A True Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Brutal Murder

John Glatt

St. Martin’s True Crime

Father Gerald Robinson was a pillar of his Toledo, Ohio church-going community. A popular priest, he was especially admired in the city’s Polish neighborhoods for delivering powerful sermons in Polish. In later years, Father Robinson ministered to the sick, and eventually ended up serving as chaplain at Mercy Hospital—where met Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

Sister Margaret, age 72, was well-loved at Mercy. When, in the hospital’s sacristy, she was found dead with numerous stab wounds to her neck, chest, and head—in the pattern of a cross—no one could believe it: Who at Mercy could have committed such evil? For years, there was no answer…even though questions about the chaplain’s dark past continued to arise. Finally, in 2004, cold-case detectives announced that Father Gerald Robinson, who presided at Sister Margaret’s own funeral, was convicted with her murder.