Murder at Holy Cross

On March 25, 2001, the nude body of Michelle Lewis, a 39-year-old nun, was discovered in her sleeping quarters at South Florida’s Holy Cross Academy. She had been stabbed 92 times. It wasn’t long before homicide detectives zeroed in on her killer: a young apprentice monk and former Holy Cross student, Mykhaylo Kofel. Under questioning, he confessed to the crime. But Kofel’s disturbing defense would not only rock the future of the upscale Dade County academy, it would also sound an alarm that would resonate all the way to the Vatican, making it one of the most sensational and controversial crimes in Florida history. What happened on that dark night in Holy Cross was unspeakable enough. The deeper the investigation got, the more sordid and disturbing the story became.