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1980, 71 year old sister Margaret Ann Paul was murdered in the sacristy of Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. The scene looked like something out of a horror movie. Not only had Margaret apparently been sexually assaulted, but the killer had also carved an inverted cross into her skull stomach. Local police placed a Catholic officer, Sergeant Arthur Marks, in charge of the case. The first thing Marks did was order his detectives to Interview every hospital employee they could find. He hoped one of them had seen or heard something. In the meantime, Marks looked for clues near Margaret's body. At first glance, nothing really looked out of place. A few items like the phone were on the floor. But Marks figured Sister Margaret had moved them out of the way while she was cleaning. There were no obvious signs of struggle either. Next, he checked the exits, the altar and the cleaning supplies for fingerprints or stray hairs. Of course, finding evidence was top of mind. But Marks was also fixated on the motive. The ritual aspect of the murder, especially the upside down cross, disturbed him. It was all so over the top. In Marks opinion, this suggested the killer really hated Sister Margaret. They didn't just plan to kill her. They wanted to humiliate her too. With that in mind, the first thing detectives asked while interviewing Margaret's co workers was whether she had any enemies. But the people they spoke to couldn't think of anyone who had it out for her. And while she wasn't the most social person, she wasn't hated by any means. That forced detectives to consider a different angle. They asked the other nuns if anything had been stolen from the sacristy. The police thought maybe this was a bizarre robbery gone wrong. The sisters didn't think anything valuable was missing. Even Margaret's purse was still where she'd left it, completely untouched by the killer. And the only thing they couldn't find was a pair of scissors that they used to snip the candle wicks before mass detectives latched onto that theorizing the scissors could have been the murder weapon. But even then it didn't seem like theft was the killer's motive. With that possibility eliminated, the cops moved on to a third angle. They wondered if the killer had been going through some sort of psychotic break. After all, the crime did happen in a hospital. It was possible that a mentally ill patient or someone on drugs may have escaped from their room. They then ridden the elevator down to the chapel on the second floor. From there, they could have killed Margaret in the midst of a manic episode. The problem was none of the witnesses reported anything out of the ordinary in the hours before the murder. They certainly hadn't noticed anyone who seemed dangerous. An ambulance driver named Jerry Tressler seemed to be the last person who saw Margaret alive. He came across her in the hallway outside of the chapel just before 7am and said good morning. One of the security guards, along with an EKG technician, passed by soon after and noticed the doors were open as usual. Only a physician named Jack Barron reported anything suspicious. He was one of the people who rushed to the sacristy after the nuns found Margaret's body and called for help. He told one of the detectives, Officer Dan Foster, that he saw something odd when he approached the sacristy. One of the priests, Father Robinson, was walking away from the chapel when Dr. Barron passed him, Robinson gave a stare that went right through him. Something about Robinson's expression unnerved the doctor enough to report it. But Detective Foster didn't seem very interested. He didn't even make a note of it on his pad. But Dr. Barron was persistent. He demanded that Foster write down what he said. Instead, the detective changed the subject and moved on to other questions. From Foster's perspective, Dr. Barron's comment comments might have seemed insignificant. Ultimately, his suspicions boiled down to a gut feeling. But without his statement, the police didn't turn up a single solid suspect during their initial round of interviews. And while that didn't eliminate the possibility that Margaret was killed by someone she knew, it did leave Marks and his detectives back at square one. All they could do at that point was look into every single person who'd been at the hospital that day. Administrators provided them with a full list of employees. This included the priests and nuns who lived there, along with a group of 32 nursing students who stayed in dorms on the fifth floor. Many employees had gone home for the Easter holiday, but that still left plenty of people to look into. And the hospital couldn't share a ton of information about the patients. But by speaking to witnesses, detectives got a few potential leads there, too. It looked like Marks and the others had their work cut out for them. A few hours after the investigation began, Marks called the station to speak to his superior, the deputy Chief of police, Ray Vetter. Vedder was a staunch Catholic who was very open about his faith, so it made sense that he took a strong interest in the case. So strong that he ordered Marks to route all documents related to the murder through him. Usually, detectives made three identical copies of their reports, which were then shared with the deputy chief, the officer who wrote them, and, and the department they work for. But this time, Vedder wanted all three copies for himself. When Marx asked why, he refused to answer. It was an odd request, but one Marx couldn't refuse. Vedr was his boss, so from then on, everything went through him. That said, after the first day of investigation, there wasn't much to pass along. Though detectives had interviewed dozens of people, they weren't any closer to nabbing Sister Margaret's killer. They did manage to pull a few prints and scattered hairs from the sacristy. But they would have to wait for forensic experts to analyze them before drawing any conclusions. So for the time being, authorities hoped Sister Margaret's autopsy would point them in the right direction. Deputy Coroner Renata Fazakis was the one who examined Sister Margaret's body. She found that Margaret had died by asphyxiation and believed the nun was probably strangled before the killer stabbed her. The chest wounds were clearly made by a sharp instrument at least three inches long. Dr. Fazakis could also tell the weapon had a four sided blade, possibly something shaped like a diamond or a kite. In her opinion, the missing scissors could have been responsible for the chest wounds. Margaret also had puncture marks on her face, though, and those must have been made by something sharper. Dr. Fizakis didn't find any evidence that Sister Margaret was sexually assaulted in the usual sense. However, there were signs of damage to her genitals. This indicated that the killer had violated her with a sharp object, possibly one of the two weapons. Those findings, combined with the deliberate way her body was posed, suggested some kind of ritual killing. It was incredibly disturbing. And while the police did their best to keep the sordid details under wraps, there was only so much they could do. A few days after the crime, Margaret's case had already become a local media sensation. A nun had been murdered in what looked like a satanic ritual on the day before Easter. The story was bound to grab headlines. That wasn't ideal for detectives working the case, but they tried to use the publicity to their advantage. Soon after Margaret's death, local officials partnered with the hospital to offer a $24,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. That's almost $95,000 in today's money. With that much cash up for grabs, the department expected to be flooded with tips. But they didn't get as many as they hoped. And the ones they did receive weren't very helpful. One man wrote a letter accusing his former lover of the crime, calling him a devil worshipper. He turned out to be nothing more than a bitter ex. Another person called to implicate their boss. Once again, it was a way to get back at them for a personal dispute. Then there was a local psychic who told officers she was having vivid dreams about the murderer. She provided them with a detailed description of the potential killer killer. But when a detective interviewed her, he realized she was full of hot air. There was really only one lead the police took seriously. An inmate at an Ohio prison claimed his former cellmate had confessed to the crime. Not long after Margaret died. According to the inmate, the alleged murderer and his friend walked into Mercy Hospital that morning dressed in dragon. Sister Margaret allegedly confronted them in the chapel for causing a scene. During the argument. One of them stabbed her to death with a knife. The story was difficult to believe, but then again, so was the murder. Without any other strong suspects, police decided to take a chance. They gave the inmate a lie detector test. To their surprise, he passed. The police were ecstatic. They finally had a solid suspect and they weren't about to let the opportunity go to waste. Hey, it's Carter. If you are enjoying murder true crime stories, there's a new crime house show for you to check out. It's called the Final Hours and it's hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, looking not only at what happened, but what led up to it. Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get overlooked. Because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that closes just like it always has. Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as over analyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. New episodes every Monday. 71 year old sister Margaret Ann Paul had been dead for over a week when police in Toledo, Ohio pursued their first strong suspect. After an inmate at an Ohio prison claimed to know who killed Margaret, detectives gave the tipster a lie detector test. He passed. According to the inmate, his former cellmate stabbed Sister Margaret with a knife and then buried the murder weapon behind his house. In downtown Toledo, police sergeant Arthur Marks rushed to get a search warrant. He and his team spent a long afternoon digging holes in the dirt to try to corroborate the story. But by the end of the day, they hadn't found anything. Still, the inmate had passed his polygraph, so Marks held out hope maybe the lead would pan out in the future. It was possible the killer had moved the murder weapon before the search, or the officers had simply missed it. But for now, they had hit a dead end. And the deputy Chief of police, Ray Vedder, was getting increasingly frustrated. On the day of the Murder. He told Marks he was hoping to make an arrest with within 24 hours. Now that it had been over a week, he demanded some kind of decisive action. The pressure forced detectives to go back to the drawing board. They'd already eliminated robbery as a potential motive. And after a week of interviewing hospital employees, it seemed unlikely that a patient had randomly attacked Margaret. That only left one option. The crime was personal. Given the brutal nature of the crime and the way Sister Margaret's body was posed, the theory made sense. The only people she knew well were her fellow nuns and the two priests who held mass at the hospital chapel, Father Schifionatecki and Father Robinson. The thought that a nun or a priest had killed her horrified the police. Catholic officers like Vedder were especially reluctant to explore the possibility. That was the main reason Marks and his team had spent the past week eliminating every other option first. But by April 18, 1980, 13 days after Margaret's death, they had no other choice. Police finally called their last remaining suspect down to the station. Every nun they interviewed was able to prove they were outside the sacristy during the murder. Father Sifionatecki, the larger, more popular priest, had an alibi too. That meant 42 year old father Gerald Robinson, who many people saw as cold and aloof, was now in the hot seat. Detectives interrogated him for eight grueling hours. Although they didn't accuse him outright, they made him go over his side of the story repeatedly. They dissected everything he said, searching for any discrepancy they could use to prove he wasn't telling the truth. Father Robinson insisted he'd been in his quarters at the hospital when Sister Margaret died. He said he was just getting out of the shower when the nuns called to tell him what had happened. At least one witness, Dr. Barron, had already contradicted that account. He told a detective that he saw Father Robinson near the chapel right after the murder, though it's not clear if Sergeant Marks was aware of that. Either way, Robinson stuck to his story. But by 10pm the stress was clearly getting to him. Finally, he broke down and told Sergeant Marks that he knew who the killer was. He claimed someone had come to him to confess their sins three days earlier and had admitted to stabbing Sister Margaret. The sudden admission threw Sergeant Marks off. For Catholics, the rite of confession was sacred. Priests were forbidden from ever revealing what they were told, even to a police officer. The punishment for breaking that rule was excommunication. Not only would they be barred from performing their duties, but they would also be prohibited from worshiping in Public Marx knew Father Robinson had ailed lot to lose by confiding in him. But as a police officer, all he cared about was solving the crime. So he demanded to know who had confessed. All of a sudden, Father Robinson clammed up and refused to answer. And just a couple minutes later, he retracted his statement entirely. When Marx pressed him further, he insisted he had made it all up. He said no one had confessed to the murder. He just wanted to get the police off his back. After eight hours in a tiny room, he was frazzled and afraid. It was a moment of weakness. Marks leaned in close to the priest, but it was impossible to tell whether he was lying. Besides, it was getting late. Marks decided to call the questioning off. There he told Father Robinson to be back the following day for another interrogation. In the meantime, the priest agreed to let the police search his apartment that night without a warrant. As Robinson was escorted towards the exit, he found his counterpart, Father Sifionatecki, chatting with another officer. Seeing him about to leave, Shafiyanatecki stepped in front of Robinson to block the path. He shouted down at the priest, demanding the father tell the police what he knew. Robinson didn't say a word. After staring at his friend with a blank expression, he calmly stepped to the side and continued out the door. When the officer escorting him asked what the confrontation was about, Father Robinson said he had no idea. A few minutes later, he and two detectives made it back to Mercy Hospital. The officers followed Father Robinson to his living quarters on the second floor and stepped inside. There wasn't much room to maneuver. The apartment consisted of a tiny bathroom, a den and one bedroom. There was nothing on the walls except a single crucifix and a golden altar decoration called a corpus. That kind of asceticism was typical of Catholic priests, but it still struck the detectives as a grim place to live. In a medicine cabinet, they found a prescription bottle of Valium that had recently been refilled. The closet was empty except for a few plaid shirts, a pair of jeans and some clerical uniforms. After just a few minutes, the search was practically over. Already there was just one last place to look. The priest's tiny wooden desk. Inside the center drawer, the detectives discovered a silver letter opener shaped like a dagger. On the hilt, there was a picture of the U.S. capitol and a label from the Washington D.C. wax Paper Museum. More important than that was the blade. At about 9 inches, it was more than long enough to have caused Margaret's wounds. And it had a distinctive four sided tip, exactly the same as the weapon that killed her. The detectives Bagged the letter opener as evidence and took it straight to the crime lab. They were confident they had the murder weapon in custody. The only thing they couldn't figure out was the motive. The next day at noon, Father Robinson returned to the station to answer some more questions and take a lie detector test. This time he seemed more hesitant. For example, when asked why why someone might have killed Sister Margaret, the priest kept quiet until finally he told the police she had a dominant personality. When asked what he meant by that, Robinson refused to elaborate. It was a strange moment that stuck with the detectives. But the final results of the polygraph were inconclusive. The examiner said several of the priests answer seemed deceptive. At the same time, Father Robinson was clearly frazzled from the previous night's interrogation, which might have affected his results. The officers scheduled a second polygraph for the following week. In the meantime, they decided to grill Robinson again. Mark sensed that he was close to cracking and now that they had a potential murder weapon in evidence and he wanted to seize the opportunity to get some answers. Around 5pm that evening, they began their second round of questioning. But about half an hour in, Deputy Chief Vedder called the detectives out to the hallway. That was a major breach of an unwritten rule at the department. No matter the situation, officers were not never supposed to interrupt an ongoing interrogation. When Marx demanded to know what was going on, Vedder told him that Father Robinson's lawyer had shown up at the station along with a church higher up, Monsignor Jerome Schmidt. Monsignor Schmidt was a well connected priest who was known as a consummate dealmaker and fundraiser in the Toledo area. He had friends in high places and typically stepped in when a church official was having trouble. In short, he was the kind of man with the clout to halt an ongoing police interrogation. And on April 19, that's exactly what he did, seemingly to protect Father Gerald Robinson. When the priest walked out of the police station that evening, detectives weren't sure he'd ever be back. Now that the Monsignor was involved, their job was about to get a whole lot harder. Because if there was one thing the Toledo police KNEW Back in 1980, it was don't mess with the Catholic Church. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for part two on the murder of Margaret and Paul and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back on Thursday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Perchovsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Terrell Wells, Hania Said and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. Hi, it's Carter. If you love Murder True Crime Stories, check out the new Crime House original about disappearances the Final Hours hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Listen and follow the Final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.