UNITED STATES
Oxygen
by Eric Shorey
June 8, 2017
Episode 3 of Netflix’s true crime doc starts with Jean Hargadon Whener, the Jane Doe who came forward with startling accusations against the administrators at Archbishop Keough High School. “This is not just a story, this really happened,” she says as she lights a candle.
Doe remembers being taken to the body of Sister Cathy as an intimidation tactic to keep her from coming forward, with the abuses she suffered growing increasingly horrendous. Doe maintains she completely buried the memories for two decades before they arose again – she had created a completely normal life with no recollection of her trauma for 20 or so years. Interviews with Whener’s family reveal a semi-idyllic upbringing in Baltimore and an inclination towards religiosity. In the early 90’s, Wehner has a chance encounter with a former Keough high school student who asks her to come to a class reunion. Wehner reports experiencing extreme discomfort, although she couldn’t explain why. While praying on her confusion later, she slowly began recalling the abuse she detailed in episode 2.
Whener talks about the denial she dealt with while she recovered these deeply repressed memories – and the antecedent guilt about not reporting it. Jean attempted to inform various pastors about the abuse. They begin to build a case against the abusive administration, with Jean eventually making a formal statement to the Archdiocese. They asked Jean to find another student who faced abuse to corroborate on her story. Not only couldn’t she, she was also unwilling to ask anyone to re-live their trauma. Whener brought forward more names of potential abusers, but the archdiocese refuses to cooperate until someone else comes forward with allegations – they’re baseless otherwise.
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