Ex-priest found guilty in 1960 murder of Texas teacher, beauty queen

EDINBURG (TX)
Fox News

December 7, 2017

[Note: See also a PDF of the original Pawlicki letter and See also South Texas DA Refuses to Pursue Ex-Priest, by Brooks Egerton, Dallas Morning News, November 21, 2004.]

A former priest will finally pay for his sins.

John Bernard Feit, 85, was convicted Thursday in the decades-old murder of Irene Garza, a Texas teacher and beauty queen who had visited his church for confession.

The jury handed down its ruling Thursday evening after deliberating for about 6 1/2 hours at the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg.

Feit was accused of strangling the 25-year-old woman on April 16, 1960 after she visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen.

Garza never returned home. Her body turned up five days later in a canal, The Monitor reported.

An autopsy determined that Garza, who was Miss All South Texas Sweetheart 1958, was beaten and raped while unconscious and asphyxiated.

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