![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9eb4b891-nun-scaled.jpg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA – It’s been 20 years since a beloved nun was taken from the Philadelphia community, and the person responsible for her death has yet to be caught.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia police are asking for the public’s help to find new leads, solve the case and bring closure to the nun’s friends and family.<\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
Sister Paul Mercedes Perreca\u00a0was killed while walking to church on January 9, 2006.<\/p>\n
She was crossing the intersection of Cottman Avenue and Hawthorne Street\u00a0when she was struck by a vehicle making a left turn from Hawthorne Street.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told police that the driver stopped momentarily about one block away before driving off without offering any help.<\/p>\n
Dig deeper:<\/p>\n
Police say the striking vehicle was a two-tone red 1987-89 Ford F150 pick-up truck.<\/p>\n
The truck had silver running boards, “FORD” embossed on the tailgate, and an 8-foot bed with no toolbox or ladder rack at the time.<\/p>\n
It also left the scene with a missing or broken front, driver-side amber lamp.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
Philadelphia police say they remain committed to finding the suspected driver as the case marked its 20th anniversary last week.<\/p>\n
“Sister Paul Mercedes Perreca was a prominent figure in the local community, serving as a dedicated eighth-grade teacher at St. Martin of Tours School. Her death left a profound void in the parish and the lives of the many students she mentored.”<\/p>\n
What you can do:<\/p>\n
Police are urging anyone who may have lived in the neighborhood at the time, worked in automotive repair, or heard details regarding the crash to come forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Even the smallest detail could be the break investigators need.”<\/p>\n
The Source: Information from this article was provided by the Philadelphia Police Department.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia<\/a>News<\/a>Crime & Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article PHILADELPHIA – It’s been 20 years since a beloved nun was taken from the Philadelphia community, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[592,139,539,69,71,70,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-86872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","13":"tag-philadelphia-news","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}