LAST UPDATE | 9 Feb 2023
AN INVESTIGATION INTO the murder of a Limerick priest in Texas over 40 years ago has been reopened.
Fr Patrick Ryan was murdered at a hotel in Odessa in December 1981.
A police investigation into his murder eventually led to the arrest and conviction of a man named James Harry Reyos. He was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
In 2021, however, the Odessa Chief of Police became aware of public question as to the guilt of Reyos.
A statement by Odessa Police issued in recent days said a review of the case was carried out following the public questioning and that during the review, investigators “developed serious questions” as to Reyos’ guilt.
“Mr Reyos’ conviction was based almost solely on a confession that he provided in New Mexico while he was intoxicated. He later recanted the confession,” the statement said.
“Furthermore, the investigation did not lead to any other corroborative evidence that substantiated the confession,” it said.
The new review of the case revealed evidence that tends to show Reyos could not have been present at the crime scene.
Fingerprint cards within the original case file also revealed latent fingerprints at the scene that did not belong to Reyos.
“This, coupled with Mr Reyos’ known whereabouts during the murder led the investigators to believe that another party (or parties) committed this murder,” the police statement said.
The Odessa Police Department presented their findings to the Ector County District Attorney’s Office.
“The ECDA has completed a thorough investigation as well and have come to much the same results as the Odessa Police Department. Both agencies agree that there is compelling doubt to James Harry Reyos’ guilt in this case,” police said.
As a result, the murder of Fr Ryan has been reopened as a cold case investigation.
The investigation has been assigned to the police department’s cold case detective.
The Innocence Project of Texas has this month filed a writ to overturn the conviction of Reyos.
The 70th Judicial Court of Ector County will now decide whether to hold a hearing on the new evidence.
The Irish Examiner, who first reported the news in Ireland of the new investigation, said Reyos served 20 years of his sentence before being paroled, having failed in an appeal against his conviction.
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