Going West: True Crime - Sister Tadea Benz // 352

Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Teez. And I'm your host Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, today's case takes place on a Halloween day back in the 80s, which felt fitting because right now we are a few days away from Halloween. Super excited about that. But today's case is a very frustrating one, you guys will see why soon. We actually just covered another Halloween story from the very same year, 1991. So these two crimes take place on the same day. That was in a bonus episode though, that was just released on Patreon and Apple subscriptions, and that is the case

Starting point is 00:00:51 of Carl Heikl. So check it out, we have almost a hundred bonus episodes that are full length, they're ad-free, ready for the bingian. Indeed. Alright, without further ado, this is episode 352 of Going West, so let's get into it. On Halloween night, 1981, a nun was murdered by a mysterious intruder in the St. Francis Convent in Amarillo, Texas. Scramble to put someone behind bars for this heinous crime, as well as others of its kind in the area, police accepted the help of a psychic.

Starting point is 00:02:00 Soon after, they arrested the teenager they felt was responsible. But now, more than 40 years later, the community is still wondering, was he really behind it? This is the story of Sister Tadea Ben. Martina Benz was born on September 21, 1905 in Mar-Box, Switzerland. And after fleeing the First World War in Europe, she settled in Columbia for a period of time before immigrating to the United States in 1932. In 1937, she officially became a U.S. citizen and in 1944, she began serving in the St. Francis Convent, where she remained for nearly 40 years. The Sisters of St. Francis Convent is located in the northeast corner of Amarillo, Texas, which is a city in the Panhandle of the

Starting point is 00:03:11 State. And during her studies, she was given the name Sister Tadea, which means heart and God's gift. She's been described as incredibly kind, selfless, and giving, and loved her life in the convent with her fellow sisters. Early on the morning of Halloween, 1981, sister today was missing from the requisite morning mass, so very confused by this, her friend and fellow-none, sister Angela Martinez, went to her room to check on her. Sister Angela found that her door had been left closed, which was unusual for 76-year-old Sister Tadea, who was hard of hearing, and usually left her door open to be able to hear

Starting point is 00:03:56 the buzzer waking them up every morning. Sister Angela remembered, quote, I missed her and was concerned because she seldom missed chapel. I knew it was not sister today is doing, but I could not think further. So cautiously entering her room, sister Angela was horrified to find sister today's naked body on the floor, arms by her side, having been dead for hours. Sister Angela later said, quote, it was too much for me, I was in shock.

Starting point is 00:04:31 Bruce is covered sister today as body and she had a bloodied face and a black eye. Though this was a very shocking discovery, their assumption was actually that she died of natural causes. Now they initially believe that she may be suffered a heart attack and then fell down the stairs near her bedroom, and that's how she succumbed to the injuries to her face.

Starting point is 00:04:54 And I know a lot of you think that's kind of surprising if there's all these wounds to her face that they wouldn't suspect foul play, but obviously anybody who knows somebody in their 70s or older knows that when they fall, they're very fragile. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. We've been seeing this in Heath's grandmother lately, sadly, and it's very easy to get injured when you're that age. It is. So basically, the sisters presumed that disoriented, she came back to her room and collapsed there,

Starting point is 00:05:20 unconscious, before her heart eventually gave out. So the whole stairs thing was just there reasoning for why she would have those injuries. Like, oh, maybe she fell and then came back and that's to explain why she was hurt. Right, and they took that from nowhere. Yeah, but it's also not out of the realm of possibilities. I mean, she isn't older woman.

Starting point is 00:05:41 She, something could have happened to her, her hip could have given out at the top of the stairs and falling down. You know there's a number of possibilities there. Right and of course they're not gonna just randomly think that somebody came and did this to her that wouldn't make any sense with with what was at the scene. It just looked like there was an accident and unfortunately sister today had died. So Sister Angela recalled, quote, in my mind, I thought of it, but I took it for granted as others did

Starting point is 00:06:09 that she died a natural death. Now, Sister Angela, along with four other nuns, gently wrapped Sister Tadea in a sheet and transported her out of her room themselves. They even cleaned up the blood smears left on the floor and arranged for a funeral parlor to retrieve her body. But as the day wore on, they started to notice things around the convent that just weren't right. So later that afternoon, one of the sisters noticed a broken window and a torn window screen in the community room.

Starting point is 00:06:41 So assuming that a break-in had occurred, she called the police to report it. When they arrived and started taking notes of the scene, they overheard a few of the nuns discussing sister today as death and began to question whether the two incidents were related. As police began investigating the scene of sister today as death, they notified the funeral home to stop the embombing process immediately in order to perform an autopsy instead, because obviously they're curious if these two things are connected, they don't want to prepare her for burial quite yet.

Starting point is 00:07:15 So meanwhile, police surveyed the property and believed the intruder had come in through the broken window in the back of the convent and then escaped through the fire exit. Alarmed, the sisters were informed that a murder had in fact taken place, and that sister today had not died of natural causes as they had previously assumed. The autopsy determined that sister today's ultimate cause of death was strangulation, and that she had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and stabbed in addition to being strangled. And it's so sickening to think that somebody could do this to a 76-year-old woman, let alone a nun. So along with the blood and gashes from the stab wounds, she was covered in bruises that looked like they were knuckle imprints, as if somebody had beat her.

Starting point is 00:08:05 uses that looked like they were knuckle imprints, as if you know somebody had beat her. So police swiftly locked down the premises to process it as a crime scene and discovered stray fingerprints on Sister Tadea's headboard and mattress. Beneath her bed, they found a bent butter knife, and though it was determined not to have been the murder weapon, it was found to have fingerprints inconsistent with sister Tadea's. Alongside the Butterknife, they also found a kitchen knife discarded outside the convent that was believed to belong to the murderer, but that was also not the knife that she was stabbed with. So where did this other knife go?

Starting point is 00:08:40 The sisters were left absolutely terrified by the attack, and an armed guard was placed by the front doors to ensure that no other nuns would fall victim to this mysterious intruder. Peritioners raised money for a security system, which for those wondering did actually exist in 1981, and by this time and into the 90s became much more common and less expensive than they were in the 60s and 70s, but obviously still nowhere near as accessible and cheap as they are today. Now although the attack on Sister Tadea was violating and horrifying, her sisters resolved to move forward in celebrating her life and forgiving the culprit with grace.

Starting point is 00:09:21 One of the nuns, Bernice, remarked quote, We're praying for him, and know that sister today would have forgiven him had she lived, and we will do it in her name. We want justice done, but he will be forgiven. In the gray and dismal reign of early November, a massive funeral was held to celebrate her life and contribution to the church. About 500 mourners turned up to her Roman Catholic ceremony, forming a processional that was about two miles or 3.2 kilometers long, marching with her to the cemetery for her burial. Bishop Lee Roy Matheson announced at her service, quote,

Starting point is 00:09:59 that this good and gentle nun who prayed for us, who helped us create goodness, should die such a senseless death is such an absurdity, but she is not the first. The mystery of evil has been with us from the days of Adam and Eve. Surely this woman was a daughter of God, and when we reflect on what happened this weekend, we can write our own history to the world. Shall we write it now in anger? Incredible as it may seem in light of this weekend, I know that we must write it in the way of love." Those who knew her best, her sisters in the convent, said adamantly that this is the

Starting point is 00:10:34 legacy that she would have wanted to leave behind. As her community tried to make sense of what had happened, the police scrambled for suspects. And upon comparison, the fingerprints on the mattress, headboard and butter knife were found to match each other. Thick, curly black hairs were discovered at the scene, and a few of the sisters at St. Francis reported seeing a man with dark skin and black hair lurking on the grounds outside the convent on the evening of sister today's murder. So was this the same person?

Starting point is 00:11:11 When this happened, the city of Amarillo was already already on edge because this attack came after nearly a dozen rapes and attack of elderly women since spring of that year. In one case, the woman was attacked and strangled just as sister Tadea had been. On July 7, 1981, so a few months earlier, the home of Narnie Box Bryson, which happened to be located near the convent, was broken into by an unknown intruder. 77-year-old Narnie lived there alone and was found the following day having been beaten, raped and strangled with the cord of a telephone, breaking multiple bones during the attack. Which really makes you think if there's multiple attacks like this happening where elderly women are being strangled and sexually assaulted and beaten. Like the same person is doing all this.

Starting point is 00:12:05 You would imagine. Yeah, absolutely, because it's not, I mean, this is not a very common thing. No. Like, this doesn't really ever happen. Yeah, exactly. So it was really frustrating at this point, though, because authorities were just completely stumped. They had no idea who was behind any of this.

Starting point is 00:12:23 But two weeks after Narnie's murder. A peeping Tom named Leoncio Perez-Rueida was arrested in the area, and police were quick to question him in connection to Narnie's murder, but without sufficient evidence, he was released. Four months later, in the wake of sister today as murder, police arrested another man, Fernando Flores, who happened to be in the vicinity of the convent, on the day of the murder and attempted to commit a similar crime. Later in the day on Saturday, October 31, 1981, so the day of sister today as murder. Fernando attempted to rob and rape a young woman only about four miles or six and a half kilometers from St. Francis.

Starting point is 00:13:10 When he was arrested, they questioned him in relation to sister today as murder as well, but their evidence linking the two was pretty weak. However, investigators did find that Leoncio and Fernando were friends. Which kind of seemed like an odd coincidence. Two pieces of shit. Yeah, I mean, maybe not that weird since they were in the area, but also kind of weird because they were both being looked at for this, and they knew each other. So it's like, are they in cahoots? Is this... are either of them behind this at all?

Starting point is 00:13:38 I'm sure that's what police were thinking. Like, oh, we've got these two guys that know each other. Are they working together? Well, they did question them wondering if they were co-conspirators, but again, they didn't have any proof to back up their theory. Fernando's behavior after his arrest immediately raised concern with investigators, though, because he claimed that he didn't speak English, but others who knew him claim that he definitely did.

Starting point is 00:14:03 So this seemed to police like a tactic to kind of buy himself more time. The only information that police announced about the possible suspect is that he was of Cuban descent, so this wasn't very helpful for the public to bring in tips, but the police just didn't know much at all. Then a tip came in that would change the course of the investigation forever. The integrity of the case was heavily compromised by testimonies from two local psychics. And as Patterson, also known as Bubbles, along with her colleague Alan, submitted a profile to the Amarillo Daily News of the man that they believed to have murdered Sister Tadea. Now, Andes had previously worked on another area rape and murder with the police, so she was a somewhat trustworthy source for them.

Starting point is 00:14:50 Inez explained that Sister Tadea's killer had come to her in a dream. She described their culprit as a teenage boy with a slender but muscular frame and an olive complexion. She compared his facial features to that of A. Blinken, with a large angular nose and prominent ears. She claimed that he had been wearing a wig during the attack. And Annez also claimed that he lived on the same street as the Convent, which was northeast 18th Street in a White House, and that the name Clyde would be associated with his family

Starting point is 00:15:25 somehow. Police added to this profile that they felt their culprit would have been disenchanted with the Catholic faith due to childhood trauma, and that he was in part seeking revenge. He was believed to have a rich fantasy life and was heavily influenced by outside media, and that he would have had a rough home life. One officer reportedly remembered a young man lurking near the convent on the evening of the murder, whacking bushes with a stick. And when the officer passed by, the teen ran into his house, which happened to be located

Starting point is 00:15:59 across the street from the convent. So following up on this police swung by the house to question this young man who lived there, 17 year old Johnny Frank Garrett. As a Nez Patterson described, Johnny lived across the street from the Convent in a White House, and he also fit the physical description that she gave as well. The family even had a dog named Mr. Clyde. But to this day, it's unknown if Anes targeted Johnny specifically, you know, basing her vision on what she already knew about Johnny, or if it was just a coincidence, or if she really did come up with the description organically. So again, trusting Anes, police stopped into question Johnny Frank Garrett about his potential

Starting point is 00:16:43 involvement. They took his fingerprints, and they were just hoping that they would match the prince left behind sister today as headboard and the butter knife found under her bed, because they're obviously hoping that Inez is telling the truth and that her vision is correct and that they get their guy nice and quick and they can close this thing, right?

Starting point is 00:17:03 Right. So although there were other prints that were unaccounted for as we're going to talk about later, there were prints on both the knife and the headboard that actually matched Johnny's prints. And the kitchen knife that was found outside the convent matched the knives from Johnny's kitchen. After a lengthy interrogation, Johnny actually did confess, apparently telling police that he had broken into the convent and into her room to steal items from the sisters.

Starting point is 00:17:33 Then when sister today awoke up, he took the opportunity to assault and kill her, and he even allegedly detailed to the police that she recited a prayer as he took her life. So on November 9, 1981, Johnny Frank Garrett was arrested for the murder of Sister Tadea. But there is still discourse for decades later about whether or not he actually committed the crime. At Salesforce, we're all about asking more of AI. Questions like, where's the data going? Is it secure? Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure?

Starting point is 00:18:22 Get answers you can trust from Salesforce at AskMoreVi.com. Before that quick break, Daphne told us that a 17-year-old boy who was living across the street from the convent had confessed to the murder of sister Tadea. And although he did confess to the murder in his interview with police, he maintained later that it had been a coerced confession. And when police asked him to sign his confession, he refused. According to Johnny, he even asked for an attorney, but they refused to grant him one. And remember, he's 17, so not giving him an attorney

Starting point is 00:19:07 and not having his parents present was very illegal. And we do know that that's a law now in a lot of different states, but we're not quite sure because this was 1981 in Texas. So I couldn't find, I couldn't find if that was illegal specifically or not. Yeah, what we were seeing is that if it's in like a non-custodial setting, the police are allowed to, as long as they're not in custody, but he was.

Starting point is 00:19:33 But then you kind of have to figure out what a minor was, if a minor in Texas at this time was under 16. Like, we were really trying to figure this out, but either way, it wasn't right what they did. Sure, yeah. So Johnny also stated that the reason his fingerprints were at the scene is because he had been inside the convent earlier that day, snooping around and looking for items to steal. He allegedly said that he had been drinking and was high on LSD that evening, and that he had broken in to take the stereo in nothing else. But a neighborhood boy actually kind of backed this up and claimed to have broken into the

Starting point is 00:20:07 convent with Johnny earlier that week to steal rosary necklaces. So sadly, it seemed that his thieving was a thing, but, you know, they're still looking at him for murder. Then Johnny explained that the kitchen knives matching was merely a coincidence, and that still he was not behind this murder. Johnny explained that the kitchen knives matching was merely a coincidence, and that still, he was not behind this murder. There was little evidence that the scene to prove conclusively that Johnny had been involved, so the police relied heavily on the fingerprints and his word of mouth confession.

Starting point is 00:20:38 The rape kit performed posthumously on Sister Tadea was too small of a sample to yield any identification with the testing limitations imposed at the time, so that couldn't clear anything up either, sadly. But frustratingly, the sample was discarded instead of being saved for future DNA testing. And that'll be more frustrating later when we talk about more recent developments. Like, had they only kept that who knows what we could have found out. So, Johnny was arrested, but while he sat in jail awaiting his trial, a fellow inmate came forward supposedly having incriminating information against Johnny. The inmate claimed that Johnny had explained in great detail and even bragged to the other men about what he had done to

Starting point is 00:21:25 sister today. However, this inmate received time off of his sentence for his testimony. So it's really kind of hard to say if he was telling the truth or not, which is such a shame and obviously we know that inmates do this a lot of the time because they want to get a lowered sentence. People should just tell the truth more, you know? I mean, yeah, obviously. So after he was charged with the assault and the murder, Johnny's lawyer raised the

Starting point is 00:21:50 issue that Johnny shouldn't have been questioned and allowed to confess without counsel, let alone be charged with murder. Like whether you believe he's guilty or not, Johnny Frank Garrett had a supremely troubled background. His sister Janet remembered Johnny possessing an extremely low IQ and exhibiting childlike qualities into his teenage years. She called him slow and a perpetual follower. As a teenager, he dropped out of school and committed a string of petty crimes and seemed

Starting point is 00:22:23 to be in constant trouble. However, his upbringing really shed some light on why he seemed unable to make responsible decisions. One mental health expert who evaluated him after his arrest called Johnny, quote, one of the most virulent histories of abuse and neglect I have encountered in 28 years of practice. So Johnny was born in Oklahoma on Christmas Eve 1963. Bishop Lee Roy Matheson, the same bishop who spoke at sister today as funeral, had known Johnny for most of his life.

Starting point is 00:23:01 He remembered, quote, even as a child, Johnny was clearly the product of a very dysfunctional family. Now just a trigger warning, we are going to briefly discuss the abuse now, which includes sexual abuse. So if you'd like to skip this part, just know that Johnny suffered greatly at the hands of his stepfather, but feel free to skip ahead about 45 seconds if you'd like, though we did take a lot of the gruesome details out because honestly, it was way too disturbing to speak about. So Johnny's abuse started at the age of just three years old

Starting point is 00:23:34 and got progressively worse as he got older. Though he wasn't hurt at the hands of his biological father, Johnny watched him abuse his mother Charlotte. And after his parents were divorced, Charlotte remarried three separate times, hands of his biological father, Johnny watched him abuse his mother Charlotte. And after his parents were divorced, Charlotte remarried three separate times, and Johnny later explained in claims that were corroborated by his mom Charlotte and his sister's Janna and Gina, his stepfather sexually assaulted him as a young boy. The abuse worsened as he got older, with Johnny's stepfather selling him to local men for sex work.

Starting point is 00:24:07 And as if this wasn't bad enough, it got a lot worse, but we're not going to mention what happened to Johnny here, but just know that what his stepfather forced him to do was videotaped and sold as amateur pornography, or more appropriately, child sexual abuse material. In addition to this horrific abuse, Johnny suffered brain damage from an injury as a young child and was regularly beaten and physically assaulted in unthinkable ways that again we will not mention. One mental health expert who interviewed Johnny described his childhood as quote relentless and intolerable torture. At 10 years old, he started being given drugs and alcohol by members of his own family, and it's believed he suffered even more brain damage, stunting his development by binge drinking, huffing paint thinner and using methamphetamine.

Starting point is 00:25:00 As prosecutors built their case against Johnny, his lawyer really floundered with how to present him as a defendant. He met with multiple psychiatrists, one that believed Johnny may be schizophrenic, and that he was suffering from paranoid delusions. But the subsequent doctors said that it was more likely that he had a form of disassociative identity disorder as a result of his brain damage, drug use, and childhood abuse. And his identity disorder likely developed as a defense mechanism to help alleviate the

Starting point is 00:25:32 trauma of his horrifying childhood, manifesting in entirely different personalities. And if this were the case, Johnny may have actually committed the crime, but been unaware of having done so. So this obviously made Johnny a very easy scapegoat for the crime, but been unaware of having done so. So this obviously made Johnny a very easy scapegoat for the prosecution, but there was reasonable doubt that he had not committed the murder. Critics of the investigation later leds that the confession was contrived, and that he should have had a lawyer or an advocate with him at the time. And there were many inconsistencies with the case against Johnny, but chief among them

Starting point is 00:26:05 was that there were multiple foreign fingerprints at the scene that did not belong to Johnny, and could have been anybody's fingerprints. There was also the curly black hairs found at the scene that did not match Johnny's hair. Next to Sister Today's body, there was a bloodied white Venec T-shirt, as well as a running sock, and neither of these things belonged to him. There was blood recovered from a door believed to belong to Sister Today's attacker that was not tested by police, and shoe prints outside that didn't match the shoes that Johnny had been wearing.

Starting point is 00:26:39 But despite all these unanswered questions and his struggles with mental health that may have earned him a reprieve, his lawyer Bill Collias severely bungled this case. For unknown reasons, he didn't push for a mental disorder defense, and he also didn't offer enough information about the questions left behind of the crime scene and the holes in the prosecution's case against Johnny. I mean, he didn't even offer an alternate theory or potential other offenders, such as Liancio Perez-Rueda, or Fernando Flores. One juror said in an interview later that they would have voted differently if they had

Starting point is 00:27:16 been given the full picture here. Ultimately, Johnny's defense was too flimsy, and in September of 1982, he was convicted of the brutal assault and murder of sister Tadea Benz. But it was his sentence that was the true shocker. Because of the gruesome nature of the crime and the fact that it had been targeted at an elderly nun, the state opted to push for the death penalty and the judge granted it. Johnny's mom Charlotte shouted to her son in the courtroom through sobs. Johnny, I love you, I love you, and pleaded, please don't kill him.

Starting point is 00:27:54 Please don't." Johnny responded angrily, knocking a book off the table and telling his lawyer Bill, I didn't kill her, man. District Attorney Danny Hill reported after the verdict, quote, I don't know what you're going to call it when somebody breaks into a convent, goes to the kitchen, picks up a knife, walks upstairs, breaks in a door, stabs with such violence that he bends the knife when he hits the sternum. I don't know if that's premeditation or not,

Starting point is 00:28:24 but it's certainly something the guy ought to be executed for. We were here to protect the public. People aren't even safe on death row with Johnny Frank Garrett. Though his defense team may have been able to do more for him, there were legitimate reasons to believe that Johnny was involved. So during his time in prison awaiting trial and then leading up to his death sentence, he stabbed one inmate and was involved in eight violent altercations with others. One publication described him as, quote, extremely mentally impaired, chronically psychotic, and brain damaged. In a letter that was released after his death, Johnny wrote to address, quote, the media

Starting point is 00:29:07 and society, explaining that he had requested multiple different lawyers that his family had relationships with. But instead, he said he was saddled with Bill Culeus, who he felt just totally gave up on him. Johnny penned, quote, the police called him not me. Later I learned his nickname was Kaput Kulius. He didn't represent me. He represented you society. There was a bunch of stuff involved in my case and in my life that did not come out during my trial. There were a bunch of lies and half-truths on both

Starting point is 00:29:41 parts. You society went to school and all of that. You were educated and done exactly what your education said for you to do. You live your life according to that programmed education, but you step out of that programmed life and that education does you know good. In another, he wrote, quote, here I am sitting in a jail cell, sitting in a jail cell for a crime someone else has done.

Starting point is 00:30:08 I guess that I'm going to pay my dues, do the time I should have done for other crimes I've committed. Crimes that hurt people, hurt me. Yes, I've stole, hurt, cheated, hated, and went out for vengeance and love, but they've all been done on me. Johnny served almost exactly 10 years before his death sentence was set to be carried out in early 1992.

Starting point is 00:30:32 But then, on January 7th, shortly before Johnny was gonna be lethally injected, the governor of Texas at the time, and Richards, granted him a 30-day stay of execution. At the urging of 16 bishops, the nuns of Sister Today's Convent, and even the Pope himself, Governor Richards obliged and gave Johnny a temporary reprieve. Even Sister Today's extended family back in Switzerland felt that Johnny should be granted clemency, and that she would have wanted that for him as well.

Starting point is 00:31:05 Sister today as nephew phoned in an interview from Switzerland and said, quote, I think he must not die. When I kill another, I am too a murderer. I don't like to kill a man." Johnny's case was to be reviewed by the Texas Board of Partens and Paroles to judge if they wanted to commute a sentence to life in prison, but ultimately they found the crime too heinous and the evidence too overwhelming. So the month-long delay was not enough to save his life, because on February 11, 1992,

Starting point is 00:31:37 28-year-old Johnny Frank Garrett was put to death by lethal injection. Infamously, his final words were supposedly some iteration of, I'd like to think my family for loving me and taking care of me. The rest of the world can kiss my ass." So there are many people who still believe over 30 years after he was put to death and 42 years after the crime was committed, that Johnny was not responsible. This includes his sisters, Janet and Gina, who have taken it upon themselves to continue to fight for his exoneration. Gina said sadly, quote, he's not a monster, that is the worst I've ever heard somebody

Starting point is 00:32:17 call Johnny Garrett, is a monster. Attorney Jesse Quackenbush was hired by the Garrett family to prove his innocence, and Jesse feels that the mishandling of the crime scene due to the sister's hastily cleaning it up, as well as untested DNA evidence, and Johnny's coerced confession with no advocate present, are reason enough to reopen the case, but he also seeks to pursue the two men the investigation forgot. Leoncio Perez-Rueida and Fernando Flores. In 2004, the DNA from the murder of Narnie Box Bryson, remember the 77-year-old killed in the same area and manor as sister Tadea, was retested. And this time, a homicide detective resubmitted a bed sheet

Starting point is 00:33:07 with male DNA found at the scene for testing. And guess what? The database came up with a match and it happened to be one of their original suspects, Leoncio. When he was questioned again and presented with the overwhelming evidence he confessed. However, he added that his friend Fernando Flores had been with him that night, again the night of Narnie's murder, and that he had just been a willing participant. And Leoncio even went on to say that Fernando had bragged to him in the past about raping and killing sister today. Well, what do you know? I do wanna say, Leoncio was a Cuban man

Starting point is 00:33:50 and police did announce in the very beginning that a Cuban man or a man of Cuban descent rather was behind the murder. As we discussed, Johnny was not. Johnny was a young white man. And so not saying that that means anything super concrete, but they did announce that and their their first suspect was Leoncio and he's literally Cuban and committed this other rape and murder of an elderly woman months

Starting point is 00:34:17 earlier in the same area. And they believed that because they found those curly black hairs at the scene. So I wonder if they were ever able to test those hairs to match Leoncio? Well, his case moved to trial very swiftly, and on Monday, January 3rd, 2005, Leoncio was found guilty and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for what he did to Narnie. Johnny's sisters, along with Attorney Quackenbush, feel strongly that he and Fernando are to blame for sister today as murder, and that Johnny more so was doing what he said there. He was there to steal, and he was not the one to

Starting point is 00:34:59 actually commit her rape and murder. Well, he had also been there to steal previously. So the police really didn't take that into account here. Right, that he had been there days earlier. And of course, Johnny's family believe in his innocence, but they still feel so badly for what happened to sister today, and Jeanette said of this quote, what a horrible, horrible way to die. For somebody to come into your room and to rape

Starting point is 00:35:25 and strangle and kill her and beat her and just leave her there. So, Leoncia Rueda is a monster. 30 years later, oh my God, it's a long time, it's a long time. But I'll be here in 40 years too, still crying for his name to be cleared. That's all I want. One woman even started a change.org petition

Starting point is 00:35:47 urging the clearing of Johnny's name. And Leoncio is currently serving his prison sentence in Texas and will be eligible for parole in 2026. But right now, he is 72 years old, which is interesting that around the time of his parole is how old sister Tadea and Narni were when they were murdered, he'll be around that same age. So meanwhile Fernando Flores never served time for either crime. Attorney Jesse Quackenbush was so intrigued by the case that he

Starting point is 00:36:18 actually made a documentary called The Last Word about Johnny Frank Garrett's trial. It was later turned into a scripted film premiering at South by Southwest in 2016. So that is out there if you guys want to see it. Sister Today's Gravestone in Amarillo, Texas reads simply, quote, Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Yeah, we're gonna do this one on Halloween, but I had a feeling that a lot of you guys would be listening after Halloween, so we wanted to do it before. But just such a devastating case all around

Starting point is 00:37:09 because obviously we don't wanna take away from sister Tadea's murder and what happened to her by talking so much about the potential suspects, but it is devastating all around that this happened to sister Tadea that it was such a brutal attack on her on such a loving and wonderful person and the community.

Starting point is 00:37:28 Right, and the fact that police may have been wrong here. Yeah, and that they may have sentenced an innocent 28 year old to death. So very devastating, but I am glad that they were able to determine who killed Narni because that helped really open up the possibility that it could have been Leoncio and Fernandez all along. And hopefully, they're still working on this.

Starting point is 00:37:52 Hopefully, that someday, you know, if that is truly what happened, that they were responsible, that Johnny's name will be cleared and that the real killer will see justice. But think about it. If they had properly collected the DNA and kept it all and secured it all, we could very well easily today know who concretely was behind it, because they did have a lot of evidence that they never tested, remember?

Starting point is 00:38:18 So just again, devastating all around. But thank you guys so much for tuning in. Hope you have a great weekend. And we'll see you in a few days. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%

Starting point is 00:38:52 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% you

Going West: True Crime - Sister Tadea Benz // 352

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