The Latest from Day 2: Women testify that Feit made ominous remarks

EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor

December 1, 2017

By Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro

EDINBURG — The Latest on the John Feit trial:

12 p.m.

After more boxes of evidence were opened following the first break, the evidence tech remained on the stand and fielded questions from the defense.

Handwritten letters from Feit to McAllen Police Chief Clint Mussey and an affidavit from the defendant taken shortly after Garza’s disappearance were among the items entered as evidence.

Before the court recessed for lunch break, jurors heard from an employee of Sacred Heart church in Edinburg, Cleotilde “Tilly” Sanchez.

Sanchez, the state’s third witness of the day, worked as a cook in the rectory at the church.

She testified about receiving an anonymous call from a man who made an ominous statement: “Tilly, you’re next honey.”

Despite the caller not identifying himself, Sanchez said she recognized Feit’s voice. She said she often encountered him at the church’s rectory, where he spent time with other priests.

In another instance, Sanchez testified about Feit remarking to other priests, “We should lock the door, and make Tilly disappear.”

Although not part of her testimony Friday, Sanchez has claimed that the threatening call from Feit came shortly after the Guerra incident, in which Feit’s finger was allegedly injured.

This testimony followed Beatrice Garcia, who testified that a man approached her in his car as she walked in downtown McAllen, near the Sacred Heart Church, and told her that he’d love to take pictures of her by the cemetery.

Garcia, who was in her 20s in 1960, said she felt scared by the proposition and later learned it was Feit, who had been implicated in the Guerra incident.

After the encounter, Garcia said her father would accompany her when she walked to work.

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