1980s Franciscan priest murders, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
Tweet1980s Franciscan priest murders
Date of Birth: 29-Oct-1924
Place of Birth: Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Date of Death: 05-Aug-1982
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio 
About 1980s Franciscan priest murders
- Between 1982 and 1984, two Roman Catholic priests of the Franciscan order were murdered or disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the western United States.
- On August 5, 1982, Father Reynaldo Rivera, a priest at the Cathedral Basilica of St.
- Francis in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was murdered in an unknown location, and his body found three days later. A year and a half later, Father John Kerrigan, of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ronan, Montana, disappeared after leaving a bakery in downtown Ronan.
- Several days later, bloodied articles of clothing were found along Montana Highway 35, as well as a blood-stained coat hanger.
- Kerrigan's vehicle was discovered in Polson seven days later.
- His wallet, which contained $1,200, was left in the trunk of the car, along with a bloody shovel and pillowcase.
- Kerrigan's remains have never been recovered.Though a definitive connection between them has not been discovered, the murders of both Rivera and Kerrigan have been linked due to the fact that Kerrigan also had ties to New Mexico prior to being appointed at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.
- Additional parallels were uncovered at the respective crime scenes.
- In 1988, their cases were profiled together on the documentary series Unsolved Mysteries.
- During this broadcast, it was revealed that Kerrigan had been subject of numerous sexual abuse allegations.
- In 2015, the Diocese of Helena published an extensive list of clergy and staff who had been implicated in sexual abuse of minors, in which Kerrigan was included.
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