TEXAS
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)
Relatives cry cover-up in 1960 murder of Texas beauty queen as the main suspect, a priest, has never been charged and continues to live comfortably
The relatives of a beauty queen murdered in Texas in 1960 have said officials helped cover-up for a priest who has been a suspect in the murder since the initial investigation.
Former Miss South Texas, Irene Garza, was found lying in a canal in her hometown of McAllen after having disappeared the day before Easter. She had went to Sacred Heart Catholic Church to give confession to Rev. John Feit.
Feit, a then-27-year-old, priest was immediately a suspect in Garza’s death because less than a month earlier her had found guilty of attacking another young woman at a nearby church. He did not serve any jail time and was fined $500.
But Feit was never arrested in the case and was quietly transferred to a monastery before leaving the priesthood in the late 1960s.
He continues to live a comfortable life in a affable neighborhood in Phoenix. He has steadfastly denied ever killing Garza in interrogations with police and interviews by the media, including CNN.
But after the case was reopened in 2002, two witnesses came forward to investigators to say Feit allegedly confessed to them.
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