Richards' convent killings

Richards' convent killings mark the violent beginning of his pursuit of Lacey and Amy. He killed three nuns while searching for Lacey, but she was absent; the failure to find her left a crucial witness alive and the pursuit unfinished.

Background and Target

Richards later recalled the killings while considering what Paulson might know about the events surrounding Project NOAH. He had learned that Lacey, whom he described as the one nun still unaccounted for, had escaped. Her account, he believed, would be dismissed, and he thought the trail had been obscured by the deaths of police officers in western Oklahoma and the destruction of a Chevrolet Tahoe.

The Killings

Richards remembered having attended Catholic school and respecting the nuns, despite the harshness he associated with them. That history made the assignment difficult for him. Most of the nuns were asleep when he entered. One woke in bed and looked at him in a way that made him think she had expected him. He killed her, bringing the number he had killed to three.

The Missing Witness

Lacey was the one nun Richards had not found. He had read her psychological evaluation from the diocese and dismissed the likelihood that anyone would believe her story. His recollection nevertheless reveals that he knew she remained an unresolved witness to the convent attack. He admitted that killing the nun who woke had troubled him, a small but explicit sign of conflict within an otherwise matter-of-fact account.

Consequences and Significance

The killings did not secure Richards’ objective: Lacey survived and could carry knowledge of what had happened into the wider pursuit of Amy. In Richards’ recollection, the convent is both a site of calculated violence and a point where his control fails. His personal reluctance to kill the awakened nun does not stop him; the action proceeds, while Lacey’s absence keeps its consequences alive.