The disappearance and brutal murder of school teacher and Catholic nun Sister Cathy Cesnik in 1969 shocked the world, and now Netflix has revisited the unsolved crime in a gripping and hugely popular TV series.
But just what happened to the 26-year-old woman? The series not only looks back at her own disappearance, but that of another woman in the same area at the same time. Meanwhile, as the police investigated the two murders, a series of childhood abuse claims emerged from the school – putting the spotlight firmly on the case and everyone involved.
Producers of the Netflix series have spoken to dozens of Sister Cathy’s friends, former students and authorities linked to the investigation into her murder almost 50 years ago. With photos of her, her fellow teachers and the school from the time, it casts a fresh light on the mystery. Here’s a look at the true story behind the creepy drama.
Sister Cathy was teaching English and drama at the all-girls Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland, when she disappeared on November 7, 1969. Her body was discovered two months later, near a dump in the nearby suburb of Lansdowne – just five miles from her home. A coroner ruled she died from a fracture to her skull, believed to have been caused by a blow to her left temple by a blunt instrument.
The documentary begins by revisiting the night of her disappearance. The much-loved nun left her Carriage House apartment in the evening, telling her flatmate – Sister Helen Russell Phillips – that she was going out to buy an engagement gift.
Later that night, records reportedly showed she cashed a paycheck for $255 at the First National Bank, before possibly making a purchase at a bakery in Edmondson Village, (a box of bakery buns was later found in the front seat of her car).
Her flatmate grew concerned when she still hadn’t returned and called two priest friends, who came round and notified the police. They found Sister Cathy’s car illegally parked across from her apartment complex at 4:40am the next morning. According to the Baltimore Sun, leaves and twigs were also found inside the car along with the bakery buns.
Police began an extensive search of the surrounding area – including some woodland – but didn’t immediately find her.
Just four days later, 20-year-old Joyce Malecki went missing with her car found abandoned in the nearby area. While Malecki’s body was tragically found two days later, Sister Cathy’s wasn’t discovered until two months after her disappearance by a hunter and his son in an informal landfill, on January 3, 1970.
While the crimes are still unsolved, the spotlight remained on the case in the early nineties as two women came forward with accusations of horrific child sex abuse at the school where Sister Cathy worked.
The women, originally identified as ‘Jane Doe’ and ‘Jane Roe’, filed a lawsuit against Father Joseph Maskell claiming he had subjected them to childhood abuse while they were students. He denied the allegations at the time.
More women later came forward to testify about the alleged abuse at Keough High School, however the high profile case was eventually thrown out, as the law in Baltimore reportedly stated at the time that victims of sexual abuse have three years to file a civil lawsuit, and this case fell out of that window.
The women eventually dropped their anonymity, and they both appear in the Netflix documentary series – revealing their true identities as Teresa Lancaster and Jean Wehner.
In the TV series, the women claim that Sister Cathy found out about the alleged abuse, and promised to step in and try to stop it. Jane Doe also speculated that Maskell tried to silence Sister Cathy.
She then alleged he took her to see the tragic nun’s body, before threatening her by saying: “You see what happens when you say bad things about people”.
Maskell died in 2001 from a stroke. According to multiple reports, after getting permission from the State’s attorney’s office, police exhumed his body but did not find a DNA match to evidence from the crime scene. He wasn’t however excluded from being a suspect in the unsolved case.
A group of former students have since started a campaign to find answers and support alleged victims and their families. Led by Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, the group have set up a Facebook page called ‘Justice for Catherine Sesnik and Joyce Malecki’.
“The story is not the nun’s killing,” Schaub tells the filmmakers in the documentary series. “The story is the cover-up of the nun’s story.”