Arrest in Texas beauty queen Irene Garza murder case from 1960

Police in Texas investigating the murder of a teacher and beauty queen in 1960 have arrested the former priest who apparently heard her final confession.

The unsolved killing of Irene Garza, 25, who was last seen at church, has haunted the city of McAllen.

Her bludgeoned body was pulled from an irrigation canal and now, nearly 56 years later, police have arrested the man long suspected of her murder.

Using a walker, a frail-looking John Feit, 83, appeared in court in Phoenix a day after being arrested at home in Scottsdale, Arizona, on a murder charge.

He is in custody on $750,000 bail while he waits to be transferred to Texas, but has vowed to fight extradition.

“This whole thing makes no sense to me because the crime in question took place in 1960,” he said.

Mr Feit’s arrest followed other investigations over the years, including a grand jury probe in 2004 that concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge him.

McAllen police would not comment on what evidence was gathered or presented to the grand jury that finally brought the charge.

“The arrest of John Feit is the first step in providing justice for the murder of Ms Irene Garza,” said Hidalgo County district attorney Ricardo Rodriguez.

“After nearly 56 years, Ms Garza’s family and our community will finally see that justice is served.”

Authorities said Ms Garza visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where Mr Feit was a priest, on April 16, 1960. Ms Garza, who was Miss All South Texas Sweetheart 1958, had planned to go to confession that evening.

She never returned home.

Her body was found days later and an examination found she had been raped while unconscious, beaten, and suffocated.

Mr Feit came under suspicion early on, telling police he heard Ms Garza’s confession — in the church rectory rather than the confessional — but denied killing her.

He later spent time at a treatment centre for troubled priests, and then became a supervisor and had a part in clearing priests for assignments to parishes.

Among the men Mr Feit helped keep in ministry was child molester James Porter, who assaulted more than 100 victims before he was defrocked and sent to prison.

Mr Feit left the priesthood in 1972, married, and went on to work at the St Vincent de Paul charity in Phoenix.

Among the evidence that pointed to Mr Feit as a suspect was his portable photographic slide viewer, found near Ms Garza’s body.

Two fellow priests told authorities Mr Feit confessed to them and one said he saw scratches on Mr Feit soon after Ms Garza’s disappearance.

Mr Feit had also been accused of attacking another young woman in a church in a nearby town just weeks before Ms Garza’s death.

Ex-priest who heard her last confession arrested in the 1960 murder of Irene Garza https://t.co/d2AHEE2Xja pic.twitter.com/96MXr3Bfil

— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) February 10, 2016