The Nun's Murder

Dear Olivia,
I found a documentary on Netflix that I feel you would enjoy watching. It is called The Keepers. I started the series because I like murder mysteries. I only intended on watching an episode or two, but like every other series I’ve started, I had to finish it. As I was watching The Keepers, I thought of you, Olivia. Not only does the story of Nun Cathy Cesnik involve murder, but it also involves sexual abuse allegations. Now I know you deal with sexually based offenses in the Special Victims Unit, so I thought this might interest you. The Keepers is about two former students of Nun Catherine Ann Cesnik, who taught at a public Catholic high school in the 1960s. The murder occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. Cesnik was murdered in 1969, but to this day it remains a mystery as to who killed her. The two former students, Gemma and Abbie, decided to make a documentary on their journey of investigating the murder of their beloved teacher. What they didn’t realize was that there is so much more to Cesnik’s story than they ever knew. As they begin to dig deeper into what happened that night in 1969, they uncover more than they bargained for.

As Abbie and Gemma begin their digging into Cesnik’s story, they discover that the priest, Joseph Maskell, who was working as a chaplain at Keough High School at the time of Cesnik’s murder and also while Abbie and Gemma attended there, has sexual abuse allegations against him. Every time an allegation was brought against him, it would mysteriously fall flat. Abbie and Gemma were never abused and they had no idea that it was happening to their very own classmates. The show digs deep into a few of the women’s abuse stories, and especially one, Jane Doe. Jane Doe came forward in 1992 after she began to remember things that happened during her high school years at Keough. She has something called repressed memories, where she buried those memories of sexual abuse from Maskell, and come to find out, a few other men in her town, because they were traumatizing and she needed to be able to put that behind her as she began her life. Eventually, we find out that Jane Doe’s name is Jean Wehner. When she came out with the allegations against Maskell in 1992, she was afraid for her safety, so she was published in the newspaper articles and news stories anonymously as Jane Doe.

Something else I wanted to mention to you is about the sexual abuse victims in the story. Since you deal with victims of that nature almost on a daily basis, I wasn’t sure if you were able to see how those abuses affect the rest of the victim’s lives. In The Keepers, we get to see victims talk about their experiences from fifty years ago and how they pushed it aside to be able to move on with their lives. I’m not sure if you have much experience with how sexual abuse affects the lives of the victims long-term or not, so I think this series would be a good watch for you. One thing that is mentioned by Jane Doe, I believe, is that many of the victims battled addictions throughout their lives and I think she even said there have been classmates and others she attended Keough with who committed or attempted suicide, as they couldn’t handle those memories of abuse any longer. Jane Doe mentioned that there could have been so many more lives saved if the victims would have come together and brought each of their stories of abuse to the public and the police sooner, but at the time, Maskell had them scared for their lives.

As I don’t want to spoil the series for you, I’m not going to tell you too much about what Abbie and Gemma find out as they dig into Cesnik’s story. Many of the suspects in the mystery are dead, as this happened 49 years ago. So since it wasn’t solved almost fifty years ago when it occurred, it is now a cold case and is much more difficult to solve as so much time has passed. Something that doesn’t help with solving it is that so many documents from the case have mysteriously disappeared and the Baltimore County police department nor the Archdiocese of Baltimore have much of an explanation for. There have been so many improvements in the technology used in solving crimes since the sixties, so if it were to take place now, I feel that with DNA testing and fingerprinting technology, it would be easier to find the killer(s).

Let me know what you think,
Morgan

The Keepers

Okay, guys, I just watched the first episode of this show called The Keepers. Initially I chose it because of the odd cover art they chose-- a simple black and white head shot of a nun with the face peeled and under it a white space with the name of the show. At first I was like wait, what? Keepers of what? Our sins? Is that even what nuns do? Is it about keeping secrets? Is it one of those religion-gone-rogue kind of deals? After about the third question I was like okay I'm done scrolling, I have to find out what the heck is going on with this show.

If you're somebody who is still intrigued and a little stressed about the Kurt Cobain death, you generally enjoy watching killers get caught (or at least the process because *spoiler* you don't find out exactly who did it in the first episode), or you think watching badass grandmas try and figure out who killed their favorite teacher from the 60's is slightly interesting, you should check out the show. I, myself, am one of those people I described up there that loves murder mysteries; I can really get into a good James Patterson and Taken movie. This show is not only interesting because it's from an odd perspective, but it's about a person that you don't always expect to be in the headlines in a 45+ year open case... in other words, it's cool.

In class the other day we watched that CineFix video about the camera angles and what they said about the low angle vs. high angle stuck out to me particularly in the opening part of the episode. It starts out at a low angle of this old guy in an ancient looking grey sweatshirt heading up some creaky and creepy stairs into some sort of attic. Following that, there were various types of zoom that looked like the camera was coming from the point of view of someone who snuck up there and was trying to video him for evidence. That whole combo got my brain on hyperdrive like oh shit this is the killer, we're totally seeing a reenactment of the killing or something. The next shot was an interview-like frame and his name popped up and also his job title... He was the lead journalist... Turns out I was just super excited/paranoid/nervous. Oops.

Anywho, as the episode continues I became less and less focused on the editing and style of the piece (AKA essentially what we're supposed to be doing for the class) and before I knew it I was fully into trying to find out what on Earth happened to Sister Catherine. That being said, I recognized some amateur-looking shots and techniques in the beginning (like the odd zoom and misleading point of view) but as the show went on it either transitioned into something really professional or I was too into the show to pay attention to the effects, or perhaps both. Who knows, that's kind of cool too if they did shift into more professional shots because it might have been their goal to make you pay attention and blend the effects into the back of your mind. It's a must see and I will be watching the rest of it (and hopefully paying more attention to the techniques) so let me know your thoughts if you decide to give it a try!