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	An Ohio Community Hopes for Closure in Nun's Brutal Slaying It Has Been 26 Years since Margaret Ann Pahl Was Found Dead. As a Priest's Murder Trial Is to Begin, Rumors of a Coverup Continue to Swirl By P.J. Huffstutter Los Angeles Times [Toledo OH] April 12, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-priest12 apr12,1,4031347.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true TOLEDO, Ohio — Surrounded by shade trees at the convent at Our Lady of the Pines, the grave of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl is marked by a small granite tombstone inscribed with the simple message, "May She Rest in Peace." There is no indication of the turmoil and angst that have surrounded Pahl's gruesome 1980 slaying. It led to the 2004 arrest of Father Gerald Robinson, 67, a popular Roman Catholic priest who helped preside over Pahl's funeral Mass, on charges of strangling and stabbing her to death. As jury selection begins Monday in Robinson's murder trial, residents say they will spend their Easter weekend bracing for a courtroom drama that has been 26 years in the making. Some hope for closure in a saga that has long pained this community, where one out of every four people is Catholic and neighborhoods are often referred to by the name of the local parish. The case has been pulled into the ongoing controversy surrounding the Catholic Church's handling of sex abuse allegations against its priests. Questions also have been raised about whether the Toledo Police Department helped the church cover up old crimes or intentionally looked the other way. A 2005 investigation by the Blade newspaper in Toledo reported that for decades, the police department "aided and abetted the diocese in covering up sexual abuse by priests" and that "at least once a decade — and often more — priests suspected of rape and molestation have been allowed by local authorities to escape the law." Citing information drawn from thousands of court and diocese documents, and interviews with dozens of investigators, judges and prosecutors, the newspaper reported that in five cases "police officers refused to arrest or investigate priests suspected of sexually abusing children. One longtime Toledo police chief pressured subordinates not to arrest priests." Steven Glenton, 48, said after leaving a recent Mass: "I don't know what to believe these days. How can Catholics not be confused and questioning their faith?" Claudia Vercellotti, a leader of the local chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said: "I think it's really difficult for most people to wrap their brain around the idea that someone they trust as much as a priest could also live a dark, secret life. If the church has covered up sexual abuse problems in the past, is it much of a stretch to think the same would happen here?" Critics have alleged that such a culture of complicity is part of the reason why it took prosecutors more than two decades to charge Robinson with murder. County prosecutors and Robinson's lawyers declined to comment on specifics of the case, citing a gag order issued by Judge Thomas Osowik of Lucas County Common Pleas Court. But police officials and the Toledo Diocese say that no such conspiracy existed, and that the police have worked diligently to track down the killer of the 71-year-old nun. "If there was a culture of 'don't pursue this because it'll make the church look bad,' do you know how many people would have had to be involved? It's impossible," said Sgt. Steve Forrester, supervisor of the department's cold case unit, which headed the investigation into Pahl's death. "If people were trying to hide what happened, then why do the files and the evidence against [Robinson] still exist? Why did we pursue this?" Perhaps one thing everyone here agrees on is that the details of Pahl's slaying are so chilling that they could have been drawn from a horror movie. In the early morning of April 5, 1980, Pahl's body was discovered inside the sacristy of then-Mercy Hospital's chapel. She had been strangled then stabbed at least 30 times. Though police said there was no evidence of rape, the killer had positioned her body and arranged her clothing to make it appear that she had been sexually assaulted. She was then covered with a white altar cloth. Police considered it a "ritual" killing, sources said, given the body's position and other evidence found at the scene. "People were terrified to be alone," said Catherine G. Hoolahan, a lawyer representing several plaintiffs in sex abuse complaints filed against local priests, who lived in Toledo at the time. "It only got worse when no one was arrested." Robinson was considered a suspect early on, according to pretrial court testimony, and was questioned by investigators weeks after the crime was committed. Police found a letter opener in the priest's apartment, which reportedly matched the shape of the wounds on Pahl's body. Robinson told an investigator in 1980 that he had heard the confession of the nun's killer, but later admitted that he lied. But weeks of investigation failed to yield enough evidence to charge Robinson or anyone else, police officials said. It remained in the department's cold case files until 2003, when a tip led police to reexamine the case: An unidentified woman said that Robinson was part of a group of priests who sexually molested her and forced her to take part in disturbing rituals. Police reexamined the Pahl case and brought outside experts to review the evidence with fresh eyes. The nun's body was exhumed from the convent cemetery in Fremont, Ohio, and DNA samples taken. Forensic experts who specialize in blood-stain transfer evidence were called to study the altar cloth. Robinson was charged in 2004. He is on leave from the church and out on bail. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment. The death penalty does not apply because it was not in effect in Ohio at the time of the slaying.
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