TEXAS
Valley Central
[with video]
BY ANALISE ORTIZ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH 2016
When Noemi Siegler heard a Hidalgo County grand jury had finally indicted former priest John Feit — long suspected of killing her cousin, McAllen beauty queen Irene Garza — she started weeping uncontrollably.
“I was flooded with emotion, it completely took me off my feet,” said Siegler, who spent decades pushing county prosecutors for justice. “I cried at least six hours. I cried until I lost my voice.”
Seigler spoke exclusively with 48 Hours about her cousin’s murder.
On April 16, 1960, the 25-year-old teacher went to confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen. Five days later, investigators pulled her body from an irrigation canal.
Police suspected that John Feit, the priest who heard Garza’s confession, killed her. Prosecutors, though, didn’t indict him.
“I started losing faith, a little bit, in the legal system,” Siegler said.
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