Day 17: Neither man was charged with killing Monsignor Francis J. O'Connor, a rising star in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese who served as the editor of The Magnificat, the diocesan weekly newspaper.
Lou Michel
reporter
About
I am a member of The Buffalo News' watchdog team, coauthor of New York Times bestseller, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and The Oklahoma City Bombing. I'm also a proud graduate of Buffalo State College where I met my wife who is my editor in life!
Revealed in the 56-year-old reports on the murder of Monsignor Francis J. O'Connor were shocking secrets – a priest and a diocese journalist had been suspects – and a cache of other never-before released details.
Day 16: Nearly 57 years later, with Bishop James A. McNulty and everyone in his inner circle long dead, questions remain about the former bishop and whether he had a role in ending the police investigation into the still unsolved homicide.
Day 15: Priests who drank to excess, gambled, stole money, molested children, had affairs or engaged in other crimes or frowned-upon behavior were taken to Monsignor Franklin M. Kelliher for physical punishment, according to sources.
Day 14: “For an investigation that important to be suddenly shut down, that had to be orders from the very top,” long-retired detective Gregory Simonian said.
Day 13: The use of a lush English Tudor style mansion in Bemus Point to house some molester priests irks some of the men who say they were sexually abused by priests in the 1960s.
Day 12: A six-page account of the interview, dated March 26, 1966, is among the most fascinating reports in the case file of the murder of Monsignor Francis J. O’Connor.
Day 11: Reports filed by homicide detectives back then portray Rev. John D. Lewandowski as a hard-drinking man who used profane sexual language around youngsters.
Day 10: The 56-year-old reports obtained by The Buffalo News revealed for the first time that the Rev. John D. Lewandowski was considered a suspect by police.