Irene Gaza Murder Case News: Former Priest Arrested in Beauty Queen's Murder
After many years of being the main suspect for the murder of Irene Garza, John Feit has been arrested on Tuesday, following the Texas jury's decision that states there is enough evidence to charge the former Catholic priest.
The night before Easter of 1960, Feit was the priest that heard Garza's confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas, and since then, the one-time beauty queen was never heard of for a few days.
After five days of searching, Garza's body was found facedown in a canal, never having the chance to tell which person caused her death.
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According to CNN, an indictment released on Wednesday revealed the details of the arrest. The grand jury of Hidalgo County, Texas, said the now 83-year-old Feit "with malice aforethought, (caused) the death of Irene Garza by asphyxiation in a manner and means unknown to the grand jury."
The news outlet interviewed Feit back in 2013 and he denied the allegations. He also told authorities that the last time he saw the 25-year-old former Miss South Texas was outside the church as the lady left the church after confessing.
The incident happened when Feit was only 27 years old, and after items belonging to the church near Garza's body were found, he was brought in for questioning. The young priest failed polygraph tests, but it should be noted that a metallic Kodak slide photo viewer belonging to Feit was also found beside the beauty queen's corpse.
Autopsy at that time revealed that Garza was raped while she was in a coma. She later died from suffocation and the news rocked the entire town as the main suspect had also been arrested a couple of weeks before Garza's death, for attacking another woman.
Noemi Sigler, Garza's cousin who was only 10 when Garza was killed, said the family strongly believe that Feit was being protected by authorities at the time of the killing. "I don't know whether it was out of respect for the church or anger or fear." Her comments resonate the transfer of Feit from various monasteries after the murder.
Meanwhile, Feit is shocked and cannot believe that he is once again involved with a case that happened more than 50 years ago. "This whole thing makes no sense to me, because the crime in question took place in 1960," he reportedly told the court on Wednesday.
