Apprentice Monk Admits Murdering Nun At Fla. School

MIAMI — An apprentice Byzantine Catholic monk pleaded guilty Thursday to fatally stabbing and beating a nun in 2001 after prosecutors agreed to a reduced sentence, believing he had been abused by two priests.

Mykhaylo Kofel, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed burglary and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, under a plea bargain reached with prosecutors. He was originally charged with first-degree murder and could have received a sentence of death or life in prison.

Kofel, a Ukrainian, had been training with the Byzantine Monastic Order of the Eastern Orthodox Church when he stabbed Michelle Lewis, a 39-year-old Greek Catholic nun, more than 90 times. Her nude body was found March 25, 2001, in her residence at the Holy Cross Academy in western Miami-Dade County, where he had studied for five years and she taught.

“I am really sorry. I want to take full responsibility for my actions,” Kofel told the court Thursday. “If I could, I would give my life for hers. Murder is wrong no matter what.”

Kofel, who was 18 when the murder occurred, told authorities that two priests at the school, Father Abbott Gregory Wendt and Father Damian Gibault, sexually abused him. Although neither priest has been charged, prosecutor Gail Levine believes Kofel was abused, which led to the plea agreement.

“We learned of sexual and physical abuse of this defendant,” Levine said. She said the investigation into Kofel’s claims continues.

The priests say Kofel is lying.

“We have, from the very first day, denied the allegations of Kofel,” said Richard Hersch, Gibault’s lawyer. Hersch said many agencies, including the FBI, have closed their investigations into the abuse as there was no evidence.

The FBI’s Miami spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said she could not comment on any possible investigation.

Holy Cross Academy, which has since closed, operated under the Greek Catholic Church, which combines elements of both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox faiths. The church is obedient to the Vatican and members consider themselves subservient to Pope John Paul II, but it practices Orthodox Church rituals and allows priests to marry.

In court Thursday, Lewis’ mother, Bev Lewis-Mercury, cried as she read a letter she had written to Kofel. Her daughter had become a nun in 1990, giving up a well-paying job as an insurance actuary.

“I want you to know where she is now. She is in heaven,” Lewis-Mercury said. “Your murder of her was so vile and brutal I was not even allowed to see her to say goodbye.”

Circuit Court Judge Manny Crespo denied Lewis-Mercury’s request to have Kofel locked up with photographs of the crime scene every March 25, the murder’s anniversary. Crespo said he had no authority to make prison officials do that.

Crespo said this case was one of the most tragic he has seen and that although Kofel seems to be more mature now than when he killed Lewis, it remains an “intolerable act.”

Crespo added that the outcome was “a very lenient sentence, a very lenient resolution.”

Kofel’s attorney, assistant public defender Edith Georgi, said her client has “accepted full responsibility for what he did” and others should do the same.

“People who have wronged him should take responsibility for what they have done,” Georgi said.