Who Is Deep Throat On 'The Keepers'?

One of the most compelling aspects of Netflix's new series The Keepers is the fact that the murder, at the heart of it, has so many different layers. Unsolved killings are always tragic, but there's something particularly engaging about a death that's even more complex and horrific the more you delve into it. Sister Catherine Cesnik's murder is one such crime, with many of the docuseries participants convinced that her death was possibly connected to an alleged sex abuse scandal at the high school where Cesnik worked. One participant, a retired detective, has viewers wondering: Who is Deep Throat on The Keepers?

According to The Huffington Post's 2015 investigative feature on Cesnik's death, "Deep Throat" is the nickname for a retired Baltimore police detective, given to him by other members of the amateur team investigating the murder. The other team members (who, at the time of the 2015 article, were regularly meeting to discuss the case) are alumnae from Archbishop Keough High School (where Cesnik had worked until a few months before her death), including Gemma Hoskins, Abbie Schaub, and Teresa Lancaster, and former Baltimore Sun reporter Tom Nugent.

"Deep Throat" is, of course, a reference to the Watergate scandal — it's the name used to refer to the secret informant who gave information about the scandal to two Washington Post reporters. He was an "insider" who provided valuable information about the case. The Keepers' Deep Throat, it seems, functions in a similar capacity — he has provided the group with information from within the Baltimore police.

Deep Throat isn't one of the original investigators from the case back in the early 1970s. He worked on the renewed investigation that began in 1994, after Jean Hargadon Wehner — one of the many women alleging sexual abuse by then-Keough chaplain Father Joseph Maskell (who denied initial accusations until his death in 2001) — came forward claiming she had been taken to see Cesnik's body by Maskell weeks before it was recovered by authorities.

Romper reached out to the Baltimore Archdiocese for a statement regarding the accusations against Father Maskell and his potential involvement in Cesnik's death. The spokesperson commented that "Father Maskell was never considered a suspect in that murder. He was interviewed once. One of the victims claimed that she had a recovered memory of his involvement in her death, but he was interviewed and never charged."

Deep Throat told HuffPost in interviews for the same story that evidence went missing in connection with the 1994 investigation, after the police exhumed boxes Maskell had ordered a groundskeeper to bury in a cemetery. At the time, the Sun only reported that the boxes contained "psychological test evaluations and canceled checks." But Deep Throat alleges that the boxes had also contained nude photos of underage girls. "We found hard evidence — these girls had their tops open," he told HuffPost. "I saw them with my own damn eyes."

The fact that this supposed evidence, which could have been used to charge Maskell, went MIA and never made it to the evidence room certainly seems suspicious and may make you question foul play. However, Romper reached out for comment to the Baltimore County Police Department regarding any suggestions of a suspected cover-up, to which they stated:

In the nearly 50 years since Sister Cathy Cesnik’s murder, no one has come to us to initiate an investigation of wrongdoing by police officers. If anyone has information about improper actions by police in connection with this case, we strongly encourage them to come forward now so detectives can conduct a formal, proper investigation.

It's difficult to say whether or not Cesnik's killer will ever be identified, but Deep Throat is sure to play an important part on The Keepers and perhaps even help shed further light on what really happened to his beloved nun.