A two-part podcast series on the brutal murder of an Irish priest in a lonely Texas hotel room... a life ruined by a wrongful conviction, and a decades-long campaign for justice... a story of secrets, desperation and a murderer who was never caught.
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” reads a tombstone in a quiet graveyard in east Limerick. The marker for the grave of Fr Patrick Ryan tells a story of a beloved local man who was murdered while serving as a priest in Denver City, thousands of miles away in Texas.
A man who will never be forgotten by his family, says the gravestone.
In Christmas 1981, the priest was brutally murdered with extreme violence in a hotel room at the Sand and Sage Motel in Odessa, many miles from Denver City and despite a high-profile investigation at the time of his death and the conviction of a man for his killing, mystery surrounds the death of Fr Ryan.
The recent exoneration of the man convicted of the murder, James Reyos, has brought the case to light once again and has highlighted the many unanswered questions about the death of the Limerick born priest, not least of all, who was Fr Patrick Ryan, who killed him and why?
Written and narrated by Irish Examiner journalist, Ann Murphy
it was Christmas 1981. The faithful were flocking to St William’s Church in Denver City in Texas for Masses to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. Instead of celebration, it rapidly became a time of great worry when their beloved priest, Fr Patrick Ryan, failed to turn up for either the Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Mass. Eighty miles away, a man who had booked into the Sand and Sage Motel in Odessa as John Killey lay dead as police tried to find his killer.
The Sand and Sage Motel pictured as it was in 1981. Photograph supplied by Odessa Police Department
When members of his congregation identified the dead man as Irish Catholic priest Fr Patrick Ryan, their diocese of Amarillo in Denver City was thrown into mourning. So too was the sleepy village of Doon in East Co Limerick.
Fr. Patrick Ryan. Photograph supplied by Odessa Police Department
Two years later, Apache American James Reyos was convicted of the murder of Fr Patrick Ryan. But Mr Reyos did not kill the priest and he was recently exonerated of the murder after his case was taken on by the Innocence Project of Texas. Today, Mr Reyos is currently planning to reunite with his family in New Mexico. Meanwhile, the investigation into the killing of Fr Ryan remains open.
James Reyos, seated front center, next to Allison Clayton, left side, along with the other members of the Innocence Project of Texas team that got him exonerated for the murder of Father Patrick Ryan in Odessa in 1981. Photographer/ Courtesy of Texas Tech
It is almost 42 years since Mr Reyos first met Fr Ryan, a man he only knew for just three weeks but whose life and death changed the course of the quiet, unassuming Apache American’s life.
His fate was irrevocably altered by a chance meeting with Fr Ryan as he hitch-hiked to Hobbs from Denver City in Texas on December 6, 1981. In the course of their chat on that day, Fr Ryan did not tell James Reyos that he was a priest – he merely gave his name as John. It would be almost a month later – after Fr Ryan’s death – that James would find out his real name.
James Reyos claims that on the day before the murder, Patrick Ryan forced him to perform oral sex at his apartment. Upset, he left quickly afterwards. The following day, he returned to the priest's home. He needed a lift to get his car out of an impound lot in Hobbs in New Mexico because, despite what had taken place the previous day, he knew nobody else in the area and needed Patrick Ryan’s help.
He says now that on his return, the priest immediately apologised for what had taken place the evening before, and James forgave him.
Fr Ryan agreed to give his new friend a lift. It appears that after driving James to the impound lot, he checked into the motel in Odessa, 80 miles from his parish in Denver City.
James Harry Reyos's highschool yearbook photo. Picture supplied by James Reyos
The next day, his naked body was discovered in a scene of extreme violence – blood spattered walls, a broken bed, drinks cans scattered throughout the room, and holes in the motel room door.
In the aftermath of the priest being identified, James Reyos quickly became a suspect in the murder but he was initially ruled out as a suspect as there was evidence showing he was nowhere near Odessa when the murder took place.
James Reyos during his arrest on 11/10/1982
But 11 months later, in November 1982, James made a drink-and-drug-fuelled confession in a phone call to police, which he says now was made as a result of guilt he felt about the sexual incident which had occurred the day before Fr Ryan’s murder.
Even though James Reyos immediately recanted his confession, but it was too late. The evidence which had helped to remove him as a suspect in the early days of the investigation was not enough and he was convicted after a trial in June 1983.
Several attempts by Reyos to have his drunken admission rejected and the case against him thrown out or the verdict overturned failed, and he has spent last 40 years of his life either in prison or on parole.
But now, James Reyos is a free man, having been exonerated of the murder on October 5.
The road to freedom was a long one, punctuated by the release of several articles, books and podcasts over the past four decades protesting his innocence.
Four decades after the high-profile murder of Patrick Ryan, the reason for his death remains a mystery and in his home village of Doon, his name is now distant in people’s memory. Nobody in the village would speak to the Irish Examiner about the murder, or about the cold case investigation.
Chief Mike Gerke of Odessa Police Department. Picture supplied by Odessa Police Department
Reflecting on the case, Chief Mike Gerke of Odessa Police Department said: “I don’t think, looking at old case files and testimonies, from the original case, I don’t think that has ever been established why he came to Odessa. We do know that he checked into the motel under an assumed name. He did not use his name when he checked into the motel. He did give an assumed name.”
Sergeant Scottie Smith of Odessa Police Department. Picture supplied by Odessa Police Department
Sergeant Scottie Smith is one of the team who revisited the murder of the priest in the last year.
He said: “You know, speculation is that he was doing something that a priest would not normally do, that he was meeting somebody there, but you know we really don’t know for sure exactly what the reason was that he was there.”
James Reyos in October 2023 Picture supplied by the Innocence Project of Texas
Despite the many questions around Patrick Ryan and the enormous and terrible impact of their chance meeting on the life of James Reyos, the now-free man remembers him with compassion.
“He was a very kind and loving person, compassionate and was willing to help people that were in need.”
Photograph of Fr. Patrick Ryan on his gravestone in Doolin, Co. Clare. Picture / Brendan Gleeson
Read More Articles Here
- 'Justice can prevail' — Man has conviction overturned in murder of Limerick priest. Read more here
- Limerick priest 'was murdered during drink-fuelled party in US motel room'. Read more here
- 'No hatred': Texas police reopen investigation into brutal 1981 killing of Limerick priest. Read more here
- Chalice and accordion stolen from murdered Doon priest, as police reveal new suspects. Read more here
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