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[Music] this is a case about betrayal murder and a cover-up on April 16 1960 Irene goddessa went to Sacred Heart
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Church in McAllen seeking to save her soul instead she was suffocated and you're going to find out that the
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man who did this is John fight there may be people who don't understand why an old man is being prosecuted he
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looks like everyone's grandfather but make no mistake this is an evil man he was a predator
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he was a wolf in priest's clothing looking to attack [Music] she was not only beautiful
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physically she had a beautiful soul I think she just loved her faith I don't think she thought of it in terms of oh
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look how religious I am just like this was my life down here it's a primarily Catholic
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Community in in Easter is the high holiday [Music] Irene on Holy Saturday with the church packed with everybody
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trying to cleanse their soul in this confessional about seven o'clock walked in [Music]
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she would never again be seen leaving that church they'd later find her body in her
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irrigation canal thrown like a piece of trash Irene was found five days after she disappeared and what did the killer
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done to her she was uh sexually assaulted physically assaulted and she died of Suffocation
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back then the church was very powerful it was unheard of to be accusing a priest you know he just didn't do that
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my father that was a deputy sheriff at that time he approached his Superior and asked him why it's nothing being done
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and he was told to just step away from the case just step away let us take care of it did the Catholic church in those
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days have the power to prevent a suspect in a murder case from being arrested yes
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foreign the case died it was a Cold Case [Music] is this the man that you knew was John
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fight yes he was perhaps the key witness in the case he assaulted her bound her engaged
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her as he left he could hear her saying I can't breathe I can't breathe we got a
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word for that in Texas what's that there isn't any forensic evidence that affirmatively late John fight to this
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crime in any way you will see her clothing is there any evidence of DNA the evidence will show you no you
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will see her first is there any evidence of fingerprints the evidence will show you no you will see her shoes there
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wasn't enough evidence then there won't be enough evidence now I don't expect that there'd be another
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case like this ever come around in my lifetime the institution who was in the business of seeking salvation was
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complicit in covering up this murder it was a case worth losing it was worth taking a risk
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it's a story that needed to be told [Music] [Music] 48 Hours sins of the father continues in
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90 seconds [Music] thank you assistant district attorney Mike Garza is not part of Irene Garza's family but
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Irene Garza's story has been part of almost everyone's life in McAllen for Generations kind of grew to Folklore
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kind of grew of legend about a girl that you know went to confession and you know
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never laughed the story of the priest accused of killing a parishioner is finally being
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heard in a courtroom after nearly 60 years does your Catholicism make it more difficult for you to go after this guy
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the church seeks to do good it's the men in the church and the men at that time that did wrong
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it became clear that on April 16 1960 John Fife murdered Irene Garcia he did this with malice of 45.
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at 85 years old former priest John fight hardly looks like the heartless killer the state says he was in 1960.
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it was a rainy Easter Sunday Sylvia Acevedo stern was then 18 when she received some news about her
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childhood friend Irene that she has difficulty talking about still we were all very scared
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and it was just this scary unknown that someone you knew and that you loved [Music]
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and disappeared 25 year old Irene Garza had gone to confession at Sacred Heart Church the
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night before and had failed to return to her parents home where she still lived that was not
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like Irene she checked in all the time parishioners had spotted Irene earlier that night putting on a lace veil
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kneeling in a Pew and in a confession line but no one ever said they saw her leaving the church grounds
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people remembered her whether she was your neighbor whether your wife was jealous of her people knew her
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Irene had been crowned prom and homecoming queen at the local college and miss all South Texas sweetheart
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Noemi Ponce Siegler was part of Irene's extended family do you remember how you felt about her I mean what what she
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meant to you she stood out she was elegant but Irene was Far More Than Just a pretty face she
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was a Trailblazer says her cousin Linda de la Vina she and her sister Josie were
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the first Mexican-American twirlers in history of McAllen high school and then ultimately
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she became the drum majorette the first Mexican-American drum majorette Irene had been the first in her family to go
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to college and graduate school she became a second grade teacher and chose to work with mcallen's poorest students
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oftentimes she would use part of her salary to buy buy them school supplies to buy them things that they needed and
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Irene was generous with her own family Linda was just nine but she still remembers their last conversation she
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had Easter baskets for us and my brother and I were excited in jumping up and down because we just knew that she would
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not have forgotten but before Easter Sunday Irene had to go to confession at Sacred Heart Church
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religion played a central role in her life every Sunday she'd go to church every Sunday
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every Saturday she'd go to confessions it was a little bit of a family thing Irene's going to confession with her she
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needs it or not when she disappeared the search for Irene Garza was huge seventy members of the Hidalgo County
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Sheriff's posse many on Horseback fanned out looking for Irene and one of them was noemi's father that man wouldn't
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even sleep trying to find Irene Sylvia remained at the Garza home for days after Irene vanished she says at
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first everyone tried to hold on to hope but then Irene's purse was found near a dirt road is this the purse that you
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recall that was brought to the house yes the news only got worse just up the road
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they found Irene's shoe is that Irene's shoe yes sir and the shoe was it was a killer
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then five days after she vanished everyone's worst fear was confirmed when Irene's body was found floating in an
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irrigation canal and I just remember her mother just dissolving I mean I just saw her just
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bending over in pain Irene was still partially dressed but her blouse was unbuttoned and her
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underwear was missing the autopsy showed she had been beaten and sexually assaulted it was showed that she was
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killed by asphyxiation probably Suffocation at first there were few leads at the crime scene just an imprint
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of Irene's Petticoat On the Canal bank and a partial heel print from a man's shoe
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but two weeks later police discovered a curious clue they drained the canal and on the bottom they found this a photo
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slide viewer the police turned to the public for help in identifying the owner two days later
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they received a note from Father John fight of visiting priest from the missionary oblates of Mary Immaculate
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John fight writes a letter saying that slide viewer belongs to me why in the world would he tell the police yeah
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that's that's my slide viewer I think it was taunting taunting the police haunting the police
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police only grew more suspicious of the 27-year-old priest when he gave them different stories about that night at
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first he said he had not heard her confession at all he changes it by saying later I took her confession in
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the rectory and there were other peculiarities fight had been staying temporarily at the
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rectory to help with the busy Easter holiday but he kept going back to the Pastoral house where he lived just a few
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miles away six times in a 24-hour period he used excuses like breaking his glasses needing to get clean clothes
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different things that became very suspicious and Father Joseph O'Brien the assistant
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pastor told police that fight had some injuries the night Irene disappeared he noticed some scratches on his hands
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some scratches it ran vertically down his hands and on the top of his arms father fight said he had been locked out
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of the Pastoral house and had scratched his hands climbing up to the second floor balcony
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they were on the back of his hands and I guess this gentleman climbs the wall like this but he said he got them
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climbing a wall they had a pretty good case against him why wasn't he arrested he was protected
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bye by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church [Music] [Music] it's always been very difficult
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in the days after Irene Garza's murder Sylvia Acevedo stern was struggling not just with grief but also with guilt on
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the Saturday she vanished Irene called Sylvia's house hoping she could accompany her to confession
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but Sylvia wasn't home that day might have been different if I had been with her
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she might not have gone to the rectory but why had Irene agreed to go to the rectory that night we are at this time
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the state of Texas a new witness Anna Maria Hollingsworth testified that father fight had pulled
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Irene out of the confessional before it's not the same she says going to confession anymore because I don't get
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to stay in the confessional he had pulled her out of the confessional told her she was too good to confess in the
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confessional and took her to the rectory Anna Maria says her friend Irene seemed
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confused by fights insistence if that's true why would she have gone with him to
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the rectory on that Saturday evening because he was a priest and you didn't fear priests back then she had no reason
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to suspect he was going to do something violent or sexual to her what angers Mike Garza is that he says the church
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had warning signs about fight three weeks before Irene was killed a woman named Maria America Guerra had
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been attacked in a nearby Church a man that she had seen came up behind her tried to stuff a rag in her mouth
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threw her to the ground and at that point she was able to bite his finger so hard that she tasted blood in her mouth
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and get away although the church suspected fight he was not turned in Mike Garza says A source told him the
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solution was to send fight a few miles away to Irene's Family Parish what was the
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point of that I guess to keep an eye on him I guess to protect him at the time they certainly weren't going to attack
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him to protect him so did he behave himself up until the time that you believe he killed Irene Garza no is that
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what you look like yes you were about 20 years old yes Garza found another new witness Beatrice Garcia who says in the
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weeks before Irene Garza was murdered she had a bizarre encounter with Father fight I was walking to work a car
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approached me and I said can I help you sir and he said I would love to take a picture of you
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dressed in black by the cemetery and that man in the car who was it he was um the priest that's him right there
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he liked a certain look in a woman you know America Guerra Beatriz Garcia Irene Garza they all look the same
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foreign was a violent attack and maybe he got a little taste of it then and was looking
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for his next victim and Garza says that victim ended up being Irene yet despite the evidence against fight
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at the time the case seemed to stall Noemi Ponce Siegler recalls finding her father one of the original investigators
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very upset one day I saw him sitting in a chair with a white handkerchief and he was
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crying Noemi says her father had been told his superiors would take over the investigation
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around that time Irene's parents got a visit from father O'Brien of Sacred Heart Church the church tried to placate
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them saying you know even if it is him we're going to take care of him he would buy Justice within the church if it was
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him Irene's Family had long suspected that there had been a conspiracy between the authorities and the church to
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protect fight they could never prove it then I'm showing you what's been marked as
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State's exhibit 108 but the state says there is proof now I was stunned I felt like I had a Smoking Gun at that point
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it's a letter written in 1960 from one church official to another Garza says this is proof that the church and the
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Catholic Sheriff at the time e e Vickers conspired to undermine the Irene Garza investigation at some point the sheriff
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would meet with the D.A and explain to them what a weak case they had against him in an effort to get it dropped in
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the letter they were concerned about how the case might not only affect the church but also the campaign of Catholic
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presidential candidate John F Kennedy there are also political implications to this that could make this a juicy
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Scandal for the opposition to Kennedy father Thomas Doyle a leading expert on clergy abuse analyzed the letter for the
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jury and I believe I found in every paragraph some element that I found very unusual but pointed to an attempt to
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cover this up to make it go away but there was no getting away from Maria America guerra's accusation because she
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had identified fight a year after Irene's death he stood trial for attempting to rape Gara but the jury
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deadlocked rather than face a second Trial fight pled no contest in 1962 to a lesser charge aggravated assault and
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what happened to him he was fine 500. 500 500 bucks the state calls Gerald Davis and Daryl
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Davis says he knows how that happened and who is that young man standing there that's Daryl Davis Channel 5 News Davis
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is now a local attorney but back in 1962 he was a young TV reporter who had covered the Maria America Guerra plea In
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This Very courtroom at the clock that's on the back of that wall there after 57 years Davis says around that time he and
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several other reporters were summoned to an off the Record meeting with Robert Latimore who was then the district
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attorney he said we know the verbatim we know that father fight killed Irene Garza
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and I remember he said and the church knows that he killed Irene Garza so we have made some arrangements
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Davis says in exchange for that plea in the Maria America Guerra case fight would not be prosecuted in the Irene
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Garza case and the church would send him away he said the church is going to put him
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in a monastery for Disturbed or troubled priests and he will be kept there for the rest of his life
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and so father fight disappeared from the area the case was buried Irene's parents died without knowing
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that decades later it would be brought back to the surface by a former monk I covered up the
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evidence I'm sorry for what I did to read more of the church letter join us on Facebook at 48 hours
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[Music] in the state of Texas we're called dale tashni dale tashni is 88 years old a
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former monk from Oklahoma and now the star witness at John fight's murder trial tashni has waited years to be able
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to take the stand do you remember what you were feeling at that moment really relief
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this was my chance to tell what I knew what I remembered in 2002 42 years after the murder of Irene Garza tashni sent a
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letter to the San Antonio police saying he had information about the death of an
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unnamed woman in the 1960s on Easter weekend she went to confession to to the priest after hearing her confession he
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assaulted her bound her engaged her the priest's name was John fight the San Antonio police knew nothing
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about the case but the Texas Rangers did it just so happened the Cold Case had been reopened that year and Ranger Rudy
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Jaramillo had been working on it without much luck and then Dale tashney came along that's a huge break for you right
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Jaramillo got in touch with tashney and was amazed by what he heard even though tashni didn't know the name
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of the victim and had the incorrect date and City Jaramillo was certain tashni was talking about the murder of Irene
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Garza back in 1963 tashni was a monk at the Assumption Abbey in Ava Missouri [Music]
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he says his Superior ordered him to counsel a young priest named John fight who had just arrived at the monastery
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with an unusual story I was told that he had killed a woman and then asked if we could see if he
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would fit in in the monastery and possibly become a monk a murderer become a monk does that seem
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odd to you to me yes tashni says over the course of many months father fight told him about that
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attack after confession he took her blouse off he fondled her breasts and then after
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that he took her down in the basement and somehow she remained in the basement I
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assumed that he that he tied her up down there tashni says fight told him he later
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moved her from the rectory to another location the next day Easter Sunday I believe it was and he put her in the
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bathroom put her in the tub and he had put her in a bag or something overhead some sort of
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a plastic bag I don't fully remember but when he was leaving he heard her saying I can't breathe I
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can't breathe without he shut the door and left when he came back he opened the bathroom
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door and she was dead and then with the body he dumped the body along the road by a canal
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despite hearing all this tashni says he did not call police then because he felt
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his only job was to counsel the priest but it soon became clear that fight was not a good fit at the Assumption Abbey
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and he eventually was sent to another Monastery in New Mexico send him out the door yes knowing
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what you knew yes buried as much of it as I could tashni eventually left the priesthood
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got married and raised a family but in the early 2000s he says he had a crisis of conscience and could no longer carry
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the burden of John fight's story did you know Irene Garza no as the jury listened tashni shared his
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story and the pain he felt for denying answers to Irene's Family did you know her parents no
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can remove one to something else [Music] but it took 15 years from the time tashni first came forward to get him in
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front of a jury and this man Renee Guerra is a big part of the reason why but you don't believe
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fight ever confessed to him I don't believe Gara was the D.A in 2002 when tashni came forward
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he refused to charge fight we spoke to him in 2013. I mean why would he make up this conversation
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I don't know but why what makes you think he did the fact that he had no specifics
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but tashni was not the only new witness at the time Ranger Jaramillo had also Tracked Down father O'Brien who said
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fight had also admitted guilt to him haramio recorded an interview with O'Brien in which he matched many of the
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details in tashni's account did he put her anywhere to hide her to place her in you know anywhere where he
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might have to bet some did he tell you how he killed him she died from the gagging asphyxiation
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Gareb did not believe father O'Brien either he says O'Brien had been diagnosed with a form of dementia is he
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misunderstanding and fabricating in his mind a story that he might have heard about
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might have read about Jaramillo felt O'Brien was clear-minded but Renee Guerra would not Bend Linda de
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la Vina remembers he confronted her as she and Noemi Ponce Siegler tried to push him to prosecute and I'll never
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forget he put his finger in my in my face and said you know you'll never get an indictment you'll
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get one when pigs fly I'm Linda and Noemi refused to back down and in 2004 Guerra finally seemed to
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give in to the public pressure and his office took the case to a grand jury but jurors would only be given audio tapes
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and transcripts of what father O'Brien and Dale tashney told investigators they were never called to testify in person
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the charge has been made that you could have called them and that you didn't do it in this case because you didn't want
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to prosecute this case Irene Garcia's family saying that's what they're saying there's some interested parties that are
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saying that the grand jury did not charge John fight and he continued to live as a free man
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he had left the monastery and the priesthood by 1972 he married and became a father and a grandfather and had
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worked for decades at a Catholic charity when we found him near his home in Scottsdale Arizona in 2014.
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um well let me just ask you straight out did you kill Irene Garza no do you know
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who did uh no well Dale tashney says that you told him that you did I'm sorry fight could not have known it then but
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his time was running out good brother shortly after our conversation with him there was a big development in McCallum
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Renee Guerra who had been D.A for 32 years was defeated by Ricardo Rodriguez who promised to look into the case and
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in February 2016 fight was arrested and brought back to Texas to stand trial but after nearly 60 years is it too late
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[Music] to hear more of Father O'Brien's interview with investigators join us at
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48hours.com after hearing her confession he assaulted her Dale tashney's testimony
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allowed the prosecution to piece together the last hours of Irene Garza's life he put the young lady downstairs
00:29:28
the rectory at that time and this is the rectory yes prosecutor Mike Garza says because of the rectory's thick walls
00:29:36
nobody would hear sounds of a struggle or any screens for help and left her there and left her there and Garza says
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father fight went back to church to hear confessions after parishioners left that
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Holy Saturday Garza says fight moved Irene a few miles away to the Pastoral house
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story was that he had placed her in a bathtub and had kept left her there while he was going to go back and say
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vigil mass and at that time she said I can't breathe I can't breathe Garza says when fight returned from church Irene
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was dead yet the point that he left we believe she was still alive but we you know with every intent to kill her
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that's a depraved heart that's a pretty cold heart that night Easter night Dale tashney believes Irene
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was moved one last time he put her in a car and put her aside of the road near a canal tashni's testimony has some
00:30:40
details but Mike Garza knows it also has holes do you recognize that sir yes sir in his
00:30:49
letter to police in 2002 tashni said the murder happened in 1962 or 1963 in San Antonio several years after and more
00:31:01
than 200 miles from where Irene Garza's body was found why did you think it was in San Antonio
00:31:08
by the fight was from San Antonio you went to school there did you know what year this had happened
00:31:16
James of a monastery in 1963 I thought it happened in 1963. did you later find that you were mistaken
00:31:24
yes but I wasn't easily convinced defense attorney Renee Flores believes Ranger Rudy Jaramillo fed facts to
00:31:34
tashney so he could close the case could you have done that did you do that no sir Jaramillo says he corrected tashni
00:31:43
only because the former monk was racked by guilt wanted to find Irene's Family and clear his conscience
00:31:52
I had to set them straight as to when it happened and where but the defense says
00:31:56
tashni isn't simply mistaken he assaulted her bound her engaged her Renee Flores says tashni is simply lying
00:32:05
okay you never told my father fight that she had been bound and gagged that's correct tashni admits he assumed
00:32:13
that because Irene didn't escape from the rectory after some time he placed her in a cellophane Bay and put her into
00:32:22
a bathtub you also talked about a cellophane bag we know that didn't happen correct no we don't know that
00:32:28
that didn't happen we know that he didn't tell me it happened well if he didn't tell you all of these different
00:32:34
things Mr tashney why would you come forward to law enforcement and tell them that he did they're a reasonable
00:32:40
assumptions the prosecutors don't think the problems tashney has with details make him unreliable and they say much of
00:32:49
his testimony is corroborated by what father O'Brien who has since died told the police did he tell you how he killed
00:32:59
her well she died from the gag in asphyxiation but the defense says O'Brien like tashni got help with his
00:33:07
story I think Joseph O'Brien was fed given or confronted with what the investigators believed
00:33:19
Renee flores's arguing fight was never prosecuted because of a lack of evidence not a conspiracy and he questions Daryl
00:33:28
Davis's testimony about that off the Record meeting with the prosecutor at the time we were talking to the defense
00:33:36
attorney and he doubts this meeting ever really took place really well I'll look him straight in the eye
00:33:45
and tell him that I remember it parts of it as clear as a bill but nobody is clear according to Flores
00:33:54
on exactly when Irene went missing he says Witnesses saw her on church grounds more than an hour after the prosecutors
00:34:02
say she was abducted she had been seen at least an hour and a half to an hour 45 minutes later and if the jurors
00:34:10
conclude a priest murdered Irene Flores wants them to consider a different priest Father Richard Junius was also
00:34:18
hearing confessions at Sacred Heart that day and new Irene his father Junius a reasonable other
00:34:26
suspect in your mind sure Florida says Texas Rangers interviewed father Junius decades after
00:34:35
the crime and he seemed nervous if I recall correctly Texas Ranger haramio indicated that Richard genius was not
00:34:44
very happy about being interviewed that suggests something and why law enforcement
00:34:50
ignored it I don't know but father Junius was never considered a suspect in the case and he died in 2007 so he can't
00:34:59
defend himself but John fight can if he decides to take the stand at his trial there are several things I'd like to
00:35:09
speak to [Music] would you fight would you raise your right answer do you swear from the
00:35:25
testimony you're about to give the case now before the court is the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth so
00:35:28
help me God very well sir for years people have been trying to get answers from John fight about Irene Garza's
00:35:36
murder there are several things I'd like to speak to and it looked like fight might be considering taking the stand at
00:35:43
his trial kind of between a rock and a hard place here during a break his attorneys
00:35:49
consulted with fight who finally announced his decision well it was a wrestling match between my vanity and
00:35:57
Common Sense and Common Sense prevailed Mr fight do you wish to testify in your own behalf no you think he would have
00:36:05
been a good witness I think he would have been a great Witness but I think that the prosecutor would
00:36:11
have done his very best to attack and eat him up with that settled closing arguments can
00:36:22
begin now proceeding may please the court prosecutor Mike Garza reminded the jury of the women he says father fight
00:36:30
preyed upon he was a wolf in Priest clothing waiting to attack attacked once tried to attack again
00:36:43
and finally he got his prayer ask yourself this what evidence was there that John Fine had any intent to
00:36:52
kill what evidence did you hear you're here to find facts and sometimes there just aren't enough
00:36:59
to convince Beyond a reasonable dollar fight went through the trial alone without his family and on December 7
00:37:12
2017 after six days the cold case against the former priest was in the hands of the jury the jury began their
00:37:21
liberations just this afternoon I was confident I felt we had the right jury in the box and that carried you through
00:37:29
the first what two hours that carried me probably through the first two hours and
00:37:33
then what happened it started taking long we received another note from the jury
00:37:39
and I started losing faith after six and a half hours there was a verdict with the defendant please stand
00:37:56
we the jury find the defendant John Bernard fight guilty of the offense of murder with malice of Ford thought as
00:38:05
charged in John fight once a cleric is now a convict guilty tell me what you're feeling the justice
00:38:28
will served Irene finally got her day in court and that's all we ever wanted support we've been waiting for brought a
00:38:42
smile to an old Texas Ranger's face after 57 years we have found Justice for Irene and for today pigs are flying
00:38:53
Mr fighting words when you heard that father fight had finally been convicted what did that feel like to you knowing
00:39:02
the role you played the dead is paid both to Irene and father blade justice has been done for the both of
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them the verdict against John fight was one thing but the jury still had to decide
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on his sentence Linda and Noemi worried that fight might be set free the jury might decide because he is older and
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he's frail that they would be somewhat lenient the morning after the extraordinary
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verdict something else extraordinary happened it snowed here along the border with Mexico
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as the sentencing process began snowing outside good morning and one last time the lawyers addressed the jury
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it was a time where this man wasn't walking in a walker where this man wasn't sitting here weak
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it was a time when this man was strong prosecutor Mike Garza pulled out the photo of Irene he carried close to his
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heart throughout the entire trial she was a person that was loved we asked that you assess punishment at
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57 years every year that he was free having a family getting married hiding behind the protection of the
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church is it a just penalty to impose a sentence Upon A man who was different 60 years later
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that you decide do you really think he's going to win 57 four hours later for the defendant
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please stand the jury announced its decision we the jury assess punishment and imprisonment for a term of life
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it was a perfect plan it was a perfect fight it had the perfect result everybody won except John fight well he
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was the villain the villain's not supposed to win [Music] thank you [Music] I said okay Irene
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I know what your message is we must get back to respecting caring and loving each other that's what we have to do
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that's the lesson she taught us she was so good she was and will be my hero [Music]
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for Mike Garza this case tested his trust in the church but in the end he kept his faith I've probably crossed
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no I have crossed the emotional line in this case this case was very important to me
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from my heart I truly believe that Faith would win and it did [Music] foreign [Music]
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[Applause] I could see how much blood I was losing I didn't really care whether I had legs
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or not I just was going to be alive I was able to see Sarah Sicilian Vanessa again that became my motivation
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[Music] it was it was my two little girls [Music] CBS News original reporting [Music]