Who Killed Sister Cathy Cesnik and Joyce Malecki?

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by entyss

I didn't understand the conflicting theories that Sr. Russell was in the apartment waiting for Cathy or that the guy from downstairs killed Cathy in the apartment and rolled her up in a rug..don't they cancel each other out?

Yeah, after episode 1, there seemed to a string of differing (& at times conflicting) theories & suspects. They were all tenuously connected as theoretical cover-ups of the sex abuse within the Catholic school..
But the first episode implied that the nun's murder may have been linked to another killing- J. Malecki (same area, same week, similar circumstances). The initial theory sounded more like the work of a serial killer. I think it's plausible Sister Cathy was poised to expose a sex abuse scandal, but was incidentally killed by a random serial killer.
I feel like Sister Cathy's murder, & her knowledge of the sexual abuse are two different stories to analyze, not necessarily linked (?) Props to the documentarian tho for illuminating any & all theories.. just hope none were slanderous.

[Mike from back east]

Saw the first 3 episodes so far this weekend. Think I'll get a bottle of wine and watch one or two more tonight.

These murders happened in my neighborhood (Lansdowne) where I was living at the time while working at Domino Sugar. I don't recall either event, but all the pictures are quite familiar.

Until I see all the episodes I will reserve my opinions on who did what and if Father Maskell did one or both murders. Maskell was at St. Clements church in Lansdowne at the time of the murders and since he was connected to the police he was the guy some people went to for getting traffic tickets fixed. The allegations made against Maskell are truly horrific and I suspect they're true.

[CinderFella7]

I watched this through twice. Once a little while after it first came out in November 2017 and again in March 2019. As sad and disturbing as it is, it is a great docuseries.

It's scary to see how corrupt the Catholic Church was/is (I'm sure other churches are corrupt to, but just stating facts relating to this series). It's also scary to see how corrupt state governments can be... lest we forget the connection the state has in this case.

Edit: I said state government corruption, I should also add, county and city corruption too. Mike's review refreshed my memory

[Mike from back east]

Finished all 7 episodes last night, here's my take on what I think is the case.

To start, I have to dismiss Joyce Malecki’s death from any association to Sister Cathy’s death. Unless I missed it, I saw no connection between her and any of the others. Yes she lived two blocks from Maskell when he was at St. Clements in Lansdowne, MD (where I lived at the time) but it did not say if she went to Keogh or Lansdowne high school or if she went to church at St. Clements. Unless I missed something I’m going with my original ‘bad date’ theory and that Joyce's murder just happened at the same time. My bad date theory is that she drove down to an area we knew as Boomtown, just outside the gates of Ft. Meade. I suspect she went to a bar to find a soldier to hook up with and that is who I think killed her and dumped the body in the woods near the Little Patuxent River. I doubt the Lansdowne crowd knew the back roads on Ft Meade, MD.

For Sister Cathy, I think she was killed by Billy Schmidt and Ed Davidson, both of whom came home to their wives with blood on their clothes. This was 20 years before DNA evidence became a thing. Even though these guys came home with bloody clothes, and they knew Sister Cathy was missing, neither wife called the police. IIRC it was Billy who told his wife that the reason he drank was because he just killed a woman and IIRC he was the one who kept a mannequin in the attic dressed in a nun’s habit. He eventually killed himself after six or seven tries and claimed he couldn’t take it any more. Billy’s family home was in Halethorpe near where the body was dumped so Billy knew the area well. Both of these guys were at Sister Cathy’s apartment and IIRC were there the night she died. Billy lived next door to Cathy, how convenient. If Sister Russell (Sister Cathy's roomie) was a witness, she probably was scared into silence and took any knowledge of the crime to the grave, as did Billy and Ed Davidson and the two priests.

The two priests were at Sister Cathy’s apartment the night before the murder. Did they visit Billy and plant in his mind that Sister Cathy was a threat to them with her “lies” about abuse? IIRC Billy adored Father Maskell and as such he may well have done the deed to protect his hero. My sister thinks one of crooked cops killed Sister Cathy with his nightstick and the Billy and Ed just dumped the body.

The city and county police were in bed with Maskell and crooked as hell. Maskell's brother was a city cop and Maskell was chaplain to both the city and county PDs. The city police said they lost the evidence box -- pure BS, it was destroyed on purpose. The church covered up everything they were very powerful in local affairs, still are.

The whole case sucks. It’s been 51 years and will never be solved as the various persons pass away.

But by coming forward the two women who did the investigation have warned parents to teach their children about abuse and how to prevent it. At least I hope so.

What I also take away is that in 1969 most kids had almost no sex education; they were ignorant and vulnerable to manipulations by people like Maskell. Back then, far too many parents didn’t teach their kids about all these bodily functions and almost all religions still demonize sex as a sin and always seem to blame the girls, not the boys.

I agree that The Keepers was simply outstanding.

[Mike from back east]

My sister still lives in that area of Baltimore and has been following this topic. A lot of what I wrote in post #34 seems to be wrong based on what I've learned this week from my sister. Wikipedia article here.

The case is back in the news this week. The story is on NBC4 in DC, to inform us that the body of Ms. Malecki is being exhumed to look for DNA evidence. There is suspicion that a certain Catholic Priest (Father Maskell) may have killed both Sister Cathy and Joyce Malecki. Joyce lived in Lansdowne, MD, 21227, just 2 block away from our home.

From my sister:

The real crime is the church covered all this up. Now the Catholic diocese in Baltimore is bankrupt from paying money out to victims. I also heard Father Maskell was sent to Ireland and he did the same thing. I think that in the end they revoked his degree as a priest. Then I heard they sent him back to the U S. Not sure but I think that is what happened to him before he passed. One survivor went to see him when he was in Stella Maris hospital, she said he was just dead mentally, staring at the ceiling the whole time. She said yes he is serving his time in hell.

My sister told me about some run-ins her in-laws had with Father Maskell who had starting hitting on her SIL at which time her FIL went to the church and got in Father Maskell face about it.

More from my sister:

Was watching the local channel 13 news, it's all over the news, but what I did find out is, there were 6 murders they think Father Maskell may be tied to. One Alter Boy, Francis (Denny) Crocetti, from Our Lady of Victory, 4414 Wilkens Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21229, was stabbed to death with an ice pick and found behind the church. They said Maskell was a priest there. Then there was a group of other murders, girls who attended St. Clements in Lansdowne. Joyce Malecki for one, the nun Sister Cathy, then a Pamela Conyers, Heather Porter, Grace (Gay) Montanye. All attend St. Clements, two lived in Lansdowne, it did not say where the others lived.

They interviewed the 2 living sisters of the one girl, she was only 13. They said the police found hair, flesh under her fingernails and a piece of clothing, and they wanted to know why they wouldn't exhume her body for DNA. The one sister broke down and cried, the other had teary eyes. It reported that he had the same charges against him in Ireland so they sent him back here to the US. Many people once considered a person of interest have now passed away, some creep name Edgar and others, and one girl identified a cop who had raped her but he also has passed.

It talked about Father Maskell being a Chaplin at Ft. Meade, and that is where they found Joyce Melecki's body on Ft. Meade; one girl was found behind Harundale Mall (Glen Burnie, MD) where Joyce Melecki had gone to do Christmas shopping. Malecki's sister said Joyce told her to stay away from Maskell, there were a whole bunch of things. Maskell also sent a card to Joyce's family after she passed, but they were members of that church. They should have asked if other members of the church got a sympathy card when they lost a family member.

One female victim is now an attorney and she said the Baltimore Archdiocese is as crooked as you can get. They will not release any information that they have on Father Maskell. The FBI will not release any documents on Joyce Melecki, she stated she has the right to see them under the FOIA, Freedom of Information Act. But they also refuse to release them. So they whole freaking system is crooked.

Here are some more links.

https://screenrant.com/keepers-piece...gh-high-school

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2464265.html

https://www.baltimoresun.com/?s=joyc...ate&order=desc