Man Arrested in Connection With Slaying of Two Mississippi Nuns

DURANT, MS — An arrest has been made in connection with the murder of two nuns in Durant, Mississippi, earlier this week, one of whom was a Stoneham, Massachusetts, native, according to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Police have arrested Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and he has been charged with two counts of capital murder. Sanders is being held in an undisclosed detention center awaiting his court appearance.

“Sanders was developed as a person of interest early on in the investigation,” Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Director Lt. Colonel Jimmy Jordan said in a statement. “With the cooperation of the Durant and Kosciusko Police Departments, Holmes County Sheriff’s Department and the Attorney General Office this heinous crime has been resolved.”

Police say that after an extensive interview Friday, they were able to collect enough information to charge Sanders.

The Catholic Diocese of Jackson announced Thursday that Stoneham native Sister Paula Merrill, 68, and Sister Margaret Held were found dead in their Durant home after the two did not show up to the Lexington Medical Clinic, where they both worked.

Merrill grew up in Stoneham and worked as a nurse practitioner with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Mississippi. According to the Boston Globe, Merrill was raised in a close-knit family in Stoneham who remember her as a woman devoted to helping those in need.

“These were the two sweetest sisters you could imagine. It’s so senseless,” the Rev. Greg Plata told a reporter on the scene, according to the Catholic Diocese of Jackson.

Image via the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth