Four US Churchwomen Murdered by Salvadoran Security Forces

Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan were raped and murdered by Salvadoran National Guard members on December 2, 1980. The Reagan transition team—and later Reagan officials—attempted to suggest the women were 'running guns' to guerrillas. The killers were eventually convicted in 1984; evidence linked the order to senior military figures never prosecuted.