eSJayBee
04-26-2004, 03:08 PM
Priest charged in nun’s bizarre killing in 1980
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source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4836319/)
Allegations of satanic ceremony lead to reopening of Toledo case
TOLEDO, Ohio - A Roman Catholic priest was arraigned Monday on charges that he stabbed a nun to death, a 1980 murder case reopened after another woman alleged she was sexually abused by priests during bizarre rituals.
The woman's allegations were not substantiated, but one priest she accused, the Rev. Gerald Robinson, was arraigned Monday on murder charges. Bail was set at $200,000 and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Monday.
No plea was entered and Robinson did not speak during the brief court session.
Robinson, 66, was charged Friday with killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, who was strangled and stabbed about 30 times on April 5, 1980. Her body was found in a hospital chapel, surrounded by lit candles with her arms folded across her chest.
Robinson and Pahl had worked together for several years at Mercy Hospital. Robinson, the hospital’s chaplain, performed the funeral for Sister Pahl, 71.
Killing allegedly part of ‘ceremony’
Police detective Steve Forrester and Tom Ross, an investigator with the Lucas County Prosecutor’s office, told The Blade of Toledo that the nun’s killing was part of a “ceremony” in the chapel. They would not elaborate.
After Monday's hearing, friends and supporters of the priest were trying to raise bail money, said Robinson's attorney, John Thebes.
"I think he's over the initial shock," Thebes said. He said he expects the case to be presented to a grand jury this week.
Thebes has questioned the strength of the new evidence that led to the charges. "There's a reason these cases are cold and sit for 24 years, because the evidence is not good to begin with," he told The Blade on Saturday.
In December, authorities re-examined old evidence and concluded that the murder weapon, which they did not identify, was “in the control of the suspect.” They used “blood transfer patterns,” a rarely used technology that analyzes the patterns made when an item is laid down. DNA evidence was not a factor, Forrester said.
A message seeking additional comment was left with Ross on Sunday.
The woman whose allegations led to the reopening of the case testified before the Diocesan Review Board on June 11 and wrote a detailed statement alleging years of abuse by Toledo diocesan and religious-order priests during her childhood.
“She did mention Father Robinson and that he was involved in the ritualistic abuse of her,” said Claudia Vercelloti, a director of the Toledo office for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and has been in contact with the woman.
Satanic ceremonies?
The woman, now in her 40s, described satanic ceremonies in which priests placed her in a coffin filled with cockroaches, forced her to ingest what she believed to be a human eyeball and penetrated her with a snake “to consecrate these orifices to Satan.”
She also alleged that the group of clerics killed an infant and a 3-year-old child, performed an abortion on her and mutilated dogs during the rituals, according to a copy of her statement.
Before his arrest, Robinson was performing pastoral care at nursing homes and hospitals in the Toledo area, the Toledo diocese said.
Vercelloti said on Sunday that the woman did not know that Robinson had been a suspect in Sister Pahl’s killing. “I don’t know if she knew what she was setting in motion,” she said.
The diocese decided against turning over the allegations to authorities because they had been made earlier and investigated, said Sally Oberski, a diocese spokeswoman.
“They were found to be non-credible,” she said Sunday. The allegations were against several priests and Robinson’s “name was mentioned among several others.”
Vercelloti said the diocese should have given the information to police and prosecutors because Robinson had been a suspect in the nun’s death.
Calls to the prosecutor’s office and home were not answered Sunday.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Video/040426/n_nun_slain_040426.275w.jpg
source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4836319/)
Allegations of satanic ceremony lead to reopening of Toledo case
TOLEDO, Ohio - A Roman Catholic priest was arraigned Monday on charges that he stabbed a nun to death, a 1980 murder case reopened after another woman alleged she was sexually abused by priests during bizarre rituals.
The woman's allegations were not substantiated, but one priest she accused, the Rev. Gerald Robinson, was arraigned Monday on murder charges. Bail was set at $200,000 and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Monday.
No plea was entered and Robinson did not speak during the brief court session.
Robinson, 66, was charged Friday with killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, who was strangled and stabbed about 30 times on April 5, 1980. Her body was found in a hospital chapel, surrounded by lit candles with her arms folded across her chest.
Robinson and Pahl had worked together for several years at Mercy Hospital. Robinson, the hospital’s chaplain, performed the funeral for Sister Pahl, 71.
Killing allegedly part of ‘ceremony’
Police detective Steve Forrester and Tom Ross, an investigator with the Lucas County Prosecutor’s office, told The Blade of Toledo that the nun’s killing was part of a “ceremony” in the chapel. They would not elaborate.
After Monday's hearing, friends and supporters of the priest were trying to raise bail money, said Robinson's attorney, John Thebes.
"I think he's over the initial shock," Thebes said. He said he expects the case to be presented to a grand jury this week.
Thebes has questioned the strength of the new evidence that led to the charges. "There's a reason these cases are cold and sit for 24 years, because the evidence is not good to begin with," he told The Blade on Saturday.
In December, authorities re-examined old evidence and concluded that the murder weapon, which they did not identify, was “in the control of the suspect.” They used “blood transfer patterns,” a rarely used technology that analyzes the patterns made when an item is laid down. DNA evidence was not a factor, Forrester said.
A message seeking additional comment was left with Ross on Sunday.
The woman whose allegations led to the reopening of the case testified before the Diocesan Review Board on June 11 and wrote a detailed statement alleging years of abuse by Toledo diocesan and religious-order priests during her childhood.
“She did mention Father Robinson and that he was involved in the ritualistic abuse of her,” said Claudia Vercelloti, a director of the Toledo office for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and has been in contact with the woman.
Satanic ceremonies?
The woman, now in her 40s, described satanic ceremonies in which priests placed her in a coffin filled with cockroaches, forced her to ingest what she believed to be a human eyeball and penetrated her with a snake “to consecrate these orifices to Satan.”
She also alleged that the group of clerics killed an infant and a 3-year-old child, performed an abortion on her and mutilated dogs during the rituals, according to a copy of her statement.
Before his arrest, Robinson was performing pastoral care at nursing homes and hospitals in the Toledo area, the Toledo diocese said.
Vercelloti said on Sunday that the woman did not know that Robinson had been a suspect in Sister Pahl’s killing. “I don’t know if she knew what she was setting in motion,” she said.
The diocese decided against turning over the allegations to authorities because they had been made earlier and investigated, said Sally Oberski, a diocese spokeswoman.
“They were found to be non-credible,” she said Sunday. The allegations were against several priests and Robinson’s “name was mentioned among several others.”
Vercelloti said the diocese should have given the information to police and prosecutors because Robinson had been a suspect in the nun’s death.
Calls to the prosecutor’s office and home were not answered Sunday.