BALTIMORE (MD)
CBS News [Baltimore, MD]
March 28, 2025
By Mike Hellgren
Baltimore County police said they are looking for more possible victims of a former priest now charged with sexually abusing an altar boy at Saint Agnes in the 1990s.
That victim came forward after more than 30 years.
The former priest, William Mannion, went before a judge this week and is maintaining his innocence.
The allegations
The now 40-year-old victim said he was abused repeatedly for years while a student at Saint Agnes in Catonsville from 1991 to 1994, starting when he was just 7 years old.
According to charging documents, Father William Mannion, then a young priest at Saint Agnes, warned the child he “had to do these things or God would punish him” and “his parents would be condemned to hell.”
The chilling account in charging documents said Mannion would use puppets from class in the abuse—calling it a “sick puppet show”—and make the victim pray and shower afterward to “scrub away the sins.”
WJZ Investigates spoke to Teresa Lancaster, an abuse survivor whose case was featured in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers” and who was abused by Father Joseph Maskell. 00:1302:00See Morehttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.690.0_en.html#fid=goog_195178467https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.690.0_en.html#fid=goog_195178468https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.690.0_en.html#fid=goog_195178469
“To stand in front of people and tell your story of the most horrific, private thing that ever happened to you, it’s difficult. But as time goes on, I found it was a little bit easier for me each time because of the people validating what happened,” Lancaster said.
Mannion left the priesthood shortly after the alleged abuse occurred.
Ties to Merzbacher case
Police said Mannion would not speak to detectives about the allegations against him.
He is featured on page 283 of the landmark 2023 Maryland attorney general report on sexual abuse in the Baltimore archdiocese.
He was a former student of John Merzbacher and described Merzbacher’s “outrageous and inappropriate behavior.”
The attorney general’s report states, “In 2018 and 2019, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a former student of Merzbacher’s, William Mannion, was interviewed by the Office of the Attorney General. He described Merzbacher’s outrageous and inappropriate behavior. Mannion remembered Merzbacher sending the victim into the cloakroom and being alone in there with her. In 1993, he saw the victim at a wake and asked her if she was a victim of Merzbacher, and she said yes. Mannion reported the abuse to the Archdiocese.”
He helped Merzbacher’s victim, Liz Murphy, come forward.
Mannion was assisting Murphy during the time he was allegedly abusing the student at St. Agnes.
“What better way to hide than to pretend that you’re helping survivors,” Lancaster said.
Murphy’s testimony put Merzbacher behind bars for four life sentences.
Merzbacher died in prison two years ago.
Murphy died last month but shared her story repeatedly with WJZ in interviews over many years.
“At the age of 11, 12, and 13, he raped me, he threatened me, he put a gun to my head. John Merzbacher going to jail will never restore my childhood or all that I have lost from his brutality,” she told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren in 2023.
Lancaster said she got to know Murphy well.
“She was such a brave person,” she said. “She will be greatly missed in the survivor community.”
Murphy’s obituary mentions her work with survivors.
“Seeing the devastation in her own life and in the lives of other victims, including many, many untimely, much-too-early deaths, Liz could not, would not stand by to watch the perpetrators moved around from church to parish to school, continuing to harm children all the while,” the obituary states.
Impact of abuse
As one-time confidant turned suspect William Mannion waits to learn his fate, a judge ordered his release on home detention.
Lancaster knows how difficult it is for any victim to come forward.
“It rips it right open again, and they’re going to go through the process of dealing with this abuse. It’s like soul murder. It lasts your lifetime,” she said.
WJZ did reach out to Mannion’s attorney, but we have not heard back.
The victim accusing Mannion first came forward through a therapist in 2023.
Police said anyone with information about Mannion may contact the Crimes Against Children Unit at 410-887-7720 or Child Protective Services at 410-887-8463.
Archdiocese statement
Following the charges against Mannion, the Archdiocese of Baltimore issued the following statement to WJZ:
“William ‘Bill’ Mannion left the priesthood in the late 1990s and requested to be formally removed from the clerical state (laicized) for reasons unrelated to abuse. The Vatican laicized him in 2004. He would later marry and have children. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is saddened to learn of allegations of abuse by Mannion and is committed to cooperating fully with law enforcement. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We urge anyone who has any knowledge of any child sexual abuse to contact law enforcement and call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection.”