--- title: Ex-Priest Arrested for 1960 Murder of Texas Beauty Queen description: Irene Garza, Miss South Texas, was murdered in 1960. canonical: https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-10T14:45:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:56:43.593Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Ex-Priest Arrested for Murdering Texas Beauty Queen in 1960 og:description: John Feit is accused of killing Irene Garza, Miss South Texas og:url: https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ex-Priest Arrested for Murdering Texas Beauty Queen in 1960 twitter:description: John Feit is accused of killing Irene Garza, Miss South Texas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Former Priest Arrested for Murdering Texas Beauty Queen in 1960 by [Alastair Jamieson and Phil Helsel / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Alastair Jamieson and Phil Helsel / NBC News Feb 10, 2016 2:45 PM CUT by [Alastair Jamieson and Phil Helsel / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Alastair Jamieson and Phil Helsel / NBC News Feb 10, 2016 2:45 PM CUT A former priest has been arrested over the 1960 murder of Texas beauty queen and schoolteacher Irene Garza, officials and campaigners said Tuesday. John Feit, 83, was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona on a murder charge out of Hildago County, Texas — where the one-time Miss South Texas was found dead in a canal, authorities said. Feit was jailed pending extradition to Texas, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona said in a statement. His arrest came after a Texas grand jury indicted him on the murder charge, [NBC affiliate KPNX in Phoenix reported](http://www.12news.com/news/local/valley/priest-arrested-for-murder-that-happened-60-years-ago/38634370 "undefined"). It wasn’t immediately clear what new information… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-priest-john-feit-arrested-1960-murder-irene-garza-n515551?cid=par-time%5F20160210 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/"},"headline":"Former Priest Arrested for Murdering Texas Beauty Queen in 1960","datePublished":"2016-02-10T14:45:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:56:43.593Z","description":"Irene Garza was a schoolteacher who won Miss South Texas","url":"https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/","keywords":["Texas","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alastair Jamieson and Phil Helsel / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4215341/priest-murder-miss-south-texas/","name":"Former Priest Arrested for Murdering Texas Beauty Queen in 1960"}}]}] ```