No doubt Holmer was embarrassed that his daughter had killed herself. People always blame the parents. Why couldn’t they have controlled that girl?… I heard it was street drugs. But there was more to Holmer’s cover-up than that. He was also scared that Nancy would be denied a proper Catholic funeral. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, suicide was considered a sin, and those who killed themselves were destined to burn in hell. Their bodies were declared to be unclean, unworthy of a funeral Mass or burial in a Catholic cemetery. Holmer knew well how cruel the consequences were.
