Ex-priest Arrested in Connection with 1960 Killing of Mcallen Beauty Queen

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

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Ex-priest-arrested-in-connection-with-1960-6819350.php

John Feit was arrested in connection with the killing of the 1960 beauty queen from McAllen Irene Garza.

A former priest who was a suspect in the death of a McAllen beauty queen in 1960 was arrested Tuesday in Arizona.

John Feit, who faces a murder charge in the death of 25-year-old Irene Garza, was taken into custody in Maricopa County,where he awaits extradition to Texas.

“We felt that we had sufficient evidence to present to a grand jury. It was presented last week, and they came back with a true bill,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, the district attorney of Hidalgo County.

On April 16, 1960, Garza visited Sacred Heart Church in McAllen where Feit — who was 27 at the time — was a priest. She planned to go to confession that evening but never returned home, her body was found days later in an irrigation canal.

Feit, now in his 80s, long has been the subject of intense scrutiny in the murder of Garza, a faith-driven school teacher, but was never arrested until now.

The case was reopened in 2004 and sent to a grand jury, still an indictment was not returned.

Rene Guerra, the former Hidalgo County district attorney, came under fire from Garza’s family for his handling of the decades-old homicide. Rodriguez, who ousted Guerra as DA, was elected to office in 2014, in part, after pledging to revisit the unsolved case.

The district attorney’s office, McAllen police and Texas Rangers investigated the case against Feit.

“All I promised was that we’d take a further look at it and decide whether we were going to proceed,” Rodriguez said about his campaign pledge to the Garza family.