FBI: Car of slain New Mexico nun found
Nov 4th, 2009 by Bilal Ali
Federal authorities in New Mexico say they have located the car of a nun who was found dead earlier this week.
No further details were provided, including where the beige 2005 Honda CR-V was discovered.
The body of Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, was found Sunday in her convent in Navajo, New Mexico, in a remote area of the Four Corners region, according to Lee Lamb, communications director for the diocese. Her home had been broken into and her car stolen, Lamb said.
Bartz was killed between Saturday night and Sunday morning, the FBI said. When she did not appear at Sunday Mass, a colleague checked on her and found her body.
Bartz, who was born in 1945 in Plymouth, Wisconsin, entered the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1966 from Beaumont, Texas, and professed final vows in 1974, according to the diocese
She had a bachelor’s degree from Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a master’s degree in religious education from Loyola University of New Orleans.
Bartz served in Dorchester, Massachusetts; Lawtell, Louisiana; Guadalupe Indian Mission in Pena Blanca, New Mexico; St. Joseph in Laguna, New Mexico; St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and, since 1999, St. Berard Parish in Navajo.
There are 16 members of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament — a religious order founded 118 years ago by St. Katharine Drexel — ministering in the Diocese of Gallup, the diocese said.