Irene Garza’s family feels weight has been lifted as former priest faces murder charge

TEXAS
The Monitor

KRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AND LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITERS

EDITOR’S NOTE: In Monday’s edition, former priest Dale Tacheny details in a taped interview with The Monitor John Feit’s confession to Irene Garza’s murder.

EDINBURG — Noemi Sigler stood over her cousin Irene Garza’s grave Friday and felt the weight of a decades-long fight to bring the young woman’s killer to justice had finally been lifted from her shoulders, she later said.

“You can’t even imagine. I had so many doors closed in my face, and I would often get so discouraged,” said Sigler, who for the past 32 years tirelessly pressed law enforcement to get the man who killed her cousin.

“Many times I would try to stop and I’d try to leave it alone, but Irene would always bring me back,” she added.

But in a stunning development last week, Sigler’s efforts finally seemed to pay off as news broke that the man she believes killed her 25-year-old cousin the night before Easter in 1960 had been arrested in Arizona.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.