Rodney Earl Sanders, who was arrested and charged with the murder of two MS nuns on August 26, confessed to stabbing the two women to death, according to prosecutors. Sanders was in court, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit and seated next to his attorney, while LeCarus Oliver, agent with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, testified regarding his confession to the murders. According to Oliver, Sanders spent three nights sleeping in a shed across the street from Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill house.
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Durant police officers leave the home where the nuns were found dead on August 25.
Oliver also said Sanders told officers that after stabbing the women, “He washed himself up because his hands were sticky”.
Investigators also revealed that fingerprints were found in the nuns vehicle and home belonging to Sanders.
At the court appearance Sander’s attorneys will have a chance to respond.
The investigator said some of the nuns’ clothing was removed. but right now Sanders is not being charged with rape. Oliver said he had not. He remains jailed without bond, and a municipal judge ruled Friday that there’s enough evidence against Sanders to send the case to a grand jury.
The man charged with killing two nuns in MS is set to appear in court today.
He’s accused of killing two nuns in their home. Sanders said Merrill saw him first before a struggle took place with both women, Oliver testified. In Mississippi, when a murder is committed in conjunction with another felony, it is a capital murder and is punishable by death or life in prison. He said the crime could have occurred late August 24 or early August 25. Sanders has not been charged with rape, however.
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The nuns’ funerals were September 2. As of Friday, the district attorney for Holmes County, Akillie Malone-Oliver, had not decided whether she would seek the death penalty in the case of the nun murders.
