This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault.

Listener discretion is advised.

There was a time when the Rio Grande Valley was called the Magic Valley.

We feel like Irene was the magic in the valley.

And unfortunately, she became the tragic in the valley.

There are 120,000 unsolved murders in America.

Each one is a cold case.

Only 1% are ever solved.

This is one of those rare stories.

Thank you. are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. It's the evening of Saturday, April 16th, 1960 in McAllen, Texas, a city on the southern Texas border that sits in the lower Rio Grande Valley,

just seven miles from the international bridge that joins Idaalgo to Reynosa, Mexico.

McCallin has always had a large Mexican-American population, and the area is filled with ranches and farmland.

Throughout the 1950s, McCallin had grown from a farming community into a busy city.

Legal segregation ended, and Trans-Texas airlines was operating from Miller International Airport.

Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Michael Garza speaks about the importance of religion for those in the area.

The Valley is a very Catholic community. Most of us were raised in the church. Your social functions revolved around the

church around the Easter time of the year. People stand in line for confession for hours in order

to have their soul cleansed before receiving communion. It's Holy Saturday, 1960, the day before Easter, and one of the most important dates in the Catholic calendar.

25-year-old school teacher, Irene Garza, gets ready to leave her parents' house for confession.

It's getting late, so after calling to make sure confessions are still taking place,

Irene borrows her parents' car and drives the 12-block distance from her

house to Sacred Heart Catholic Church and McCallon. By 11 p.m., some of Irene's family members and

...