TEXAS
The Daily Beast
Brandy Zadrozny
When police found a Texas beauty queen floating in a canal, they suspected the last man to see her alive: her Catholic priest. Now he’s finally been arrested for the 1960 murder.
In the 56 years since the body of a south Texas beauty queen was found floating in a canal, her family, cold-case investigators and mounting evidence has pointed to one man: the ex-priest who heard her last confession, and who seemed to elude justice until his arrest on Tuesday.
John Feit, 83, was arrested by detectives with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lives with his wife and family. Arizona law enforcement officials say he’ll be extradited to Texas where he’ll face charges of first degree murder by asphyxiation, according to a recently unsealed indictment reported by The Monitor in Texas. He faces up to life in prison.
At his arraignment, a Maricopa County judge set a $750,000 bond and Feit said he planned to fight extradition.
“This whole thing makes no sense because the crime in question took place in 1960,” Feit said. “In 2003 the same gentlemen were here and questioned me extensively and took DNA samples.
That was 13 years ago. I’m totally puzzled as to why something is coming up now after the fact.”
Though half a century old, the case has remained a fascination of crime reporters, townspeople, and local officials, who—no doubt because of the unholy nature of the crime—have refused to let the case go completely cold.
As told in an exhaustive 2005 Texas Monthly profile, Irene Garza, a second-grade teacher, was last seen on the night before Easter attending Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas. The 25-year-old former pageant winner had found comfort in church, writing to a friend, “I’ve been going to communion and Mass daily and you can’t imagine the courage and faith and happiness it has given me.”
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