on to teach at Archbishop Keough High School. Updated by Nicole Mello on June 14, 2020: Justice still has not been found for Sister Cathy. Baltimore County Police exhumed the body of a priest for DNA testing in the case She'd spin stories and excuses, telling Maskell that they were studying or otherwise occupied by something that they couldn't get away from. In a school where a number of the teachers seemed to know Joseph Maskell was "weird" but sent students to him at his request, Catherine Cesnik offered a light in a very dark, twisted place. One of the major theories that The Keepers hypothesizes is that Maskell either killed Sister Cathy or had her killed. Investigators dug up Maskell's grav to compare the DNA of Maskell, to evidence from the crime scene. Other times, he would arrange full pseudo brothels. 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. There are countless untold stories backing up the accusations made against A. Joseph Maskell and the Catholic Church that the docuseries doesnt even begin to explore. Discovery Company. It continues to be one of several theories.. 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. So we didn't want to set that as our bar, Hargrave said. Though White says he included absolutely all the information he knew in the documentary, he did contradict himself later by saying, The project was heavily vetted by lawyers there were times when I believed we knew somebody that was involved in the abuse, but we couldn't include a name for legal reasons. True crime buffs will know that this often happens, that the law tangles everything up in red tape so details like names and dates will be removed from stories. Each of their bodies was found in different law enforcement jurisdictions, delaying any connections from being made for many years, according to Armacost. 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). And she has not stopped looking into the murder of her former teacher. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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.
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