US police have arrested a man (25) suspected of killing and mutilating an Irish nun after allegedly murdering his father.
Mr Adrian O'Neill Robinson was arrested at a Norfolk fast food restaurant at about 1.4 5a.m. Officers had been hunting for him since Sunday, when he allegedly gunned down his father (56).Relatives said Mr Robinson had accused his father of sexually abusing him before shooting him 16 times at the family home in Hamilton, Georgia.
He then abducted Sister Philomena Fogarty, an Irish nun in her sixties, and another nun, Lucie Kristofik (72). He was apparently intending to use their car to flee, police said. He was spotted driving the vehicle alone early yesterday.
When police tried to stop him he abandoned the car and fled into nearby marshes. Officers said human remains were found in the vehicle, but refused to say what they were.
About half-an-hour later, Sr Fogarty's body was found in a car park near Virginia Beach. Authorities said her head, hands and feet had been cut off. Sr Kristofik had been found safe at a Norfolk motel on Tuesday.
She told police Mr Robinson had left earlier with Sr Fogarty. Sr Kristofik told investigators the two women came home on Sunday to find Mr Robinson in their home. She said he took $575 in cash, bound and gagged them, put them in their car and drove to Norfolk, 570 miles away.
Residents of the tiny Georgia community where Sr Fogarty lived described her as a saint who fed the hungry, counselled inmates and sold clothes to pay for pensioners' utility bills. The 450 residents of Hamilton, a rural community 90 miles south of Atlanta, said they were in mourning.
The Rev Ronnie Madden said the nuns lived alone in a mobile home near Christ the King Catholic Church. Both were members of the order of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Sr Kristofik was a missionary in Pakistan and has lived in Hamilton for about 12 years, he said.Sr Fogarty had been a missionary in Japan and had lived in Hamilton about 16 years. She would have celebrated her 50th anniversary as a nun this year. "She was considered the Mother Teresa of Harris County," said police Chief Dan Colberg. AP