54-Yr-Old Nun’s Body Found Floating in a Well in Kerala Convent

“The nun was taking treatment for an illness for the last several years,” the Kollam Rural SP said.

The body of 54-year-old nun, Susan Mathew, was found inside a well at the Mount Tabor Convent in Pathanapuram, Kollam, in Kerala. She teaches at the St Stephens School in Pathanapuram, about 80 km from the state capital.

Around 9 am, workers at the Mount Tabor Convent, attached to the Orthodox church, first found blood stains near the well and then saw the body floating inside the well, the police said. After the police and the fire force retrieved the body, it was identified as that of Susan Mathew by the people in the convent.

Speaking to The News Minute, Kollam Rural SP Ashokan said:

The nun was taking treatment for an illness for the last several years. She had consulted the doctor yesterday as well. Another nun in the convent told us she was depressed over her sickness. Today morning, the other nuns saw her till 8 am. They asked her if she was coming along with them to the church. She said no and stayed back at the convent. After the other nuns returned from the church, they saw the dead body inside the well.

Kollam Rural SP Ashokan

Susan had been teaching at the school for the past 12 years. The cause of the death remains unknown.

Both the school and the convent are run by the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church headquartered at Kottayam.

Kerala had witnessed a similar death a few decades ago. Sister Abhaya, a Knanaya Catholic nun, was found dead on 27 March 1992, in the Pius Tenth Convent in Kottayam. Her body was found in a well in the convent. Calling it a suicide, the local police and crime branch closed the case back then.

But a year later, in 1993, the case was reopened and taken up by the CBI, after the crime branch investigation was called a sham and the police accused of trying to aid the alleged killers.

The trial in the case has been going on for years and in March 2018, a special CBI court dismissed the discharge pleas filed by two of the accused, Fr Thomas Kottoor and Sr Sephy.