Texas police reopen investigation into 1981 murder of Limerick priest
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A police investigation into the murder of a Limerick priest in Texas over 40 years ago has been reopened after an official application was lodged to clear the name of the Apache Native American convicted of the crime.
Fr Patrick Ryan, from Doon, Co Limerick, was found dead in a hotel room in Odessa in December 1981. He had been bound and beaten, and his car was later found in New Mexico. His wallet was also later recovered away from the crime scene.
Fr Ryan had served in the US for three years before his death, after previously serving as rector of the House of Studies of the Pallottine Fathers in Stillorgan in Dublin.
Almost a year after his death, James Harry Reyos, an Apache Native American, made a confession that he had killed 49-year-old Fr Ryan, but later recanted. He was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 38 years in prison. He was the last person known to have seen Fr Ryan.
He served 20 years of his sentence before being paroled, having failed in an appeal against his conviction.
Now, police in Odessa say they became aware of public questioning of the conviction in 2021 and a review of the case led to “serious questions as to Mr Reyos’s guilt”.
A statement from Odessa police says: “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.
"Furthermore, the investigation did not lead to any other corroborative evidence that substantiated the confession. In fact, the new review of the case revealed evidence that tends to show that Mr Reyos could not have been present at the crime scene.”
It has now emerged that fingerprints from the original case file have now been found not to have been those of Mr Reyos.
The statement added: “This, coupled with Mr Reyos's known whereabouts during the murder led the investigators to believe that another party (or parties) committed this murder.”
The Odessa Police Department has presented its findings to the Ector County District Attorney's Office, which has echoed the concerns of the police.
According to the police statement: “Both agencies agree that there is compelling doubt to James Harry Reyos' guilt in this case.”
The case has now been reopened as a cold case investigation.
Meanwhile, the Innocence Project of Texas (IPTX) is fighting to have Mr Reyos’ conviction overturned.
A statement from the Innocence Project said: “With the support of the Ector County District Attorney’s Office, IPTX filed a writ to overturn James’ conviction in February of 2023. The 70th Judicial Court of Ector County will now decide whether to hold a hearing on the new evidence.”
The statement said that the prosecution had “focused extensively on James’ Apache Native American race and the fact that he was gay”.
However, the statement said that a number of bodies, including legal and religious organisations, had believed he was wrongly convicted, adding: “There was not a legal path forward to prove his innocence because all evidence from the case was thought to have been destroyed."