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The Unsolved 1980s Franciscan Priest Murders · Murder Files Unsealed

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  The old adage once is an anomaly, twice as a coincidence, three times
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  is a pattern has been a topic of discussion in the American Southwest for many
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  years. Between nineteen eighty one and nineteen eighty four, three Catholic priests were
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  killed in the region, coinciding with a mysterious suicide in Idaho and a disappearance
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  in Montana. Some have speculated that these events may be interconnected. The first
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  incident involved the death of father Patrick Paddy Ryan in December nineteen eighty one in
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  Odessa, Texas. Originally from Ireland, Ryan had previously served in Africa before
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  coming to the United States. According to the Austin Chronicle, he was based
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  in Denver City, Texas, which is linked to Hobbes, New Mexico by
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  road. Ryan was known to frequently pick up hitchhikers along this route, including
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  a man named James Harry Raos, who only knew him by the alias John.
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  On December twentieth, nineteen eighty one, Ryan allegedly assaulted Raos at the
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  Saint William's Rectory. The following day, Rayos claimed that he had no other
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  option but to ask Ryan for a ride back to Hobbes. During the journey,
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  they picked up a third man and Ryan left with him after dropping off
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  Raos. Ryan was discovered dead nine hours later, naked and covered in blood
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  in an Odessa motel. Raos, who had picked up the third man himself
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  before learning of Ryan's death, was arrested, confessed to the crime, and
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  was ultimately convicted, despite later retracting his confession and lack of concrete evidence linking
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  him to Ryan's death. Raos remained in prison until twenty twelve, as per
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  the Innocence Project of Texas. Two other priests were killed around the same time
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  as Rivera. To a daytional priests were killed in the southern United States shortly
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  after Patrick Ryan's death. One was murdered in New Mexico and the other in
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  Arizona. The next victim was Father Renaldo Rivera from Santa Fe. As stated
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  in his obituary in the Santa Fe, New Mexican he was a local resident
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  who had served in various parishes before being assigned to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint
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  Francis. Father Rivera belonged to the Franciscan order and was highly regarded in the
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  community. According to k ob four, he was deeply committed to his vocation
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  and did not hesitate to respond to a phone call he received on August fifth,
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  nineteen eighty two, from a man claiming to be dying and in need
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  of last rites. The caller instructed Rivera to meet him at the Labajada rest
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  stop, which is the last known location of the priest. The Rio.
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  Grand and son reported that two days later, Rivera's lifeless body was discovered in
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  a field, having suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. His car
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  was found in a different city. In November of the same year, Father
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  Ben Carrier, a priest based in California, was found dead in Yuma,
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  Arizona. As reported by Eleven Chimer, Carrier was well known in his local
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  parish for his dedicated work with the homeless, and his tragic death garnered significant
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  attention from the media. He was found in a motel room with his hands
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  bound by electrical tape. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation.
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  At the time, two young white men were considered as possible suspects, but
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  no arrests were made. The priest who vanished was implicated in child abuse.
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  In July nineteen eighty four. Father, John Kerrigan, vanished two years after
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  the killings of Rinaldo Rivera and Ben Carrier. Unlike the other victims, Kerigan
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  was not a priest from the American South. He served as a priest in
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  Montana and was in the process of being transferred from Plain to Ronan when he
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  went missing. The Crossland Foundation reported that his last known sighting was at a
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  local bakery. Unfortunately, this would be the final time anyone laid eyes on
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  him. The following day, Kerigan's bloodstained clothes were discovered on a highway,
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  and a week later his car was found with bloodstains on the seat and a
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  bloody shovel in the trunk, as reported by the Billings Gazette. During the
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  investigation, authorities drew connections between Kerrigan's disappearance and Rivera's murder due to the similarities
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  in their cases. Both men appeared to have been victims of homicide, their
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  vehicles were abandoned in different locations, and interestingly, Bagan was also a member
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  of the Franciscan Order, as noted by the Charlie Project. The cases were
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  even featured together on the television show Unsolved Mysteries, and have since been referred
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  to as the Franciscan Priest murders. Another significant factor that led investigators to link
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  Rivera's death with Kerigan's disappearance was the fact that Kerrigan had spent time at the
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  servants of the Paraclet Centre in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, the same state
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  where Rivera was based. The Paraclet Center unfortunately no longer possesses any records.
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  It was a facility that catered to troubled priests dealing with issues such as substance
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  abuse, mental health problems, or sexual misconduct. According to the Missoulian,
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  local authorities were aware of allegations of child sexual abuse against Kerigan prior to his
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  disappearance, and these accusations became public knowledge