Murdered nun had ties to Beaumont

Southeast Texas relatives of a nun found beaten and murdered in New Mexico tell KFDM News she used her own money to help children at the Indian reservation where she lived and they can't imagine why anyone would kill her.

The body of Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, was discovered Sunday morning on the reservation at the New Mexico-Arizona state line.

A vehicle belonging to the nun was found in Arizona but investigators have not made an arrest.

Sister Marguerite's body was found at her residence on the Navajo reservation. A colleague went to look for her when she didn't show up for Sunday mass and discovered the body

Investigators believe she was killed between Halloween night and Sunday morning.

Kathie Menard lives in Tyler County and is Marguerite's sister.

We spoke with Menard by telephone Tuesday afternoon.

She told us her family, including the two sisters and six brothers, moved to Beaumont in 1959. Sister Marguerite graduated with honors from Kelly High School and left Beaumont to attend college.

Menard said investigators told the family Marguerite was severely beaten.

"She was very loving and kind hearted," Mendard told KFDM News. "That's why we don't understand why they killed her the way they did. She was a nun. She had nothing. She used her money to buy books for navajo children with no school books."

Menard said that nearly a dozen family members are leaving Southeast Texas on Wednesday morning to drive to New Mexico.

Bishop Curtis Guillory knew Sister Marguerite and her family.

He's asking people in the Diocese of Beaumont to remember Sister Marguerite and her family in their prayers. He'll do so Tuesday night during a special mass.

NAVAJO, N.M. (AP) - Investigators say a vehicle belonging to a nun slain on the Navajo Indian reservation has been recovered in Arizona.

  A colleague found Sister Marguerite Bartz's body after she didn't show up to Sunday Mass in the community of  Navajo on the Arizona-New Mexico border. Investigators believe the 64-year-old was killed sometime between Halloween night and Sunday morning. A colleague who went to check on her discovered her body.

FBI spokesman Darrin Jones said Tuesday he can't disclose where in Arizona the vehicle was located. He says authorities hope to release additional details about the case later in the day.

On Monday, authorities asked for the public's help finding Bartz's vehicle, a beige 2005 Honda CR-V with New Jersey license plates. FBI agents also want anyone who spoke with Bartz on Halloween night to contact them. 

The diocese says Bartz entered the order in 1966 from Beaumont, Texas, and professed final vows in 1974. She ministered in Massachusetts, Louisiana and in several communities around New Mexico before ending up at the reservation church in 1999.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)