AUSTIN, Texas — It was a majestic building that was nearly 100 years old: a Catholic church known as The Shrine of the Virgin of San Juan in the small town of San Juan, Texas.
But at around 11:30 a.m. on October 23, 1970, a 50-year-old flying instructor and former high school math teacher, Frank L. Alexander, flew a rented Piper Cherokee into the roof of the church.
Inside, 60 priests from across the Rio Grande Valley were holding a weekly meeting. Next door, 200 children were having lunch in a school cafeteria.
Even though the buildings erupted in flames, miraculously, everyone got out safely. The flames destroyed the church and its priceless statues and relics.
The pilot who died in the crash had issued a warning just minutes before his plane struck the roof of the building. From the air, Alexander radioed the McAllen International Airport control tower saying that all Catholic and Methodist churches in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area should be evacuated. When asked why, he reportedly said, “There’s a serious plot.” To this day, what he meant remains unknown.
Today, a new church serves the Catholics of San Juan. It’s known The Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle. But 54 years later, no one has established a motive into why Alexander deliberately crashed his plane on that sunny October morning.