Easily the most despicable figure introduced in The Keepers is Father Joseph Maskell (pictured on the above left), repeatedly accused of using his authority to sexually abuse the children in his care. As chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School, the same private all-girls institution where Sister Cathy taught English, Maskell allegedly abused so many students that a summons to his office was widely dreaded. Maskell was bounced around between several churches in the US and Ireland due to sexual abuse allegations, eventually passing away in 2001.
One of Maskell's victims, Jean Hargadon Wehner (who initially accused the priest in 1994 as "Jane Doe"), alleges that Sister Cathy learned of her repeated rape and abuse at the hands of Maskell and several other men, swearing to "do something" about it. This, Wehner believes, led to Cathy's murder . . . the nun likely confronted Maskell or his superiors about the abuse, marking herself as a target to be silenced.
During a truly upsetting moment in the series, Wehner recalls Maskell taking her on a trip to Sister Cathy's dead body shortly after she was reported missing. During the interview, Wehner held back tears when describing the memory of "brushing maggots off her [Cathy's] face" upon realizing that her favorite teacher had been killed, revealing a deep fear: "I killed Sister Cathy."
While many viewers are quick to accuse Maskell of killing Cathy directly, it's likely that the priest hired or convinced somebody else to do the killing for him. The Keepers director Ryan White told The Daily Beast that, shortly after filming wrapped, Maskell's body was exhumed for testing against DNA evidence (presumably the cigarette butt found near Cathy's body) and did not match.
However, this far from rules out the priest; as a powerful man with widespread influence both in the Baltimore church and local law enforcement agencies, it's extremely likely that he simply had somebody else carry out the killing at his own behest.
