When Father Patrick Ryan disappeared from Denver City, Texas on December 21st, 1981, his congregants thought he’d gone to help someone or was called away to Plains, the other Yoakum County town where he was priest. By Christmas Day, however, after missing three Masses, they were worried and reported Father Ryan missing. Meanwhile, 85 miles to the southeast, police detectives in Odessa were investigating a mystery of their own – the murder of a John Doe whose body was found in a seedy, highway side motel.

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

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The Odessa American, The Austin Chronicle article “Who Killed Father Ryan?” by Jordan Smith, Texas Court of Appeals documents, 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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