Although Father Maskell denied accusations that he had anything to do with Cesnik's murder up until his death in 2001, the former teacher at Baltimore's Archbishop Keogh High School is widely believed to have orchestrated the crime. Cesnik, an English teacher at the school, figured out that Maskell (along with a**ther priest at Keogh) was ***ually abusing a number of female students and was likely going to bring the information to the authorities. She was murdered under mysterious circumstances before that could ever happen, but the ongoing investigation into her death points at Maskell's involvement.
The petition's Change.org page asks the Baltimore Archdiocese to Release whatever files they have on Father Maskell. "The Release of these documents will restore public trust in the Archdiocese, and confirm the Archdiocese statements regarding their handling of the ***ual abuse claims," the petition's description reads. "This Petition requests that the Archdiocese of Baltimore Release their files regarding A. Joseph Maskell, who is **w deceased, in an effort to thoroughly investigate all avenues that may have led to the murder of Cathy Cesnik in 1969."
So far, it doesn't look like the Archdiocese has been swayed by the Petition since they claim releasing any files is against their policy (which echoes a similar comment they left on Reddit during The Keepers director Ryan White's AMA). "Archdiocesan policy and state law would preclude us from disclosing much of the information in them as they include confidential personal information (e.g. names of alleged ***ual abuse victims), personnel records, health records, attorney-client communications, personally identifying information (such as social security numbers), etc.," they said.
Although Maskell was never charged, The Baltimore Sun reported that, since 2011, the Archdiocese has paid over $472,000 in settlements to 16 women who accused Maskell of ***ual abuse.