The Keepers: Netflix's Deep Dive Into a Nun's Unsolved Murder

Director Ryan White's seven-episode documentary series 'The Keepers' premiered on Netflix on May 19, 2017, bringing renewed attention to one of America's most troubling unsolved murders. The series centers on Catherine Cesnik, known as Sister Cathy, a nun who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School, an all-girls Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland.

Cesnik vanished on November 7, 1969. Two months later, on January 3, 1970, two hunters discovered her badly decomposed remains in a dump near a field in Lansdowne, Baltimore County. An autopsy revealed she had been killed by a blow to the head from a blunt object. Investigators also noted marks around her neck indicating choking and a distinctive round hole, approximately the size of a small coin, in the back of her skull.

What makes the case particularly complex is not just the murder itself, but the web of allegations that emerged decades later. According to former students interviewed in the series, Father A. Joseph Maskell, the school's chaplain, sexually abused multiple girls at the institution. One of the most compelling testimonies came from Jean Hargadon Wehner, referred to as "Jane Doe" in the documentary. Wehner, who was 16 at the time, claimed that Maskell drove her to view Cesnik's body just days after the nun's disappearance in November 1969.

The connection between Cesnik and Maskell's alleged abuse is central to understanding potential motives for her murder. Evidence suggests that Cesnik had become aware of Maskell's predatory behavior toward students and may have posed a threat to his continued presence at the school. This knowledge could have made her a liability to those seeking to protect him or cover up the abuse.

The investigation went cold after Cesnik's body was discovered, remaining dormant for decades. It wasn't until the early 2010s that the case gained fresh momentum. Former students Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, both survivors of alleged abuse, began their own investigation in 2013. Their efforts proved productive: they established a tip line that generated new leads, including potential suspects Edgar Davidson and Billy Schmidt, whose names appear in the fifth episode of the series.