Cold-Case Detective Tells Why Priest Was Suspect, by David Yonke, Toledo Blade, May 1, 2006

Cold-Case Detective Tells Why Priest Was Suspect

By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
May 1, 2006

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060501/NEWS02/305010020

Toledo Police Detective Steve Forrester explained today how and why the Lucas County cold-case unit focused its attention on the Rev. Gerald Robinson in investigating the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

There was a limited window of opportunity, police had eliminated virtually all other hospital employees who could have been suspects, and the killer appeared to be very knowledgeable of church ritual and symbolism, Detective Forrester said in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court murder trial of the 68-year-old priest.

Assistant Prosecutor Dean Mandros hands the suspected murder weapon to Toledo Police Detective Steve Forrester of the cold-case unit.
Photo by The Blade/Allan Detrich

Earlier, jurors watched a 90-minute videotape of a police interrogation of Father Robinson after his arrest on April 23, 2004.

Detective Tom Ross conducted the interview on April 23, 2004, in the Toledo police precinct next door to Father Robinson's Nebraska Avenue home.

Father Gerald Robinson is shown in the videotaped interview by Toledo police in 2004.
Photo by The Blade/Allan Detrich

Father Robinson said in the interview that the Rev. Jerome Swiatecki, his co-worker at the time as chaplain of Mercy Hospital, confronted him in front of several nuns standing beside Sister Margaret Ann's body in the sacristy and asked him why he killed the 71-year-old sister.

Father Robinson said he was shocked and did not have a response, and that he never discussed it afterward with Father Swiatecki, who is deceased.

After Detective Ross left the interrogation room, Father Robinson buried his face in his hands and whispered, "Oh my Jesus."

When asked again about his response to Father Swiatecki's accusation, Father Robinson said: "I didn't respond normally like a person accused of murder would respond." He added that "I don't have that in me" to yell and scream in protest.

Earlier today, a Roman Catholic priest knowledgeable about rituals took Father Robinson's murder trial into the realm of the occult.

The Rev. Jeffrey Grob of Chicago testifies this morning.

In chilling testimony, the Rev. Jeffrey Grob of the Chicago archdiocese said numerous details surrounding the murder of Sister Margaret Ann on Holy Saturday, 1980, indicate that the killer intended to mock and violate the devout the nun who was "wedded to Christ," as well as create an affront to the Roman Catholic Church and God.

He cited details such as the timing of the murder occurring on Holy Saturday, 1980, during the holiest weekend of the church year; that the murder took place in a sacristy where the Holy Eucharist, the very presence of God, is kept between Good Friday and Easter; that an altar cloth was used to cover the nun's body, thereby transforming her into an "altar of sacrifice," and that stab wounds over her heart were made in the shape of an inverted cross, a symbol of Satanic worship.

Such details individually may not indicate a ritualistic murder, but in sum represent "a reversal of things sacred . ...these aren't random acts."

Rev. Gerald Robinson, left, and Rev. Jeffrey Grob

The Rev. Gerald Robinson, left, and defense attorney John Thebes listen to the testimony of the Rev. Jeffrey Grob.
Photo by The Blade/Allan Detrich

He also testified that the seal of confession is held so sacred by the Roman Catholic Church that a priest who reveals anything told to him by a penitent is automatically excommunicated.

Father Robinson told police during a 1980 interrogation that another man confessed to him that he had killed Sister Margaret Ann, then Father Robinson later admitted he lied about the confession.

John Thebes, a defense attorney, asked Father Grob if a church court might consider mitigating circumstances, such as Father Robinson being under stress because of the police interrogation, and Father Grob, a canon lawyer, said it was possible.

There are no witnesses scheduled for tomorrow, but the trial will resume Wednesday.