HOUSTON – Legal experts say prosecutors face a tough road in their case against a former priest accused this week in the killing of a young Texas teacher and beauty queen nearly 56 years ago.
As with many cold cases, the challenges include decades-old evidence, a lack of DNA and the long delay in bringing charges.
Eighty-three-year-old John Bernard Feit remained in jail Friday in Phoenix after he was indicted in South Texas in the murder of 25-year-old Irene Garza.
Authorities allege the then-27-year-old Feit killed Garza in April 1960, after hearing her confession at a Catholic church in McAllen, where Feit was a priest.
The former district attorney who investigated the murder is among those expressing doubt about whether prosecutors can win a conviction.
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