Milwaukee Nun Found Stabbed to Death in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. -- Two Catholic nuns were found stabbed to death at their home in Holmes County, Miss. and police believe the two - including one Sister with roots in Milwaukee - were the victims of a homicide.

A statement by the Catholic Diocese of Jackson says the two nuns, Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, were found dead at the home in Durant after they failed to show up for work as nurse practitioners at a medical clinic in nearby Lexington where they help the rural poor, according to a report out of the Herald-Whig.

Church officials have said Sister Margaret Held was a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis based in Milwaukee while Merrill was a member of the Sisters of Charity based in Nazareth, Kentucky.

Maureen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, said the sisters worked at the Lexington Medical Clinic, about 10 miles away from their home in Durant, which is in one of the poorest counties in the state, according to a WISN report today.