STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Not trying to spark controversy here, but these stories are very disturbing - one about a priest in Ohio, and another in Mexico.  It's just that they're so paradoxical - of all people to commit heinous crimes such as these...

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Mon Apr 17, 5:34 AMUPDATED 7 HOURS 16 MINUTES AGO

TOLEDO, Ohio - When Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's body was found the day before Easter 26 years ago, she had been strangled and stabbed in a hospital chapel. The wounds on her chest and neck resembled a cross.

Jury selection was to begin Monday in the murder trial of the man accused of her killing, the Rev. Gerald Robinson, the same Roman Catholic priest who presided at Pahl's funeral Mass.

Robinson, 68, is accused of strangling and stabbing Pahl in 1980 at the hospital where they worked. Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the slaying but said it may have been some kind of ritual slaying.

Investigators who reopened the murder after two decades say they found bloodstains on an altar cloth that matched those from a sword-shaped letter opener. Police now believe the letter opener, found in Robinson's room, was the murder weapon.

Prosecutors plan to use Robinson's statements made to police, including a claim that someone else had confessed to killing the woman. He later admitted making that up, according to an investigator's testimony earlier this year.

Among those expected to testify at the trial are a medical examiner who has written a book on bloodstains and a forensic anthropologist who also is a best-selling mystery author and the inspiration behind Fox's crime show "Bones."

Potential jurors will be asked whether they have opinions on sexual molestation charges against clergy members and if they have strong thoughts on the Catholic Church. A jury pool of about 250 people has been called, the largest county officials can remember for a trial.

Robinson was questioned by police twice in the weeks after the killing. Police said he was a suspect because he was near the chapel when the body of Pahl, 71, was found by another nun.

Robinson was the chaplain at Mercy Hospital and worked closely with the nun, who was the caretaker of the hospital chapel. Investigators took Robinson into custody in April 2004. They also exhumed the nun's body two years ago and gathered DNA samples.

Investigators reopened the murder case in December 2003 after the prosecutor's office received a letter about a woman's claims that she was molested by priests for years as a child. Among the names she mentioned was Robinson. Police were unable to substantiate her allegations of sexual abuse.

Police have said the killing may have been some kind of ritual slaying because of evidence found in the chapel and because Pahl's body was posed to look as though she had been sexually assaulted, even though investigators say she wasn't.

Robinson, who is free on bail, could get life in prison if convicted of murder. He cannot get the death penalty because it was not in effect at the time of the slaying.

Catholic priest Cesar Torres Martinez, is shown to the press after he confessed to strangling his pregnant ...

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Wed Apr 19, 10:40 PMUPDATED 22 MINUTES AGO

TOLUCA, Mexico - A Mexican priest has confessed to strangling his pregnant lover after Easter Mass and cutting her body into pieces, a state attorney general said Wednesday.

The Rev. Cesar Torres, 42, admitted killing the 22-year-old woman at his parish on Mexico City's eastern outskirts, Mexico state Attorney General Abel Villicana said.

Villicana read from a statement signed by Torres in which the priest described his affair with the woman, Veronica Andrade Salinas, and said she came to his home at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the city of Nezahualcoyotl to say she was pregnant and ask for money.

According to the statement, the two fought and Torres strangled Salinas. He then dragged the body to a nearby bathroom and, according to the statement authorities say he signed, used a kitchen knife to cut off her head and hack her body to pieces. He packed the pieces into plastic bags.

According to the confession, Torres loaded the bags into a pickup truck and dumped them near a cemetery in Chimalhuacan, which like Nezahualcoyotl is in the State of Mexico, which neighbors Mexico City.

Authorities in recent weeks recovered the bodies of five other women who had been slain and dumped in Chimalhuacan. Some of those victims had been mutilated, sparking speculation a serial killer could be working in the area.

But Villicana said the testimonies of Salinas' mother and other family members led to his arrest Wednesday morning and evidence recovered around the parish helped prompt his confession.

He said Torres was scheduled to appear before a judge in coming days to be formally charged with murder.

The victim was expecting a girl at the time of her slaying.

Villicana said the victim's mother told police her daughter and Torres met when Salinas was 13 and had been romantically involved for years. He said the couple had a daughter together, now 18 months old, but it was not clear if the priest was responsible for Salinas' latest pregnancy.