Irene Garza

by Leon J. Podles

Published by the Crossland Foundation, February 19, 2008
© Copyright, Crossland Foundation, 2008

John B. Feit, a native of Chicago, had an uncle, also named John, who was a priest in Detroit.1Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005. His parents sent John to a seminary in San Antonio when he was thirteen; he studied for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was ordained on September 8, 1958. He is a published poet. He was attending a pastoral school of the Missionary Oblates at San Juan, Texas, in 1960. In nearby Edinburg, Texas, Feit often helped out at Sacred Heart Church where Rev. Charles Moran was the pastor.

Maria America Guerra

At 4:30 P.M., on March 23, 1960, Maria America Guerra, age 20, just back from nearby Pan American College, was at her home across the street from Sacred Heart Church in Edinburg. She went to the outside bathhouse to get cleaned up and noticed a man observing her. He had black hair and horned-rimmed glasses and sat in a blue-and-white 1956 or 1957 car.2Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005

After dinner, Guerra crossed the street. The car was still there. She entered the church and saw the same man sitting in the back; he was wearing black pants and a tan t-shirt. She knelt at the altar rail and was saying her rosary when he looked around the church and walked toward her. She said

Maria Christina Tijerna was walking past this church at 6:20 P.M. She heard screams and saw a man hurry from the church clutching a white towel and enter the church sacristy.4“Priest’s Trial Ends on Deadlocked Jury,” Amarillo Globe-Times, September 15, 1961. Tijerina saw Guerra run out of church and knock on the rectory door. After Moran’s voice from inside said “Wait a minute,” Tijerina asked Guerra what had happened. Guerra went home and reported the incident to the police that night.5“Alleged Victim Leads Off Case Against Priest,” Big Spring [Texas] Daily Herald, September 12, 1961, p. 1.

Feit later said that he had visited Sacred Heart that day, and had been in the church praying until 5:15 P.M., when he left to discuss with Moran the personal problems of a boy he knew. He returned to his blue-and-white 1956 Ford Tudor and went back to San Juan in time to ring the bell at 5:30 P.M. But witnesses in San Juan said he had not rung the bell.6Emma Perez-Trevio, “Assault Victim, Murdered Women Shared Similar Spring,” Brownsville Herald, March 23, 2004. Moran remembered that Feit was wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a tan shirt, and black pants that day, but had no memory of a discussion about a boy.7Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005.

For several days people noticed that Feit had a mangled finger. He claimed he had hurt it on the mimeograph machine, and on the day before the attack had asked a priest and a secretary for alcohol and a bandage. They said he had asked for help caring for his finger after the attack, and that he could not have mangled his finger in the mimeograph machine.8Emma Perez-Trevio, “Assault Victim, Murdered Women Shared Similar Spring,” Brownsville Herald, March 23. 2004. One secretary, Clothilde (Tilly) Sanchez, noticed teeth marks.9Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005. She could also recognize Feit’s distinctive voice on the phone. After the murder of Irene Garza and after she had spoken to the police, Sanchez got a call and a voice she was sure was Feit’s said, “You’re next, Tilly.”10Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005.

In early May 1960, the police asked Guerra and Tijerna to view a lineup; they went to the police station and both identified Feit as the man at the church.11Pamela Coloff, “Unholy Act,” Texas Monthly, April 2005. Soon after that she saw him in the library of the Pan American College, but he was dressed as a priest.12Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005.

The pastor of Sacred Heart, O’Brien, waited many years to tell police all that he knew about John Feit.

Irene Garza

Three weeks after the attack on Guerra in Edinburg, another crime was committed eight miles away in McAllen, Texas, where Nick and Josephina Garza operated a dry cleaning shop.

Their daughter, Irene Garza, was born in 1934. She was thin and pretty, and had been a drum majorette in McAllen High School. She was the first person in her family to go to college and
to graduate school. She was Pan American College Queen and Miss All South Texas in 1958. She was active in the Legion of Mary. She taught second grade in a poor school and spent her first paycheck as a teacher for clothes and books for the students who could not afford them.13 Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005. She began dating one young man whom she liked. She described him as “this Anglo boy – not real handsome, but cute and religious (which is important). He is a member of the Legion of Mary and goes to Mass and receives Communion every morning.”14Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005. She wanted a good
Catholic husband and a big family.

In the spring of 1960 she wrote to a friend: “Remember the last time we talked? I told you I
was afraid of death. Well, I am cured. I no longer fear death. I have been going to mass and communion every day and you can't imagine the courage, the faith and happiness it has given me.”15“Footprints Offer Hope in Slaying,” Corpus Christi Times, April 23, 1960.

Three parish priests and a visiting priest, John Feit, were hearing confessions at Sacred Heart Church in McAllen on a busy Holy Saturday, April 16, 1960, from 3 to 6 P.M. and again starting at 7 P.M. At 5 P.M. a teenager, Hortensia Gonzalez, went to confession at Sacred Heart to Feit. After the confession he told her, “I need to talk to you after confession, so wait for me.” She was disturbed by this request, so she ran home.16Robert Nelson, “Altar Ego,” Phoenix New Times, July 7, 2005.

On this Holy Saturday Irene Garza called her best friend, Maria Alicia Sotelo, about going to a movie but said he wanted to go to confession first. She called Father Richard Junius at Sacred Heart about hearing her confession (and possibly about an Easter egg hunt she was arranging at the church) just before 7 P.M. Feit answered and said Junius was already in church hearing confessions. Garza drove a dozen blocks from her family home to Sacred Heart Church and went to confession to Feit – but not in the church. People saw her walking into the church at 7 P.M.; three priests, but not Feit, returned at 7 P.M. Witnesses saw Garza walking to the rectory. Feit said he heard her confession and then left the rectory with her about 7:30 P.M. But no one saw her leave the rectory.17Brenda Rodriguez and Doug J. Swanson, “Ex-Priest Fights Suspicion Again in ’60 Rape-Slaying,” Dallas Morning News, November 3, 2002.

At 1 A.M. Easter morning while drinking coffee with the other priests after the Easter Vigil,
Feit mentioned the odd incident of the young woman who had wanted to go to confession in the rectory. He told the other priests that he had instructed her to go to confession in the church.18Emma Perez-Trevio, “Man Recalls Former Priest’s Scratches after Murder,” Brownsville Herald, March 26, 2004.

When Irene Garza hadn’t returned home by midnight, her parents began to worry. At 2:30 A.M. they began a search. They found her car two blocks from the church.

Feit made several trips in the parish car on Easter. The pastor, Rev. Joseph O’Brien, suspicious because of the news that Irene Garza was missing and because of the scratches on Feit’s hands, tried to follow Feit on Easter night, but lost him in traffic.19Emma Perez-Trevio, “Cover-up Alleged in Case Gone Cold,” Brownsville Herald, March 25, 2005.  O’Brien searched the basement and attic of the rectory and found nothing.20**Brooks Egerton, “DA Refuses to Pursue Ex-Priest,” Dallas Morning News, November 20, 2004.

Three days later a pedestrian found her high-heeled shoe, her purse, and her mantilla on a farm road.

On Thursday after Easter, April 21, 1960, her body was found floating in a canal.21“Teacher’s Body Found in Canal in South Texas,” Denton Record-Chronicle, April 21, 1960. Sometime after 7:30 P.M. on Holy Saturday someone bludgeoned her, raped her while she was in a coma, and then suffocated her and threw her body into a canal on Easter Sunday. Her body was identified by two priests from Sacred Heart church.22Eleanor Mortensen, “Valley Girl Is Found Dead,” Corpus Christi Times, April 21, 1960. The autopsy said “evidence of strangulation could not be found, but suffocation could have been carried out by placing a cloth over the mouth and nose, especially if the subject was unconscious.”23Brenda Rodriguez and Doug J. Swanson, “Ex-Priest Fights Suspicion Again in ’60 Rape-Slaying,” Dallas Morning News, November 3, 2002.

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