On November 7, 1969, Sister Cathy went shopping. However, the woman did not return home that night. Her concerned roommate quickly alerted priests Gerard J. Koob and Peter McKeon. The men showed up at the women’s apartment almost immediately and then reported Cathy missing to the police station.
She went shopping and never came home
Unfortunately, in the first weeks of the investigation, the officers failed to find any leads. However, two months later, in early January 1970, the nun’s body was found in a small town outside Baltimore. From the case file, we can learn that the woman died as a result of bleeding into the brain. Significantly, her body was mutilated. Traces of strangulation were found on it. It was also determined that Cathy had been hit in the back of the head. Perhaps this was done with a small hammer. “But it could also have been a priest’s ring,” Detective Louis George Roemer told Inside Baltimore. Unfortunately, after finding Cathy’s body, the police were unable to find any reasonable lead. For this reason, the case was discontinued.
She knew that the priest molested the girls
Despite the passage of several decades, the case still arouses interest. The series “The Keepers”, which appeared on Netflix in 2017, certainly contributed to this. According to the theory presented in the document, Father Joseph Maskell, who was an adviser to the archbishop, was responsible for the nun’s murder. The man was also a teacher at the school where Cathy’s sister worked. As we learn from the Netflix series, the nun was to find out that the priest was molesting her students. Maskell, however, was afraid that the woman would report it to the police. Interestingly, the clergyman was never questioned or charged with this matter. Perhaps the fact that the priest’s brother was a policeman contributed to this.
The priest escaped punishment
In 2002, the Archdiocese of Baltimore released a list of clergy accused of child molestation. Significantly, Joseph Maskell, who died the year before, was also on the list. It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that he was charged with harassment, he avoided punishment. He fled to Ireland before being tried. The Baltimore Sun has revealed that since 2011, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has paid nearly $500,000 in settlements to 16 victims who accused a priest of sexual abuse. Most of them are women, but the list also includes men, including one who was molested by a priest in the 1950s during a church camp. In February 2017, the priest’s body was exhumed. However, it turned out that his DNA did not match the traces found on the woman’s body. According to police, however, this discovery does not rule out Maskell as a suspect in the case.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
