Grand jury indicts priest for nun's murder

A Roman Catholic priest has been accused of murdering a nun in the US in a ritualistic killing 24 years ago.

A grand jury’s indictment was announced in Toledo, Ohio, today.

Father Gerald Robinson has been in jail since his arrest last month for the strangling and stabbing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl during Easter weekend in 1980. He was long a suspect in her death.

The nun’s body was discovered in a chapel at Mercy Hospital, covered by an altar cloth.

Investigators have described it as “ritualistic” killing that has the Toledo Diocese looking into claims of satanic sex abuse by priests.

Detectives have said the nun’s death involved some type of ceremony and that they believe Robinson acted alone.

The priest was arrested after investigators analysed blood patterns and concluded that the murder weapon was in his ”control”. They have not identified the weapon or who owned it.

Investigators began to review the killing after a woman contacted them alleging she was physically and sexually abused as a child by several priests, including Robinson, police said.

Three other people came forward after Robinson’s arrest claiming they were abused by priests in rituals years ago.