True-crime documentary The Keepers reveals the legacy of clergy abuse

The Keepers examines the death of nun Cathy Cesnik. Courtesy Netflix

The power of television to shine a light into the dark recesses of our inhumanity is impressively evident in The Keepers, a new documentary TV series investigating the unsolved murder of a Baltimore nun.

It uncovers horrific secrets and reveals pain that lingers in the community nearly five decades later.

The compelling seven-part series, which debuted on Friday on Netflix, is the latest in an increasingly popular true-crime genre that has included Making a Murderer, Amanda Knox and the podcast Serial.

The Keepers examines the case of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun and Catholic high-school teacher in Baltimore who vanished on November 7, 1969. Her body was found nearly two months later.

“I don’t think it’s just a story that never caught the attention of people – I think it was a story that was buried, and so it had to be unburied, in a way,” says director Ryan White.

In his quest to uncover the truth, he tracks down dozens of Cesnik’s friends and relatives, plus journalists, government officials and other Baltimore citizens.

As White pieces together the puzzle, the story grows beyond the death of a teacher to encompass clergy abuse, repressed memories and government and religious institutions that, he says, “at best, dropped the ball over the past 45 years – and, at worst, covered it up”.

The Cesnik case resurfaced briefly in the 1990s when one of Sister Cathy’s former pupils – a woman then known only as “Jane Doe” – claimed the school’s chaplain subjected her to sexual abuse.

Even more shocking, she said that to frighten her into silence she was taken to where Sister Cathy’s body lay undiscovered, and was warned: “See what happens when you say bad things about people.”

Despite her account, and testimony from other victims and witnesses of abuse, no one was held accountable and the story was largely ignored outside of Baltimore. "Jane Doe" appears on camera in The Keepers to share what happened behind closed doors at Archbishop Keough High School.

“From the moment I met her, I was devoted to bringing this story to light, because I believed it,” says White.

“I believe she can have a true impact in the world and I believe she’s been deprived of that because of how her story’s been buried by many people in many institutions.”

The emotional effect of Cesnik’s brief life is evident when White speaks to Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, two of her former pupils. Now in their 60s, the women have spent years investigating what happened after their favourite teacher disappeared.

Listening to them, it becomes apparent the big story might not be the nun’s killing but the cover-up that followed.

“Gemma’s probably the biggest embodiment of that [person] who will stop at nothing,” says White.

“She can strike up a conversation with anyone and can charm the hell out of anyone, but she can also use that to her advantage to expose the truth.”

Hoskins and Schaub have also helped to create an online community for victims of clergy abuse and have made it easier for others to come forward.

“They intended to solve a murder and what they did is they created a safe community for all of these women and men of a certain age to find people who believed them,” says White. “That’s been really powerful to witness as a filmmaker.”

“My hope in making this series is that we open up the conversation around what happened to these children.

“The ones that survived are now adults, but it’s not too late to [talk] about what happened to them, why it happened, why it was never exposed and to make sure that it stops happening in the future.”

• The Keepers is streaming on Netflix now.