Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Murder of Father Patrick Ryan Part 1: Room 126

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The Murder of Father Patrick Ryan Part 1: Room 126 · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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I've got a few things to talk about before we start this episode. First,
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for a brief period of time, episodes will be coming out irregularly and
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not on Sunday nights as they usually do. We've got a lot of irons
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on the fire, so please bear with us for just a little while longer.
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Thanks. Next, the go fund me our friend Arline, set up
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to help get answers in the nineteen ninety six execution style murder of her uncle
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Leon Laureles, recently hit the halfway mark. If you are able, please
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consider making a donation and helping Arline reach her goal. Things are happening,
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and it's more important right now than it ever has been to keep things moving.
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We appreciate any donation you can give, and Arline appreciates it even more.
0:56
Finally, I'm going to hazard a guess and say that last majority of
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you folks love Girl Scout cookies. Well, a very special little girl we
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know is trying to make it to Girl Scout Diva Camp this year. If
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you're in the market for some Girl Scout cookies, please consider clicking on the
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link in the show notes and placing your order. From there. You can
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even get the new Raspberry Rallies this year's online exclusive cookie, and if you
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get nine boxes or more, shipping is half off. If you happen to
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place an order, send a screenshot of your invoice to Goncold Podcast at gmail
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dot com and we'll send you some goncold swag as a thank you. Now
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onto the episode. The Goncold Podcast may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
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Listener discretion is advised. Covering more than sixty thousand acres in two Texas counties
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near the New Mexico border, the Wasson oil field is big, so big
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in fact, that wells miles away from each other were thought to be pulling
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from separate pools until nineteen thirty six, when it was discovered to be won.
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As word got around about the gusher on LP and Ruth Bennett's property in
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Yocumbe County, a discovery that pulled the cattle ranching family out of financial ruin
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due to an economic depression largely as the result of severe droughts, prospectors poured
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into the area quickly. The powers that be, meaning an oil field company,
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drilling superintendent and a subdivision developer, saw that it was necessary to design
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a town to go along with a boom, and in nineteen thirty nine,
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Denver City was established, about eighty five miles southwest of Lubbock. It was
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named after the nearby Denverpool area of Wassenfield, which was named after the company
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that operated it, Denver Producing, a refining company. Denver City considered the
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last West Texas boomtown boomed hard virtually overnight, and of course, after a
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bulldozer carved a path through the sagebrush and mesquite trees. Businesses popped up everywhere.
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A gas station, lumber yards, more than a dozen grocery stores,
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and just as many dry goods vendors supplied necessities and extras to the roughnecks living
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in campus tents along the freshly plowed main street. By nineteen forty, Denver
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City was incorporated, officially held elections for city positions, established city services,
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and had two newspapers. The town went from three thousand residents down to two
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thousand by nineteen forty four, after the initial boom's excitement finally wore off,
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but the population again grew steadily throughout the nine fifties to the nineteen seventies.
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It leveled off a couple hundred shy of five thousand. By nineteen eighty Saint
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William Catholic Church was among others of various denominations built in Denver City, and
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on Christmas Day in nineteen eighty one, parishioners reported to the Yocum County Sheriff's
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office that their only priest, forty nine year old Patrick Ryan, hadn't been
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seen for days. Ryan, or Father Patty as he was affectionately referred,
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had never missed a Mass, but on this week he'd missed three, one
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the night of Wednesday, December twenty third, nineteen eighty one midnight Mass,
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the following day, Christmas Eve, and the third on Christmas Day, though
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they were a little worried when Father Ryan missed the first two. The man
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was also the priest for folks in the Yocumb County seat Plains. His parishioners
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simply thought he'd been called to go there or was helping someone in need.
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That was something they said he did often. There seemed to be no evidence
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that this was the case, however, Yoakum County Sheriff Jim Rice told the
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local newspaper that they'd discovered a fully cooked, but untouched steak dinner in the
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missing man's rectory, a small, mid century built bungalow with a scenic view
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of a pump jack from the backyard. It appeared he'd taken none of his
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clerical clothing and personal items. His shaving razor, toothbrush, and suitcase were
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also left behind his sedan, though the nineteen seventy nine two toned maroon over
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white Chrysler Newport that could usually be seen under the connected carport was gone.
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Everything in the rectory was kemped. There were no signs that a struggle had
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taken place. Still, Sheriff Rice commented he'd be investigating under the assumption that
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foul play was involved until he found something that proved otherwise. The only other
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angle Yocum County's top law man could think of was that Father Ryan had become
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ill and wandered off, perhaps an unforeseen complication from the bouts of malaria he'd
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suffered while doing mission work in Africa. While it is possible to suffer from
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long term effects of the disease, including cognitive impairment, friend and fellow Palatine
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priest Bill Hanley said this theory was unlikely since Father Ryan rarely exhibited any There
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were no clues left behind that pointed to any particular theory. Police were baffled
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by the disappearance of the beloved clergyman. Meanwhile, detectives eighty five miles southeast
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of the small oil town or investigating the brutal slang of a middle aged man
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found in a CD motel just off Odessa's main drag, and like their counterparts
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in Denver City, policemen didn't know what to make of the mystery before them.
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Even after the cops thought they'd figured it out, the mystery lingered,
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and a decades long injustice began. Located at twelve thirteen West Second Street in
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Odessa, Texas, the Sandon Sage Motel was a known spot for sex work,
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drug activity, and various other criminal goings on as reputable place according to
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the local god fearing folks, where the housekeeping staff was seldom surprised at what
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they found after checkout time. But Tuesday, December twenty second, nineteen eighty
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one was different. When a maid making her morning rounds arrived at Room one
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twenty six, she stopped her cart, knocked at the door, and announced
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herself loudly. No one answered. At about eleven thirty am after knocking twice.
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The maid flipped through her key ring, found the correct key, turned
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it in the lock, and opened the door. The room was in shambles.
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There were beer cans strewn about, cigarette butts scattered everywhere from an overturned
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ash tray, and something rust colored smeared and spattered all over the walls and
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carpet. It was certainly on the extreme side of what she might normally expect.
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As she surveyed the damage, the woman's annoyance turned a shock when she
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saw the bloodied, nude body of a man lying face down on the floor.
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The maid immediately ran from the room to alert her manager. Assistant manager
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at the Sandon Sage motel, Norma Farr, phoned the Odessa Police and reported
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what her employee had found. Dispatch insisted no one else was to step foot
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in Room one twenty six, five minutes after the clock struck noon, police
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arrived and entered. The victim had been badly beaten, mostly in the face
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and neck area, and his hands were bound behind his back with a thick,
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bloody piece of cloth tied very securely, authorities later said. Not long
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after, officers and detectives from the Odessa Police department arrived. Justice of the
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Piece, Jimmy Harris, entered the scene. He pronounced the man dead at
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one pm. Likely Harris said he died from a blow to his throat.
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The condition of the room suggested a great struggle took place. Next to the
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door was a large hole in the sheet rock and on the floor. The
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room's black rotary telephone laid upside down, as if it had been ripped from
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the wall and thrown. The television screen was shattered. The room's air conditioner
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dangled from the wall. Blood was smeared and splattered on the walls, floor,
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and bed, the frame of which had been broken, allowing the mattress
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to sink to the floor. The abrasions to the victim's arms further corroborated the
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struggle. A few articles of clothing were scattered around, including trousers and a
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sports shirt. Police did not find a wallet or anything else that might contain
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identifying information. The victim had checked into the sand and Sage between seven thirty
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and eight p m. The night before Monday, December twenty first, nineteen
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eighty one. Detectives learned and had filled out and signed the motel registration card
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with a false name, address, and license number. The dead man's finger
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prints were taken and checked against Odessa police and Ector County Sheriff's office records,
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but no match was found. The prints were quickly sent to the Texas Department
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of Public Safety and the FBI. Before oil was discovered in Odessa, it
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was little more than a sleepy ranching town. Once the oil boom hit,
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beginning at the tail end of nineteen twenty six, the quaint cowtown's population and
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number of businesses quickly shot up, many petrochemical The need for oil filled roughnecks
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a tracted family men and drifters alike, and with the latter more so than
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the former, at least came a steep rise in crime, although for decades
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Odessa followed far behind cities like Houston, San Antonio, and for Earth.
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By nineteen eighty, however, the West Texas oil town had seen its fair
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share of crimes so savage in nature local police were unable to keep up,
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neither in manpower nor in training. The so called lust murders of the early
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nineteen seventies, many of which remain unsolved, seemed to be a catalyst for
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a darker time in Odessa. In nineteen eighty one was no different. The
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murder of the unidentified man topped off a year of unimaginably brutal and unsolved slayings,
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including the August mutilation murder of eighteen year old Carmen Melinda Crone and the
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killing of twenty six year old Yolanda Herrera Huxley in November, just in time
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for the new year. With scrutinizing public eyes on the Odessa Police Department,
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the cops scrambled to identify the man, who for five days would be known
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only as John Doe. As the holiday came and went, police and Odessa
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learned about a missing man out of Denver City. Father Patrick Ryan was reported
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missing Christmas Day, but upon the realization that the priest hadn't been seen since
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the previous Monday, December twenty first, nineteen eighty one, the day before
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their John Doe was discovered in room one twenty six of Odessa's Sand and Sage
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Motel, their interest was piqued. There'd been no clergy, robes or anything
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else that suggested the deceased man was of the cloth, but it was the
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best lead they had. Authorities in the small town eighty five miles to the
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northeast, were also curious if the clergyman was the unidentified victim. On Saturday,
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December twenty sixth, Denver City Police Chief A. J. Flowers,
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Father Crescentio Ramirez of nearby Seminole, and one of Father Ryan's parishioners, Angel
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Perez, traveled to Odessa. When they arrived, police wouldn't let the men
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examine the body, but instead were given a photograph of the John Doe and
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shown articles of clothing found at the scene. The unidentified murder victim was forty
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nine year old father Patrick Ryan. The men from Denver City told Odessa police
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detectives. Father Ryan's friends told them that the man was known to help anyone
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and everyone who needed it, and perhaps someone had taken advantage of that.
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He drove a nineteen seventy nine maroon over white Chrysler Newport police learned, which
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was not parked at the Sand and Sage Motel and nowhere else to be found.
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A mystery gained for the one just solved. Detectives told Father Ryan's friends
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the findings of the autopsy that the man had been killed twelve to eighteen hours
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before the discovery of his body. He was mildly intoxicated at the time of
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death, he'd fought his killer or killers, and that his death was caused
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by blunt force trauma to the anterior of his neck a crushed windpipe, as
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police would so delicately describe it to newspaper reporters, along superficial slice wound stretched
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across the priest's buttocks. The newspapers reported that it could not be determined whether
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Father Ryan was beaten to death by fists or if a murder weapon was used.
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Father Ramirez, that deceased man's friend, and Pierre and Angel Ramirez were
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deeply saddened by the loss and could offer neither authorities in Odessa nor Denver City
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police any clues. They had no idea, they said, who would hurt.
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Father Ryan Patrick Joseph Ryan was born on June eighteenth, nineteen thirty two,
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in Dune, a village in County Limerick, Ireland, to parents Patrick
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and Kathleen O'Dwyer Ryan. He had four sisters, Mary, Geraldine, Celia
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and Katherine, and one brother, Roger. In nineteen forty nine, Ryan
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entered the Palatine Seminary at Saint Patrick's College in Thurles County Tipperary, Ireland,
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where he was ordained a priest on June tenth, nineteen fifty six. Father
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Ryan spent twelve years as a missionary in Tanzania, Africa, before returning to
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Ireland. After contracting malaria and falling very ill. From Ireland, Father Patrick
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Ryan was sent by the diocese to the United States, though little to no
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record of his movement before arriving in Denver City, Texas exists. It was
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later theorized Ryan was sent from Ireland to the Servants of the Paraclete in Hams
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Springs, New Mexico, for something. This ministry in Hamz Springs as a
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place so called wayward priests were sent for treatment of everything from alcoholism to same
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sex orientation to pedophilia. In nineteen seventy nine, Father Ryan's name finally showed
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up in a Catholic directory showing he was at the Amarillo Diocese under Bishop Leroy
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matthi Hyason. According to the Austin Chronicle, researchers found that Bishop Matthiason shopped
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for priests at the Servants of the Paraclete to fill the small town parishes around
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West Texas and the Panhandle. He's also said to have kept extremely tight lipped
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about Father Ryan's past. In nineteen eighty, Father Ryan was appointed to Saint
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William Church in Denver City. His parishioners there immediately loved him. He wanted
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to be poor, work with the poor, and didn't want anything for himself.
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A member of the Priests Plains Texas Congregation told a reporter Father Patrick Ryan
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quickly and affectionately became known as Father Patty by his predominantly Mexican American flock.
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He took up Spanish so he could at times perform Mass in the language,
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played his accordion alongside other musicians in the church and at trade day events,
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and always battled for the downtrodden. His congregants said, now their champion was
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dead. Exactly one week after the body of Father Patrick Ryan was found,
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a crowd lined up outside Saint William Church in Denver City, Texas. They
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parted as Paul Bears carried a cloth draped casket to the white hearse parked along
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the curb. As the hearse took Father Patrick Ryan from the church, the
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parishioners mourning him sang de Calorees, a traditional Spanish folk song. It was
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the end of a memorial for their beloved priest that began the previous Sunday,
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December twenty seventh, nineteen eighty one. When Father Ryan's body arrived in Denver
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City that day, the Singleton Funeral Home quickly became crowded and was unable to
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hold the staggering number of parishioners who came to pay their last respe facts.
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When his body was moved to Saint William Catholic, the church also became crowded
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with mourners. Meanwhile, Odessa police detectives traveled ninety miles northwest to Hobbs,
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New Mexico, to try and make sense of the latest lead in the case.
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Somewhat had found Father Patrick Ryan's car, the nineteen seventy nine maroon over
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white Chrysler Newport, had been abandoned in the parking lot of a moose lodge
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there a few days after the owner's body was found Thursday, December twenty fourth,
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nineteen eighty one. Though Odessa Police Lieutenant Kenneth Jones kept what he'd found
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after combing through the sedan close to the chest at the time, it was
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later reported that an undisclosed amount of money was found in the trunk, suggesting,
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of course, that the motive to kill Father Patrick Ryan may not have
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been robbery. There were some items missing, however. The priests accordion and
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silver chalice, both of which he was said to have always taken with him
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while traveling, were nowhere to be found, not in the chrysler and not
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in the sand and sage motel. Fingerprints too, were lifted from inside the
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vehicle, some said to be bloodstained. At the funeral service on the afternoon
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of Tuesday, December twenty ninth, Somber area clergymen passed dozens of latecomers as
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they filed into Saint William. The priests donned white robes with different colored vestments,
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around sixty in all, and followed a young boy carrying a crucifix into
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the church. Inside, worshippers and friends filled the pews to capacity, as
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well as the aisles. Approximately six hundred folks took communion. As bishops led
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mass, many spoke about Father Ryan's predilection for helping the poor and downtrodden,
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while Bishop Leroy Matthiason described his friend as a martyr, recalling the year that
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was ending as one of violence, the likes of which he'd not seen.
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After the service, the slain priest was carried to the hearse that awaited,
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and hundreds came forward to place white flowers atop his casket. As the vehicle
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slowly pulled away, members of Father Ryan's flock wept. His body was flown
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to Dune, Ireland and was buried at Saint Finton's Cemetery on Friday, January
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first, nineteen eighty two. As citizens of Denver City struggled to understand why
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their beloved priest was slain, the investigation, as far as followable leads,
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was moving at a snail's pace. It was strange that no one at the
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sand Sage reported hearing anything unusual, particularly the man in the next room over
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who checked in at nine pm. Room one twenty six after all was trashed,
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including a shattered television and large hole in the sheet rock next to the
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door. Since this guest heard nothing unusual and Father Ryan was supposed to have
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checked in between seven thirty and eight pm, it is estimable that whatever happened
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there took place between eight and nine pm. Policeman at the crime scene had
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collected bloody fingerprints hairs that did not match Father Ryan's out of place fibers,
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Marlborough cigarette butts, and semen stains that were found on the bedclothes. But
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in a time before DNA was used in law enforcement investigations, these items were
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only good for eliminating or confirming an individual as a suspect and would not lead
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the ops directly to the perpetrator. After finding a green backpack inside Father Ryan's
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rectory, however, police finally discovered a lead that led them somewhere, or
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rather to someone. It was easy for police to find the man who owned
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the backpack found in their murder victim's bungalow rectory, since inside it was a
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photo album and a high school diploma. The latter, of course, gave
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them a name to search for. Detectives lucked out further when it turned out
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the green backpack's owner lived near Father Ryan. His name was James Harry Rios,
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a twenty five year old man who'd come to Denver City for work in
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the oil fields. Rios was a small fellow, below average height at five
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ft five inches tall and very thin. The Odessa police brought him in for
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questioning. Rios knew the priest, he told detectives, and in fact had
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just met Father Ryan earlier in the month when he was hitchhiking. However,
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he knew the man as father John. He'd lost his job in Denver City
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as the result of drinking, Rios said, and because he had no friends
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or family to keep him there. On December sixth, nineteen eighty one,
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he began a thirty five mile trek to Hobbs, New Mexico, on foot,
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hoping to hitch a ride along the way. Like a Denver City,
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Hobbs has an abundance of oil fields, but perhaps more to offer in its
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nightlife than the sleepy Texas town. Rios hadn't been walking long when a two
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toned Chrysler Newport pulled over to the side of the road just ahead of him.
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The driver, middle aged and dressed in casual clothing, greeted the young
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hitchhiker warmly, and Riyos hopped in. The man introduced himself only as John,
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and Rayos smiled graciously and thanked him. On the way to their destination.
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The two men got along like old friends, and in fact discovered that
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they were practically neighbors. Rios lived only two blocks from John. Their chat
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had gone so good that the two stopped for beers and vodkas at a place
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called tips In. They spent five hours there talking. Rios told detectives.
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It's unclear if the unemployed man ever looked for work in Hobbes that day,
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but he told the police that he and John got along really well, and
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since they hadn't spoken a word about it, Rios only discovered that John was
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of the cloth when they returned to Denver City and parked outside his rectory.
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It wasn't until after the slang Rios informed detectives that he found out Father John
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was actually Father Ryan. The two saw each other a few more times after
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their first encounter, the last time being the very day the Catholic priest was
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slain. Even the day before, Sunday, December twentieth, nineteen eighty,
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Rios visited Father Ryan at his rectory. That's how his backpack got there.
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He'd been invited because the priest had shown an interest in his He carea apache
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home customs and upbringing in northern New Mexico at the village of Chama. The
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two sat and looked at his photo album. Rios told detectives drank beer and
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screwdrivers or vodka and orange juice and listened to country music cassettes he'd brought along.
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Rios left in a hurry that night, which we'll get into later,
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and left his backpack. At about nine a m. The next morning,
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December twenty first, Rayos knocked on the door of Father Ryan's rectory. When
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he answered the door, the young man asked the priest to drive him to
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Hobbs to get his truck, which had been impounded some time before. Rios
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had gotten an unexpected check in the mail from his father, a big check
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his quarterly share of mineral rights from the reservation in northern New Mexico. He
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could finally get the truck back, which he'd given a bail bondsman as collateral
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to get out of jail when he was arrested for driving without a valid license.
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Father Ryan agreed to take him to Hobbs. They arrived at approximately eleven
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thirty am, just hours before Father Patrick Ryan was brutally murdered. Once in
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Hobbs, Rayos told detectives Father Ryan dropped him off at the bail bondsman's home
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and drove away. That was the last time he ever saw Father Ryan.
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James Harry, Rios told them Odessa police were satisfied with the receipts Rayos showed
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them, proving he was indeed two hundred to two hundred and fifteen miles away
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from the sandin Sage Motel that night, in the time frame that Father Ryan
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was killed. It appeared he'd never even stepped foot back in Texas after the
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priest dropped him off for a moment, at least when they first identified Rios,
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detectives thought they might have their guy, but it all fell apart quickly.
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Rios was cooperative and allowed police to search his apartment for Father Ryan's missing
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things, namely his prized accordion and the chalice from which he always drank.
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Neither were there. When asked to do so, the young man removed his
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clothing and allowed Odessa Police detective Jerry Smith to inspect his body for scratches or
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bruising, any sign that he'd been involved in a struggle. Father Patrick Ryan
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was a large man, tall and two hundred pounds. Considering that and the
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extensive damage to Room one twenty six at the Sand and Sage Motel, whoever
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killed the priest was all but guaranteed to have an injury or two, especially
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someone like Rios, who was five ft five inches tall and probably a buck
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twenty five soaking wet. Rios had no injuries other than a small cut on
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his hand, an injury that by itself was not consistent with the massive struggle
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that had taken place. Even the physical evidence collected at the scene of Father
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Ryan's murder eliminated him. Neither the hares nor fingerprints found at the scene of
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the crime matched those of the young man. But they had one more thing
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to ask of him. Would he be willing to take a polygraph test?
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Twenty five year old James Harry Rios readily agreed, passed with flying colors,
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and detectives determined he could not have slain forty nine year old father Patrick Ryan.
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It was back to square one. The clock was ticking an Odessa Police
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Lieutenant Kenneth Jones and Detective Jerry Smith began trying to piece together anything they could
31:30
to get a lead. When the West Texas Brown Berets announced that they'd dispatched
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a dozen or so men to search for clues and the murder of Father Ryan.
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Lieutenant Jones said he welcomed their help so long as they remain within the
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purview of the law. The Brown Berets, like other important organizations that formed
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in the throes of the civil rights movement, were a pro Chicano group who
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worked toward change is for poor and working class folks, including but certainly not
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limited to workers' rights equality in all facets, anti police brutality, and anti
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Vietnam War stances. The Brown Berets were labeled as subversive and violent, and
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were often infiltrated by agent provocateurs. Most chapters of the organization had disbanded by
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the early nineteen seventies, but not the West Texas Brown Berets. Because the
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vast majority of Father Patrick Ryan's flock was Mexican American, the Brown Berets membership
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endorsed finding his killer. Prime minister of that group, Gilbert Herrera, said
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his men would be scouring Odessa, Texas and Hobbs, New Mexico to find
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and speak to anyone with a connection to the priest. Herrera planned to get
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his hands on the Sand and Sage motel registration card that Father or Ryan's signed
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with a fictitious name, address, and license number, thinking that perhaps there'd
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be a clue in his choice of falsities. Should hear his men find something,
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Herrera said he'd turn it directly over to the Odessa Police detectives in charge
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of the case. It's unclear if the brown Berets were able to uncover any
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pertinent information for the cops. As nineteen eighty one came to a close,
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detectives were no closer to identifying the person or persons who murdered Father Patrick Ryan.
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In nineteen eighty two brought with it not only more uncertainty, but also
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fear for persons of the cloth as more attacks and killings of priests were reported.
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That and a confession next time Ugone Cold. If you have any information
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about the nine teen eighty one murder of Father Patrick Joseph Ryan, please call
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the Odessa Police Department at four three two three three five four nine six one
34:10
or Odessa Crime Stoppers at four three two three three three eight four seven seven.
34:19
If you have not already, look for Gone Cold on Instagram, Facebook,
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