(NewsNation) — The body of Joyce Malecki, a woman whose death was featured in Netflix’s “The Keepers,” will be exhumed by the FBI.
Writing by Gemma Hoskins inspired the 2017 true-crime series that looked into the murders of Malecki and Sister Catherine Cesnick.
During an appearance on “Dan Abrams Live,” Hoskins said the FBI approached the Malecki family about the exhumation and that they have “mixed emotions” about it.
“The Maleckis are like family to me, and we actually knew this was coming,” Hoskins said. “The FBI came to them. They did not ask for this exhumation.”
For the last 54 years, Hoskins said, the family has been asking the FBI to find out what happened to Malecki in what is considered one of Baltimore’s most notorious cold cases.
“They’ve been stonewalled at every turn,” Hoskins said, later adding: “We have mixed emotions about why, why now and what do they expect to find?”
Hoskins said a team has been working together for years to push for more information in the case, and that news of the exhumation came as a surprise.
“A local FBI agent was assigned to the Malecki case, and they had no luck calling him, emailing,” Hoskins said. “He finally responded, but now, he’s the one that’s made the overture.”
While Hoskins said there are more questions than answers at this point, she has an idea of what investigators might be looking to find during the exhumation.
“What the FBI is looking for is probably other people’s DNA on Joyce, which I think is very unlikely because there was an autopsy, she was buried in clothing that she wasn’t wearing when she was found,” Hoskins said.
Malecki was found stabbed, strangled and submerged in a river in November 1969. Days earlier, Cesnik vanished. Hoskins has always felt the two cases were connected since both women lived in the same neighborhood as the parish where the Rev. Joseph Maskell was assigned.
According to a report by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, 39 women and men accused Maskell, a priest of sexual abuse at schools and parishes where he worked.
It’s unclear when Malecki’s exhumation is expected to take place.