Sheriff: Man Confesses in Killings of 2 Mississippi Nuns

An Aug. 26, 2016 smartphone photograph of Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, who has been charged with two counts of capital murder in connection with the killing of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both nurse practitioners who were found dead in their Durant house Thursday. Warren Strain/Mississippi Department of Public Safety Hand Out, via AP

DURANT, Miss.—A man suspected in the slayings of two nuns found dead in their Mississippi home confessed to the killings, a sheriff said Saturday, in the latest twist to a crime that has horrified people in the small communities where the women served.

Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, was arrested and charged in the deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said late Friday. Both women were 68.

Willie March, the sheriff of Holmes County where the killings occurred, said Saturday he had been briefed by police from the town where the killings occurred and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officials who took part in Sanders’ interrogation.

Sanders confessed in the interrogation to the killings and gave no reason for the crimes, March said.

The sheriff said police work and tips from the community led police to Sanders, and the investigation is ongoing.

An undated photo of Sister Paula Merrill. Sister Margaret Held and Merrill, two nuns who worked as nurses and helped the poor in rural Mississippi, were found slain in their home and there were signs of a break-in and their vehicle was missing, officials said Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Sisters of Charity of Nazareth via AP