DURANT, Miss. – In the rural Mississippi community they served, two nuns found slain in their home “would do anything for anybody,” friends said.
The women, both 68 and nurse practitioners, were found dead Thursday morning when they didn’t report to work at the nearby clinic where they provided flu shots, insulin and other medical care for children and adults who couldn’t afford it.
They were identified as Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill.
Dr. Elias Abboud, who worked with the sisters for years and helped build the Lexington Medical Clinic, said he’s not sure what will happen to the facility in light of their deaths.
“I think the community is going to be different after this. You need somebody with that passion to love the people and work in the underserved area,” Abboud said.
“For somebody to come and do this horrible act, we are all shocked,” he added.
Authorities did not release a cause of death, but the Rev. Greg Plata said police told him the nuns were stabbed. Their bodies were taken to a state crime lab for autopsies.
“They were two of the sweetest, most gentle women you can imagine. Their vocation was helping the poor,” said Plata, who oversees a 35-member Catholic church the sisters attended.
Maureen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, said there were signs of a break-in at the home in Durant and the nuns’ car was taken.
The abandoned Toyota Corolla was found undamaged late Thursday barely a mile from the home and was being towed to the state crime lab near Jackson, Mississippi’s capital city, according to Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain. Durant is about 64 miles north of Jackson.
READ MORE: 2 nuns found slain in Mississippi home
Abboud said the clinic provided about 25 per cent of all the medical care in the county, which has a population of about 18,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 2015.
The two nuns provided almost all the care at the clinic and cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples, according to clinic manager Lisa Dew.
“I think their absence is going to be felt for a long, long time. Holmes County, it’s one of the poorest in the state,” Dew said. “There’s a lot of people here who depended on them for their care and their medicines. It’s going to be rough.”
Authorities didn’t release a motive and it wasn’t clear if the nuns’ religious work had anything to do with the slayings.
Police Chief John Haynes said officers were canvassing the area and trying to look at video from surveillance cameras in town to see if they spot anything unusual.
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