BALTIMORE– FBI investigators plan to exhume the body of a young woman whose unsolved 1969 murder has been a source of widespread speculation, especially since the Netflix documentary series “The Keepers” examined the murder of a Baltimore nun who lay awake for several days. previously took place under eerily similar circumstances.
Joyce Malecki went Christmas shopping at a suburban mall outside Baltimore in November 1969 and never returned home. Her body was found days later at a nearby military base and an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled.
An advocate for the Malecki family confirmed Tuesday that the exhumation was tentatively scheduled for Thursday.
The case gained renewed attention after “The Keepers” was released in 2017, raising questions about whether Malecki's disappearance was connected to that of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who was found dead of blunt force trauma after she went shopping and never returned returned.
Also in 2017, investigators exhumed the body of a Catholic priest, Father Joseph Maskell, to see if his DNA matched evidence from the scene of Cesnik's death. The documentary questioned whether Cesnik was killed because she knew Maskell was sexually abusing students at the Catholic high school where they both worked. But DNA testing revealed no match and the case remains unsolved.
The latest source of speculation came earlier this year, when federal and local authorities announced that they had solved the case of another murder of a young woman: 16-year-old Pamela Conyers, who went missing in 1970 from the same mall as Malecki and a similar case. died of strangulation.
Investigators used relatively new DNA technology and genealogical research to identify a suspect in Conyers' death: Forrest Clyde Williams III, who died of natural causes in 2018 after spending most of his adult life in Virginia. He suffered nothing more than a few minor criminal charges in the decades that followed.
In pinning Conyers' murder on Williams, officials said they had no evidence linking him to any of the other unsolved murders. They also said they did not believe Conyers knew Williams.
Kurt Wolfgang, executive director of the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, said it appears investigators now want to extract DNA from Malecki's body, although it is unclear what they are trying to determine. He said the FBI has shared little information with the family about recent developments in the case, but the timing could indicate a link to Williams.
Wolfgang said family members will be allowed to attend the dig, which will otherwise be closed to the public.
“They want justice out of this case,” said Wolfgang, whose nonprofit is working with the Malecki family. “Even though it has been 54 years, it would certainly help them to know what happened.”
A spokesperson for the FBI's Baltimore Field Office declined to comment, citing “respect for the ongoing investigation.” Federal investigators are in charge of the case because Malecki's body was found on military property.
When Malecki was growing up, her family attended a Catholic church outside Baltimore, where Maskell served as a priest. They lived down the street while Maskell lived in the parsonage of St. Clement Catholic Church. He was later assigned to Archbishop Keough High School, where he was accused of abusing numerous girls.
Wolfgang said Malecki told her relatives she didn't like him at all and told people to stay away from him. But Wolfgang said the family has no direct evidence to suggest she was one of Maskell's abuse victims and they are hesitant to jump to conclusions about the connection between the various cases.
A woman interviewed on “The Keepers” claimed Maskell showed her Cesnik's body in the days after the nun disappeared. Cesnik was a teacher at Archbishop Keough High School when she was killed.
Earlier this year, the Maryland attorney general released a report detailing decades of child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, identifying Maskell as one of the most prolific abusers and saying he targeted at least 39 victims had aimed. According to the report, Maskell was transferred to St. Clement after being accused of abuse during his previous assignment — one of several times the archdiocese condoned his misconduct.
He denied the allegations before his death in 2001 and was never criminally charged.