Catholic World News News Feature

Nuns Abducted by Suspect in Murder March 26, 2003

A man accused of killing his father and kidnapping two nuns in Georgia was spotted briefly in Norfolk, Virginia, on Wednesday, but escaped on foot, police said.

Sheriff Mike Jolley of Harris County, Georgia, said Adrian O'Neill Robinson, 25, is suspected of killing his father, Henry, 56, at their home and then hiking three or four miles to Christ the King Catholic Church in search of a car. He allegedly abducted Sister Lucie Kristofik, 72, and Sister Philomena Fogarty, in her mid-60s, from the mobile home in which they lived near the church.

Sister Kristofik was left at a motel in Norfolk by Robinson on Tuesday and was talking with police, authorities said. There was no sign of Sister Fogarty. Norfolk police said they found evidence in the car the suspect abandoned but would not specify what. He said the driver escaped into a marshy area about 3:30 am.

Henry Robinson's brother, Edward, contacted the sheriff's office Sunday, saying Adrian Robinson had shot at his car after an argument that afternoon, Jolley said. He said deputies found the body of Henry Robinson, who had been shot 16 times with two different rifles and died of a head wound. Jolley said the FBI had joined the search for Adrian Robinson. Authorities in Virginia were also looking for any possible connections between the nuns' abduction and the discovery Wednesday of the decapitated body of a woman in Virginia Beach, near Norfolk. "The body has not been identified," Norfolk police spokesman Chris Amos said. "But we're looking into that possibility."

Sister Kristofik was a missionary in Pakistan before moving to Hamilton, Georgia, about 12 years ago. Sister Fogarty is from Ireland and was a missionary in Japan. She has lived in Hamilton for 16 years.