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No longer was the probe focusing solely on the man accused of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, but was expanding into a new direction: accusations that children were molested and raped by priests in ritual services.
For the past year, police have embarked on one of the most unusual investigations in the department’s history, spurred by leads emerging after the priest’s arrest in April for the killing in the Mercy Hospital chapel more than 24 years ago.
They have looked for evidence in church attics and basements and have consulted with religious experts on subversive groups and church history. They have even interviewed the founder of a secret fraternity whose members dressed in nuns’ clothing.
“The police are going into areas they’ve never gone before,” said David Davidson, one of the first police officers to respond to the slaying in 1980. “They don’t have a choice.”
The investigation started with the details of the crime scene: an aging nun found strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the sacristy of the hospital chapel, her body posed to look like she was sexually assaulted.
But now, deeper issues have surfaced over a
cusations of sexual abuse of children in churches and schools by priests and lay members beginning in the late 1960s.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers refuse to answer questions about the investigation, citing a judge’s gag order.
The priest’s trial is set for Oct. 17 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in what’s expected to be one of the most watched trials in local history. The 66-year-old cleric has pleaded not guilty, with supporters and relatives pledging their homes to help post a $400,000 bond.
An investigation by The Blade based on hundreds of police and diocese records, as well as interviews, shows that prosecutors are still examining details of the slaying - including a pattern of stab wounds resembling a cross - while interviewing people about the abuse allegations in an expanded probe.
Investigators have talked to numerous priests and former students at local Catholic grade schools to determine if they knew anything about children being molested in bizarre ceremonies involving a small ring of clerics, according to several people interviewed by police.
toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050220/NEWS08/502200352
For the past year, police have embarked on one of the most unusual investigations in the department’s history, spurred by leads emerging after the priest’s arrest in April for the killing in the Mercy Hospital chapel more than 24 years ago.
They have looked for evidence in church attics and basements and have consulted with religious experts on subversive groups and church history. They have even interviewed the founder of a secret fraternity whose members dressed in nuns’ clothing.
“The police are going into areas they’ve never gone before,” said David Davidson, one of the first police officers to respond to the slaying in 1980. “They don’t have a choice.”
The investigation started with the details of the crime scene: an aging nun found strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the sacristy of the hospital chapel, her body posed to look like she was sexually assaulted.
But now, deeper issues have surfaced over a
cusations of sexual abuse of children in churches and schools by priests and lay members beginning in the late 1960s.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers refuse to answer questions about the investigation, citing a judge’s gag order.
The priest’s trial is set for Oct. 17 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in what’s expected to be one of the most watched trials in local history. The 66-year-old cleric has pleaded not guilty, with supporters and relatives pledging their homes to help post a $400,000 bond.
An investigation by The Blade based on hundreds of police and diocese records, as well as interviews, shows that prosecutors are still examining details of the slaying - including a pattern of stab wounds resembling a cross - while interviewing people about the abuse allegations in an expanded probe.
Investigators have talked to numerous priests and former students at local Catholic grade schools to determine if they knew anything about children being molested in bizarre ceremonies involving a small ring of clerics, according to several people interviewed by police.
toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050220/NEWS08/502200352