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The Keepers
Genre	Documentary
Based on	Murder of Catherine Cesnik
Directed by	Ryan White
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Executive producers	Ryan White Jessica Hargrave Josh Braun Ben Cotner Jason Spingarn-Koff Lisa Nishimura Matthew Goldberg Brandon Carroll
Production locations	Baltimore, Maryland
Cinematography	David Jacobson John Benam
Editors	Kate Amend Mark Harrison Helen Kearns
Production companies	Film 45 Tripod Media
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	May 19, 2017 (2017-05-19)

The Keepers is a seven-episode American documentary series that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969. Cesnik taught English and drama at Baltimore's all-girls Archbishop Keough High School, and her former students believe that there was a cover-up by authorities after she suspected that a priest at the high school, A. Joseph Maskell, was guilty of sexually abusing students. The series was directed by Ryan White and released on Netflix in 2017.

Cast

• Gemma Hoskins – former student and investigator
• Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub – former student and investigator
• Joseph Maskell – former priest and counselor
• Jean Hargadon Wehner (a.k.a. Jane Doe) – former student
• Teresa Lancaster (a.k.a. Jane Roe) – former student
• Randy Lancaster – Teresa Lancaster's husband
• Donna Von Den Bosch – former student
• Juliana Farrell – former student
• Deb Silcox – former student
• Lil Hughes – former student
• Chris Centofanti – former student
• Mary Spence – former student
• Marilyn Cesnik Radakovic – Sister Catherine's sister
• Gerry Koob – former priest and Sister Catherine's former boyfriend
• Tom Nugent – journalist and writer for the Baltimore City Paper
• Bob Erlandson – journalist
• Beverly Wallace – attorney for former students
• Alan Horn – investigator
• John Barnold – former captain, Baltimore City Police Department
• James Scannell – former captain, Baltimore County Police Department
• Brian Schwaab – former detective, Baltimore City Police Department
• Gary Childs – detective, Baltimore County Police
• Sharon A. H. May – former State's Attorney for Baltimore City
• Edgar Davidson – possible suspect in the murder of sister Catherine
• Deborah Yohn – Davidson's niece, who suspects her uncle's involvement in the murders based on anecdotes from her aunt, who is referred to as "Margaret" in the series.
• Sharon Schmidt – daughter of Ronnie Schmidt and niece of Billy Schmidt, who suspects the involvement of both men in the murders.
• Barbara Schmidt – mother of Sharon Schmidt, former wife of Ronnie Schmidt and sister-in-law to Billy Schmidt, who suspects the involvement of her husband and brother-in-law in the murders.
• C. T. Wilson – Maryland state delegate
• Charles Franz – former student at St. Clement's Church
• Werner Spitz, MD – forensic pathologist

Episodes

Reviews

The Keepers was met with critical acclaim upon its release. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the series an approval rating of 97% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.47/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Keepers draws on riveting, real-life terror to expose long-buried secrets—and tells an inspiring, brilliantly assembled story along the way." Pilot Viruet of Vice wrote of the series, "It's harrowing and upsetting, and it will haunt you for a long time, which is part of what makes it necessary viewing."

In Time magazine, Daniel D'Addario compared The Keepers with another Netflix true-crime series, Making a Murderer, stating that The Keepers does not lead its viewers to a definite conclusion about what happened. "While Sister Cathy Cesnik's death remains a mystery, its aftereffects include both crushing heartbreak and, for the amateur sleuths who seek to crack her case, a sense of making a difference... This isn't just more respectful to the victim than other true-crime stories, with their breathless delight at new clues. It's also more effective." According to Jack Seale in The Guardian, "Where other true crime hits have followed a linear chronology, The Keepers hops between 1969, the 1990s and today, striking a fine balance between narrative structure – a wow moment at the end of every episode – and respect for a subject that doesn’t need or deserve sensationalism."

Church response

The Archdiocese of Baltimore declined when asked by Netflix producers to comment on sexual misconduct allegations within the church. Later, the Archdiocese responded to the series by adding a FAQ page to its website, in which it stated allegations that the archdiocese knew of Maskell's sexual abuse prior to 1992 were false speculation.

References

1. Loughrey, Clarisee (April 19, 2017). "The Keepers exclusive trailer: Netflix revisits a nun's unsolved murder five decades down the line". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
2. "Baltimore archdiocese pays settlements to a dozen people alleging abuse by late priest". The Baltimore Sun. November 15, 2016. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
3. Busch, Anita (April 19, 2017). "'The Keepers': Netflix Drops Powerful Trailer About Murder Of Baltimore Nun". The Independent. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
4. "Is This Netflix Docuseries the Next Making a Murderer?". Vogue. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
5. "'The Keepers' is true crime with a fresh perspective: The victim's". The Washington Post. May 20, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
6. "The Keepers: Miniseries". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
7. Viruet, Pilot (May 25, 2017). "Netflix's Latest True Crime Docuseries Will Haunt You Forever". Vice. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
8. D’Addario, Daniel (May 25, 2017). "The Keepers avoids true crime's ghastliest pitfalls". Time. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
9. Seale, Jack (May 18, 2017). "Who murdered Sister Cathy? Netflix takes true crime to the next level". The Guardian. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
10. "Frequently Asked Questions Based on "The Keepers"". Archdiocese of Baltimore. Retrieved June 19, 2017.

External links

• The Keepers on Netflix
• The Keepers at IMDb
• The Keepers at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Keepers at Metacritic

• Netflix original documentary television series
• True crime television series
• Television shows set in Baltimore
• Films about Catholic priests
• Films about Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in the United States
• Media coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals
• 2010s American documentary television series
• 2017 American television series debuts
• 2017 American television series endings
• Films about child sexual abuse
• American English-language television shows