South African police arrest two in murder probe

Missionary attacked June 15

Police in South Africa have arrested two men in connection with the brutal slaying of an elderly missionary nun.

Sr Mary Paule Tacke, 82, of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood was attacked on June 15 as she drove to Mthatha to visit an orphanage she had founded. The car was subsequently chased by police and crashed from the road. The men involved fled the scene and police at that point found no trace of the nun. Her body was found in a stream on June 20 and, according to police, she had been strangled. Now officers have arrested two men believed to have been involved in the killing.

Sister Mary was born in Cottonwood, Idaho, and had been working in South Africa since the 1950s. She had founded the Bethany Place of Safety orphanage in 1955 and later founded another orphanage, the Thembelihle Home, for older children, many of whom are HIV positive.