Two Catholic priests murdered in the western US between 1982 and 1984 were linked by investigators due to shared ties to New Mexico and similar crime scene evidence.
Key Facts
- First victim
- Father Reynaldo Rivera, murdered August 5, 1982
- First victim's church
- Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe, NM
- Second victim
- Father John Kerrigan, disappeared July 20, 1984
- Second victim's church
- Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Ronan, Montana
- Cash left at scene
- $1,200 found in Kerrigan's trunk wallet
- TV coverage
- Profiled on NBC's Unsolved Mysteries in 1988
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Both priests had ties to New Mexico and were serving in western US Catholic parishes in the early 1980s. The circumstances of their deaths remain unclear, with no confirmed motive or perpetrator identified. Investigators noted parallels between the two cases, including shared geographic connections and similar evidence found at the respective crime scenes.
Father Reynaldo Rivera was murdered on August 5, 1982, with his body discovered three days later. Father John Kerrigan disappeared on July 20, 1984, after leaving a bakery in Montana; bloodied clothing and a blood-stained coat hanger were found along a highway, and his car was recovered in Polson with a bloody shovel and pillowcase inside, but his remains were never found.
The cases remained unsolved and were featured together on NBC's Unsolved Mysteries in 1988. In 2015, the Diocese of Helena published a list of clergy implicated in sexual abuse of minors, which included Kerrigan. No definitive link between the two murders was ever established, and neither case has been officially closed.