News: Mississippi man, 46, charge with stabbing to death two Nuns

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'This heinous crime has been resolved': Mississippi man, 46, is charged with stabbing to death two nuns in crime that has shocked America

Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, was charged in the deaths of Sisters Paula Merrill and Margaret Held
The two 68-year-old women were found dead on Thursday in their home
A police officer found their bodies when they didn't report to work
Lt. Colonel Jimmy Jordan said: 'Sanders was developed as a person of interest early on in the investigation'
Authorities said Sanders was being held in an undisclosed detention center pending a court appearance
Authorities didn't release a motive for their murders and didn't reveal Sanders connection to the women

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A man has been arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in connection with the shocking slayings of two Mississippi nuns who were found dead in their home on Thursday.

Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, was charged in the deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both 68, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said in a statement released late Friday night.

The bodies of both women were discovered Thursday after they failed to show up for work at a clinic in Lexington, Mississippi, about 10 miles from where they lived.

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Meanwhile, in the poverty-stricken Mississippi county where the two nuns were slain, forgiveness for their killer is hard to find, even if forgiveness is what the victims would have wanted.

Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill were nurse practitioners who dedicated their lives to providing health care to people in the poorest county in the state.

And as authorities sought the killer, many residents wondered how they will fill the hole the women's deaths have left.

'Right now, I don't see no forgiveness on my heart,' said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker who has diabetes and was a patient of Merrill's at the clinic where the two nuns worked.

He said Merrill would want him to forgive whoever killed the women, but he hopes the perpetrator is arrested, convicted and executed.

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'She doesn't deserve to die like this, doing God's work,' Morgan said, shaking his head. 'There's something wrong with the world.'

Both women worked at the clinic, where they gave flu shots, dispensed insulin and provided other medical care for children and adults who couldn't afford it.

Their stolen car was found abandoned a mile from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven't disclosed a motive.

Authorities have not said how the women were killed, but the Rev. Greg Plata of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, where the nuns had led Bible study for years, said police told him they were stabbed.