As Odessa Police Detectives investigated the December 21st, 1981 murder of Father Patrick Ryan, violence against other men of the cloth continued in the south and southwest United States, among other places. When a fairly similar attack or slaying of a priest occurred, the cops were on it, but they failed to make a connection every time. Was the violence related or were the holy men simply easy targets for opportunists? Odessa Police Detectives, at least, believed the latter.

If you have any information about the 1981 murder of Father Patrick Joseph Ryan, please call the Odessa Police Department at (432)335-496 or Odessa Crime Stoppers at (432)333-8477

Please consider donating to the go fund me for Leon Laureles. You can find it at: gofundme.com/f/leon-laureles-private-detective-and-memorial

To hear a detailed account of the Father Reynaldo Rivera murder case, and for many other unsolved cases, check out our friend Eric’s podcast True Consequences. trueconsequences.com

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The Odessa American, The New Mexican, The Olympian, The Tacoma News-Tribune, and Scott Lomax’s book “The Case of James Harry Reyos: A Wrongful Conviction Revealed” were used as sources for this episode.

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