PENNSYLVANIA/OHIO
Fox Youngstown
The Catholic Franciscan friar accused of sexually molesting students at Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School and Johnstown, Pa.’s Bishop McCort High School committed suicide with a knife early Saturday morning, police officials in Blair Township said.
Blair Township Police Chief Roger White said the results of an autopsy conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday by the Blair County Coroner’s office at Nason Hospital in Roaring Spring, Pa. showed Brother Stephen P. Baker, also known as Paul Stephen Baker, committed suicide by way of a self-inflicted knife wound. He was 62.
White said in a statement that Blair Township police, state police and Holidaysburg emergency personnel were called at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday to St. Bernadine’s Monastary in Hollidaysburg, where Baker had been staying under strict supervision since 2000, when Franciscan officials first learned Baker was accused of sexually abusing students.
A resident at the monastery found Baker not breathing and called 911. He was pronounced dead at the scene by deputy coroner Brian Reidy. The autopsy found Baker’s death was just prior to the 911 call.
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