If you've already become hooked on Netflix's new true-crime docu-series, The Keepers, (it was only released on Friday), you'll probably have a ton questions as the episodes unravel. If you've not yet finished the series, some of these questions are likely to centre around Father Joseph Maskell, and what became of him.
The priest features heavily in the seven-part documentary, as it emerges pretty quickly that he systematically abused numerous pupils in the school where he worked as Chaplain, Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. The programme doesn't primarily focus on this long-covered up abuse, but instead on the unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik. She was a 26-year-old nun and English teacher at Keough, whose death is heavily suspected to have arisen because she uncovered the abuse scandal going on under her nose.
Sister Cathy went missing in November 1969, and an investigation into her death began when her body was discovered two months later, in January 1970. She had been killed by a blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but who was the perpetrator?
Fingers certainly point towards Father Maskell, despite the fact he's never been charged in connection with the case, and here's why...
***Warning: contains spoilers***
The ringleader
Father Joseph Maskell grew up in northeast Baltimore and after graduating from Calvert Hall College, he went on to train at a nearby Seminary. He was ordained as a priest in 1965 and shortly after assumed the role of Chaplain at Keough. Described as a "burly"and "charismatic", he took a particular interest in psychology and regularly offered up these services to students at the school.
But Maskell had ulterior motives for taking this route. Keeping a close eye on the pupils at Keough, he handpicked the ones who had traumatic backgrounds - usually of abuse - and targeted them for repeated sexual assault, all the while manipulating them into going along with it out of fear. He was, after all, a member of the clergy, and Baltimore at the time was a staunchly Catholic area.
One of the pupils he abused was Jean Hargadon Wehner, who was only about 14 when the abuse began. He learned through Confession that her uncle had abused her, and subsequently told her that these sins wouldn't be cleansed unless he helped her. This 'cleansing' routine involved repeated sexual acts, where his semen was referred to as the Holy Spirit and she was forced to consume it, believing the Holy Spirit would 'be within her'.
But as the years went on, Father Maskell invited other men to involve themselves with the young girls. As depicted in The Keepers, he would call them out of class and into his office on the PA system, a move that would fill them with dread and fear, where men would be waiting to have their way with them. Some of the girls who were subject to Maskell's abuse ring even recall police officers frequenting his office on occasion, wearing their uniforms as they conducted the unthinkable sexual assault.
The thing was, Maskell held strong links with the police. As well as being Chaplain of Keough, he also served as the Chaplain for the Baltimore County police, the Maryland State Police and the Maryland National Guard. The Huffington Post reports he also possessed a police scanner and a loaded handgun in his car, which he was known to use threateningly on occasion. He was far from the pious priest he proclaimed to be.
When Jean returned the following semester, the abuse had stopped. But just a couple of months later, Sister Cathy was missing and later found to have been killed. Did Father Maskell murder her in an attempt to silence her? Even if he didn't do it himself, Jean is sure he had something to do with the nun's tragic demise.
The abuse, and the accusations of a link to Sister Cathy's murder, wouldn't come to light again until over 20 years later when, in 1992, Jean decided it was time to speak out.
The accusations
Having repressed all memory of the ordeal she'd endured as a teenager at school, Jean was unintentionally reunited with a former peer from her school days in the early 90s. It all began to come back and she knew she had to speak out the abuse.
In the intervening years, Father Maskell had disappeared off Jean's radar but remained in the Baltimore area, moving from parish to parish. He had stayed at Keough High School until 1975, long after Jean left, but the abuse may well have continued. It was only with the arrival of a new principle, S Marylita Friia, "known as a no nonsense nun", that he was eventually removed from the school. She had received complaints from parents about the priest and in response, the headmistress boldly told Maskell he had 15 minutes to pack his bags and get out. So that's exactly what he did.
In 1992, when Jean spoke to the authorities, Maskell was working at Holy Cross parish in Baltimore, but following the allegations he was swiftly sent by the archdiocese to the Institute of Living in Connecticut. There, he received "evaluation and treatment" according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore's website. Naturally, the priest denied the allegation, but when the Archdiocese claimed they were unable to corroborate the claims of sexual abuse a year later in 1993, he was allowed back into ministry.
Despite his denial of there being any truth to Jean's allegations, when police began investigating Father Maskell in relation to Sister Cathy's murder in 1994, the then-55-year-old resigned as pastor. He intended to seek in-patient treatment for the "anxiety and stress caused by a criminal investigation of the sex-abuse allegations and a pending lawsuit," reported an archived article from local newspaper The Sundated December 16th 1994.
The referenced lawsuit had been brought by Jean Hargadon Wehner and another former pupil, Teresa Lancaster, who also claimed the priest had molested her, although this would later be thrown out due to a technicality over the law.
At the time, the Archdiocese would not reveal the whereabouts of Maskell's treatment, but it later emerged he had fled to Ireland. He remained there until his death in 2001.
Fast forward to now
15 years after the priest's death, Father Joseph Maskell's trail of devastation is still clear. In 2016 the archdiocese of Baltimore announced it had paid sums of money to at least 12 of his victims. Sean Caine, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told the Baltimore Sun that a large proportion of this money was intended to cover the costs of counselling the victims would need following the ordeals they endured.
"There's no amount of money that could ever adequately compensate the survivors for what they've gone through," said Sheldon Jacobs, a lawyer representing the victims.
Police have clearly been spurred on by the truth that has emerged where the allegations of Maskell's long stint of sexual assault are concerned, and decided to go so far as to exhume his body from its grave this year. Their intention was to compare his DNA with the little remaining evidence from the scene of where Sister Cathy's body was found. Just days prior to The Keepers' release on Netflix, however, it was announced that there was no DNA match discovered, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's case closed.
Maybe we'll never know if Father Joseph Maskell played a part in Sister Catherine Cesnik's death - either directly or indirectly - but one thing is for certain: his devastating legacy lives on for many still today.
