The murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik
Baltimore, Baltimore County County, Maryland · November 7, 1969
Baltimore County police dug up a deceased priest accused of abuse by former students, to test his DNA against evidence from a nun's 1969 murder; the lab excluded him, and police said that on its own does not clear him.
Overview
On the evening of Friday, November 7, 1969, Sister Catherine Cesnik, a 26-year-old English teacher at Western High School in Baltimore, left her apartment to run errands at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center and did not come back. Her roommate and two priests reported her missing early the next morning, and a priest found her unlocked car a few blocks from the apartment. A large search by city police turned up no trace of her. On January 3, 1970, two hunters found her body in a remote area in Lansdowne, in Baltimore County, near Monumental Avenue, and Baltimore County police took over the investigation. It has never been solved. In the 1990s, former students of Archbishop Keough High School, where she had once taught, accused a priest who had served there of abuse, and one told police he had shown her the nun's body. In 2017, county police exhumed the priest and tested his DNA; the laboratory excluded him as a contributor to the DNA from the scene. No one has been charged.
Where it stands
The case is open and no one has been charged. The most concrete recent development remains the 2017 exhumation. Baltimore County police, who took over the homicide investigation in January 1970, exhumed the body of A. Joseph Maskell, a priest who had been a chaplain and counselor at Archbishop Keough High School, where Cesnik had taught, and who died in 2001. Former students began accusing him of sexual abuse in 1992, and in 1994 one told county police he had taken her to see Cesnik's body; police noted inconsistencies in her account and said he was interviewed at length but was not considered a prime suspect. Maskell denied the accusations and denied knowing anything about her death. On May 17, 2017, county police said a laboratory had excluded him as a contributor to the DNA from the scene. A spokeswoman said that did not necessarily clear him: it meant current forensic technology had found no physical link. Police say they have compared the DNA of about half a dozen other suspects since the 1990s, with no match, and that the crime scene profile has matched nothing in the FBI's national database. County police also said they have identified another suspect who is still living and gave no details. The county's own case page says its best hope now lies with people who are still alive and willing to come forward, and lists a reward of up to $2,000. The theory that Cesnik was killed because she knew of abuse, explored in Netflix's "The Keepers," has never been established, police said; the archdiocese says it has no record of any report by her and that it cooperated fully with police. Sources also differ on when she was reported missing and on whether her body lay in Lansdowne or Halethorpe.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- A. Joseph MaskellDeceased
Former Archbishop Keough High School students accused Maskell, a chaplain and counselor there, of sexual abuse beginning in 1992, and in 1994 one told county police he had shown her Cesnik's body; police noted inconsistencies in her account and said he was not considered a prime suspect at the time. He denied the abuse allegations and denied knowing anything about her death, and died in 2001 without being criminally charged. In 2017 a laboratory excluded him as a contributor to the DNA from the scene; police said the result does not necessarily clear him.[2]
- A living suspect identified by Baltimore County policeNot publicly named
A Baltimore County police spokeswoman said in May 2017 that police have identified another suspect who is still living and offered no details. County police have said one living suspect was reinterviewed in 2016.[3]
Sources
- Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik
“The DNA sample taken from the remains of former priest A. Joseph Maskell did not match DNA from the murder scene of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik.”
- Police: Exhumed priest’s DNA does not match evidence from crime scene killing of Sister Cathy
“Police said they received results from a forensics lab in Virginia on Wednesday that excluded Maskell as a contributor to the DNA from the scene.”
- Priest’s body exhumed from Randallstown Cemetery in investigation of Baltimore nun’s decades-old killing
“They also have identified another suspect who is still living, she said. She did not offer details.”
- Timeline: The Sister Catherine Cesnik case
“Baltimore County Police take over the homicide investigation, which remains open to this day.”
- Archdiocese reaffirms church fully cooperated with 1969 murder investigation
“The archdiocese has no record of any report, verbal or written, by Sister Cathy.”
- The Story Behind 'The Keepers': The Murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik
“We feel cautiously optimistic that we can solve it, though the older a case gets the more difficult it is to clear.”
- New developments in murder case of beloved Baltimore nun, subject of new Netflix doc
“"Our detectives feel that this case can never be fully resolved until we look at his DNA, compare it to the remaining evidence and determine whether it matched," said Armacost.”
- Could Murder Of Sister Cathy Be Connected To Other Killings?
“"We'll continue to try to look for any leads, any additional evidence that we can find," said Corporal Shawn Vinson, with the Baltimore County Police Department.”
- Maryland report details sex abuse allegations against 150 Catholic priests
“Detectives exhumed his body several years ago while investigating the still unsolved cold case homicide of Catherine Ann Cesnik, a nun who disappeared from a Baltimore shopping center in 1969.”