Netflix just dropped a trailer for its upcoming docuseries The Keepers, which premieres on May 19. The series is about the unsolved Baltimore murder of a compassionate nun named Sister Cathy.
Before all seven episodes of the docuseries premiere on Netflix worldwide on Friday, May 19, here are five things that you need to know about The Keepers.
1. The Keepers is a Netflix original series directed by Ryan White, the filmmaker behind Good Ol’ Freda, a 2013 documentary that looks back at the career of The Beatles’ lifelong secretary Freda Kelly; HBO’s 2014 documentary The Case Against 8, the critically acclaimed look at the Supreme Court case that overturned Proposition 8 and its ban on same-sex marriage; and Serena, which documents the year 2015 in the personal and professional life of tennis superstar, Serena Williams.
2. The seven-part documentary series revolves around the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a Baltimore, Maryland nun and beloved Catholic high school teacher who went missing on November 7, 1969. Her body was found two months later and her murder remains unsolved to this day.
3. According to Netflix’s press release, the cold case of Sister Cathy’s murder returned to the news cycle in the early ’90s, after a former student (known simply as “Jane Doe”) reported being sexually abused by the school’s chaplain and guidance counselor, Father A. Joseph Maskell. Jane Doe revealed that she was shown Sister Cathy’s undiscovered body as a warning and told, “see what happens when you say bad things about people.”
4. Maskell denied any abuse allegations and knowledge of Sister Cathy’s murder, but he was placed on a leave of absence in 1994 and was forbidden to perform priestly duties. He died in 2001 and it was reported in 2016 that approximately a dozen people who say they were abused by the priest had received settlements from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
5. Although there have been numerous articles on the Sister Cathy case throughout the years, Netflix’s new docuseries promises an extensive deep dive into the cold case and will feature interviews with “dozens of friends, relatives, journalists, government officials, and Baltimore citizens determined to uncover the truth.”
