A priest wanted in the 1960 murder of a second grade school teacher was taken into custody in Scottsdale Tuesday night.
The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office arrested former priest John Feit in the murder of Irene Garza.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department arrested Feit outside of his apartment in Scottsdale.
MCSO assisted Hidalgo County and the Texas Rangers with the arrest of John Feit for a murder charge from the 1960's pic.twitter.com/fT7opIV26Y
— Deputy Enriquez (@DeputyEnriquez) February 10, 2016
According to ABC15 sister station KRGV.com, Feit is officially being charged with the murder of Garza. No one was ever arrested for the crime until Tuesday.
Feit has enjoyed life in the community in Arizona since the early 1970s. He’s married, has children and grandchildren and is a regular volunteer at his church.
Now, Feit will face charges for a crime he is accused of committing almost 56 years ago.
Feit spent time in the Rio Grande Valley in 1960 and was allegedly the last person to see Garza alive. She was 25 years old at the time.
The second grade teacher was going to confession at Sacred Heart Church the night before Easter Sunday, April 1960.
Feit heard her confession, but what happened after that was unknown. Garza never came back home.
Feit was always considered a person of interest in the case, but he was never arrested. He was questioned by police about where he was the night Garza went missing. There were no witnesses to any crime, and Feit told police he didn’t do it.
What he allegedly told another former priest was a very different story.
Feit was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail and is awaiting extradition to Texas.
