Ex-priest fighting extradition in 56-year-old murder case

By Aaron Nelsen
San Antonio Express-News
February 10, 2016

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Former-priest-accused-of-murder-in-the-death-of-6821005.php

McALLEN — A former priest in custody for the murder of a McAllen teacher in 1960 is contesting his extradition to Texas, authorities said Wednesday.

John Feit, 83, was arrested Tuesday in Phoenix on a murder charge in the death by asphyxiation of 25-year-old Irene Garza.

Several months after Garza’s body was found, Feit was charged with assaulting another woman in nearby Edinburg. He fled the state and was declared a fugitive before surrendering. The case against him ended in a mistrial but in 1962, he pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and was fined $500.

According to various news sources, he entered Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery in southwest Missouri, in 1963. He left the church in 1972, and later married and had children. It wasn’t immediately clear how long he has been living in Arizona.