The murder of Irene Garza
Mcallen, Hidalgo County, Texas · 1960
Overview
Irene Garza, a 25-year-old second-grade teacher, drove to Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas, for confession on the evening of April 16, 1960, the night before Easter, and never came home. Her body was found in a McAllen irrigation canal five days later. An autopsy found she had been struck on the head, raped while unconscious and suffocated. The visiting priest who spoke to her that night, John Feit, then 27, was the main suspect within weeks, but he was never charged at the time and his religious order moved him out of Texas. In 2002 a former monk and a retired priest each told investigators that Feit had admitted the killing to them in the early 1960s. A 2004 grand jury declined to indict. After a new district attorney took office, Feit was arrested in Arizona in 2016, and on December 7, 2017, a Hidalgo County jury convicted him of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in custody in February 2020, aged 87, while appealing.
How it was solved
The evidence that pointed to John Feit existed in 1960. He was the last person known to have spoken to Irene Garza. His slide viewer was found on the bottom of the drained canal, and he wrote a note saying it was his. Priests at Sacred Heart saw scratches on his hands the day after she disappeared, and witnesses said the line at his confessional stopped moving at about eight that evening. Twenty-four days earlier a 20-year-old student had been attacked from behind at the communion rail of a church in nearby Edinburg; she identified Feit, and in 1962 he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated assault and was fined $500. He was never charged with the murder. A letter later found in his order's files passed on advice, attributed to the county sheriff, to transfer him out of the area so the case would weaken. He spent the next decade in monasteries in Iowa and Missouri and at a retreat for troubled priests in New Mexico, left the priesthood in the early 1970s, married, and settled in Phoenix. What changed the case was testimony. In 2002 a former Trappist monk wrote to Texas investigators that Feit had told him in 1963 how he attacked a young woman after her confession at Easter and left her to suffocate. The retired pastor of Sacred Heart told the Texas Rangers that Feit had admitted the killing to him. The district attorney of the day called neither man before a 2004 grand jury, which declined to indict. Irene's cousins kept the case in public view, and in 2014 Ricardo Rodriguez was elected district attorney after promising to re-examine it. A new grand jury indicted Feit, he was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on February 9, 2016, and at trial in late 2017 the jury heard 22 prosecution witnesses, including the former monk, then 88. Feit's lawyers argued there was no physical evidence and that the monk had filled gaps in his memory with assumptions. The jury convicted him after a little over six hours.
Sources
- Murder of Irene Garza
“His murder trial began in late November 2017. On December 7, 2017, Feit was found guilty of murder with malice and the next day was sentenced to life imprisonment.”
- Ex-priest guilty of killing Texas beauty queen in 1960 after hearing her confession (December 8, 2017)
“A Hidalgo County jury deliberated 6½ hours before returning its verdict in the murder trial of John Bernard Feit, an 85-year-old former priest, after hearing five days of testimony.”
- John Feit, former priest convicted of murdering Irene Garza, dies in prison (February 14, 2020)
“His death will not affect his conviction, prosecutors say.”
- Altar Ego: Former Priest John Feit and the Death of Irene Garza (July 7, 2005)
“However, a host of witnesses within the church said Father Feit's confessional line stopped moving about 8 p.m.”
- 57 Years After Young Teacher's Murder, Former Priest Faces Trial (September 5, 2017)
“Days after Garza's body was found, authorities drained the canal and recovered a faded green Eastman Kodak slide viewer with a black cord, which Feit later admitted belonged to him.”
- Convicted former Valley priest John Feit dies in prison (February 2020)
“Feit was sentenced to life in prison for the 1960 Easter weekend murder of Irene Garza, a 25-year-old McAllen schoolteacher; he was 27 at the time of the crime.”
- Ex-priest arrested in Irene Garza's 1960 death (February 10, 2016)
“John Feit, 83, was arrested February 9, 2016 in Scottsdale, Arizona; a grand jury decided there was enough evidence to charge that Feit 'with malice aforethought, (caused) the death of Irene Garza by asphyxiation.'”
- Former Priest John Feit Convicted of 1960 Murder of Texas Beauty Queen (December 8, 2017)
“A jury found 84-year-old John Feit guilty of the 1960 murder of Irene Garza on December 8, 2017.”
- Texas Rangers Cold Case Investigation Details: Irene Garza
“Texas Rangers cold case listing, reference number 151, marked solved.”
- 'Wolf in Priest's Clothing' John Feit Convicted Of Murder (December 8, 2017)
“Jurors heard from 22 prosecution witnesses during five full days of testimony, saw graphic autopsy photos and reviewed evidence almost 60 years old.”
- Church officials shielded priest suspected of murder for decades (February 26, 2018)
“The sheriff concludes that the longer time we have, the weaker the case gets.”
- Former monk testifies against ex-priest accused in beauty queen's 1960 slaying (December 5, 2017)
“Feit's attorney argues there is no physical evidence linking his client to the killing.”
- Former Priest Convicted in Cold-Case Murder Dies in Prison (February 13, 2020)
“Feit asked for a new trial in December, based largely on hearsay claims from witness testimony, but Hidalgo County prosecutors who tried Feit said that appeal will be abated.”