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 . 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. One of the students was actually there to talk about Maskell the night before Cesnik disappeared, only for Maskell himself to barge into the apartment. 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. The autopsy concluded her cause of death . A. Joseph Maskell after securing an order from the states attorney, according to Elise Armacost, director of public affairs for Baltimore County Police. Their work is featured prominently, in "The Keepers.. Another woman, Teresa Lancaster, also came forward. v. A. Joseph Maskell et al. Jean Wehner also added that, one day, Cesnik took her aside, just to ask if the priests were hurting her. It's one of those terrible truths of the world that bad things happen to good people. It's hard to say what's true. Discovery Company. 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 mutilated body of the 26-year-old teacher was found on January 3, 1970. The student let herself out right away but could tell that Maskell knew what was happening. And when those kids got older, Maskell would give them rides home or to appointments. Photo of Sister Cathy Cesnik (Image Source: Daily Mail) On November 7, 1969, Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik disappeared. An autopsy revealed a skull fracture caused by a blow to Sister Catherine's left temple by a blunt instrument. 'After that we had to break away from him. 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). 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. 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. Pamela Lynn Conyers, 16, was last seen at the shopping mall in Glen Burnie on October 16, 1970, police said. 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. [7] She cashed a paycheck at First National Bank in Catonsville that night. Did you encounter any technical issues? "Our best hope for solving this case at this point lies with the people who are still alive. It had to be somebody who knew her.'. 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. It made sense that she'd gone into some kind of wooded area, and with Leakin Park near where the car was found, it was a place to start. 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. She was last seen just before leaving . Catherine Anne Cesnik was born on November 17, 1942, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against him, the Baltimore Archdiocese, the sisters who ran the school, and a local gynecologist. One of them, Jean Wehner, was the student who claimed Maskell had taken her to view Cesnik's body in the dump. They have another project scheduled to come out later this year. Expand. Read on to learn about the victim. Feb 7, 2019 - Justice for Sister Cathy . 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 . ', 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. She Was Found Fatally Beaten Two Months After Disappearing in 1969. 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. Updated by Nicole Mello on June 14, 2020: Justice still has not been found for Sister Cathy. 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. But, again, that didn't go anywhere, with Maskell always conveniently too busy to talk. Advocates, filmmakers say they have not given up. Investigating detectives found no leads on Cesnik's death, and the investigation was later abandoned. Copyright 2023 PopCulture.com. Jan. 3, 1970, changed that. [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. 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. Netflix's documentary series "The Keepers" dives into the case and uncovers a web of abuse that may . Maskell was a police chaplain and he knew people in high places that's how they got away with it. The case made against Joseph Maskell in the 1990s didn't actually last. 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. Other times, he would arrange full pseudo brothels. There were actually six different murders that might all be connected with each other three teenage girls, a teenage boy, Cesnik, and Joyce Malecki. 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. 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. Even after Cesnik left her job at Keough and took a position at Western, she still gave the girls a safe space to talk. James Maskell, A. Joseph Maskells uncle, is a similarly powerful and threatening figure that deserves to be prodded harder. An autopsy attributed her death to a skull fracture caused by a blow to her left temple with a blunt instrument. 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. 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. The service at the at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pinehurst, North Carolina lasted 1 hour. Youtube. A Warner Bros. A lack of information about his life at the time has made deeper research difficult; however, viewers now know that Robert Flaherty was accused in a separate sex abuse scandal, as well. One of the most famous pieces of evidence from the show is the cigarette butt shown in episode six, found near Sister Cathys body. 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. She'd spin stories and excuses, telling Maskell that they were studying or otherwise occupied by something that they couldn't get away from. 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. 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. 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. 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. People from all over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas for any sign of her. . 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). Not every story that Ryan White heard gets told in The Keepers. Locating that stash, investigators found, among other things, nude pictures of underage girls. 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. 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. But Maskell's case was complicated further by his ties to the police force through his work as a military chaplain. RELATED:Everything Available At Launch On HBO Max. Baltimore County Police exhumed the body of a priest for DNA testing in the case Each of their bodies was found in different law enforcement jurisdictions, delaying any connections from being made for many years, according to Armacost. Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. But that lead didn't go anywhere. There are a lot of people that are living that should be behind bars, she said. 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. Cesnik, a 26 . The next time the young nun was seen, it was by a female student from Cesnik's school, Archbishop Keough High School. 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. Regardless of why the school is closing, the walls will never be able to talk now. 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?'. He died in 2001, police said. ", court of Appeals of Maryland, No. Reunion on 'Blue Bloods', 'Sister Wives' Star Meri Brown Clarifies Her Sexuality After Split From Kody. - May 30, 2017 05:42 pm EDT. 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.On November 7, 1969, Cesnik disappeared. So it probably wasn't the result of some random act of violence. Maybe that was why a homicide detective was told to drop the case in the 1970s, blocked from investigating because higher-ups were "protecting someone." They were all young, attractive women, police said, who looked similar. Determining whether Maskells DNA matches the evidence remaining from the crime scene is a box that must be checked, said Armacost. Father Neil Magnus Is A Possible Suspect On 'The Keepers'. November 1969: Sister Cathy Cesnik disappears. For us, our bar was more about bringing these womens experiences to light and starting this conversation.. On May 17, the Baltimore Sun reported that his DNA did not match a sample that was taken. Joseph Cesnik in 1930 Census; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; 1930 United States Federal Census; National Archives and Records Administration. 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. BALTIMORE "The Keepers" premiered on Netflix, on May 19th, 2017, bringing worldwide attention to the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. 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. RELATED: 10 Exciting New Netflix Originals Still Coming In 2019. 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 Boston Archdiocese had been regularly making private settlements, paying for silence when it came to reports of abuse by priests. 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 . But amidst the many . The series also renewed the investigations into the murders of two women, Sister Cathy Cesnik and Joyce Malecki. Theres no question she told them she would do something about it.. 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. On January 3, 1970, the body of Catherine Cesnik was found by two hunters. catherine cesnik autopsy photos. Father Maskell was a counselor and chaplain at Archbishop Keough from 1967 to 1975. All over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas any. 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