Criminology - Juan Leon Laureles

Episode Date: May 12, 2024

It was just after midnight 28 years ago, on May 10th, 1996, that police responded to the scene of the murder of Leon Laureles. Leon's co-workers got worried when he didn't show up for work. Police responded to a 911 call about a car on fire and discovered Leon's 1988 Ford Thunderbird engulfed in flames. His body was found not far from his car. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of Leon Laureles. Leon's niece, Arlene Harbison, joins us for this episode to discuss the murder of her uncle. She insists that the investigation was short-sighted from the start. Without any merit, the police claimed that Leon was involved with drugs and that his murder revolved around that. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 307 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Mike Morford, man. How you doing? I'm doing good now that you're up out of bed, had a little bit of a hard time rousing you today. Yeah, yeah, very strange. I normally get up about an hour before we are set to record. because we record in the morning and got a phone call from you and I was still in bed. So there we go.

That's what happens when your kids are out of the house. Me, I've got them up at the crack of dawn going to school. Yeah, my schedule has changed since the kids are off to college for sure. Hey, let's go ahead and do our Patreon shoutouts. We had Nicole Richards, Miracle Boyd, and Allison Ferguson. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much to everybody that puts in that support.

It needs a lot to us. And for anyone else, I'd like to help support the show, you can head over to patreon.com slash criminology to get started. All right. Let's jump right into this week's case. And we're talking about an unsolved murder case, one which might be a hate crime and that some of our listeners may be familiar with. Thanks largely in part to the efforts of one close family member who refuses to let the case

fade away and be forgotten. We're talking about the 1996 murder of Juan Leon Larellis outside of Brownwood, Texas. This episode is dropping on May 11, 2004, and it was just after midnight, 28 years ago, on May 10, 1996, that police were responding to the scene of Leon's murder. To mark that sad anniversary and help continue. to spread awareness of Leon's unsolved murder, Leon's niece. Arlene Harbison joined us to discuss the details of the case. And you'll hear from her throughout this episode.

Juan Lionel Larellis, who went by Leon, was born into a large Catholic family, January 3rd, 1966, in Mason, Texas. And he was the youngest of nine children, born to parents Frank and Raphael's Lurelis. At an early age, Leon ended up taking care of the entire household. At 14 years old, he had a learner's permit and used that to drive around and do errands for the family, including picking up his parents' prescriptions and taking them to their appointments. Leon and his niece, Arlene Harbison, were extremely close and more like brother and sister than uncle niece. In fact, Leon was only three years older than Arlene. Both went to Brady High School in Central Texas, where they were in band together.

Leon participated in band all four years and also as a member of the FHA club. As Leon's parents grew older and sicker over the years, he continued to be their main caregiver up until their deaths. He was pretty much like my big brother. He was my best friend. He was my protector and basically my person. He was only two and a half years older than me. His siblings were a lot older and mine were a lot younger. So he and I basically grew up together, more like a brother and sister relationship.

and that's why we were so close. He took on the caretaker role for both of his parents at a very young age. He was basically cooking, cleaning, taking care of picking up the prescriptions, making sure they took their medication, taking them to doctor's appointments, even out of town for dialysis. And he started driving at the age of 14 to Dallas with them And because his siblings were already out of the house, married, had their own kids.

So it was his job to take care of his parents. And he did that without ever complaining. I never saw him get frustrated. He never complained. He just took on that role. That was just who he was. He was a person that took care of everyone. And he took care of me.

He helped me take care of my children. And he was just a very giving, loving, caring person. As an adult, Leon remained in central Texas in Brownwood and later in Banks. For a time, he lived with Arlene and helped her raise her children with the same care and unsolishness that he displayed when he had taken care of his parents. Leon was very giving and family was important to him. But Leon was harboring a secret. He was gay.

And due to the time in the area, he didn't think he could come out. and very few people knew that he was gay, not even some people in his family and close friends. We lived in Brady, Texas, which was a very small conservative Christian town. We were Catholic. And so there's no way he could have come out to our family. They would have disowned him. And I can't even imagine how hard it was for him growing up to know that you're different and you can't tell anyone. So he, you know, just mostly his friends were mostly girls that he hung out with.

And he had a lot of friends. And they speak so highly of them because he was that, that caring person that you could go to. He'd give you hugs. He'd be there for you all the time. And then when we got older, we moved to Brownwood. And that town was, I'd say, worse than where we grew up in Brady. It was a little larger, but the town was very racist and homophobic. And so I can't even imagine that was probably so much harder for him.

Fortunately, he had finally got the courage to come out and start dating people. So he had a few friends that he was able to speak to about that. And he was just starting to date. So everything, the future was taken away from him. you know, the person that he was meant to be, the person he was meant to be with was all taken from him when he was just starting to become who he wanted to be. So after his parents passed away, that's when he moved with me. We lived in San Angel for a year, then we moved to Brownwood, and because I had three small children and I needed to work to support them, he offered to live

with me, take care of my children during the day when I worked, and that's why he took on the overnight shift at Kroger. And he did that from the time my youngest was born until he passed away. At around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, 1996, Leon headed out for work like he always did. He left his home in Bangs, Texas, where he was living with his brother George, to head to Brownwood, where he worked the midnight shift at the Kroger grocery store. It was about a six-mile drive, and Leon always liked to get to work a bit early, so he could start on time. One of Leon's co-workers was walking in at about 1145 p.m. When they noticed Leon pull up in his 1988 Ford Thunderbird.

Leon couldn't park in his normal spot because there was a car park there already. So he pulled up next to the car as the co-worker went inside the store. Midnight came, but Leon didn't show up for work. His coworkers noticed his absence. they were puzzled when he didn't start a shift since he was known to be pretty punctual. And he usually showed up before his shift to talk to colleagues who were getting off and leaving. They all wondered what had kept him from showing up. And some of them were quite worried that something had happened to him.

After all, one of his coworkers had seen Leon pull into the parking lot. One of the coworkers said that she did see him pull up around 1145. she remembers that he had to park next to his usual spot because he always parked in the same place because there was another vehicle there. And so then she just went back to work because she was like, oh, yeah, Leon's here. And then she said when Midnight actually came and she hadn't seen him, she looked out the window again and neither Leon's car or that other car were there anymore. So she called my uncle George because Leon was living with them and asked if Leon was there because he hadn't shown up to work. So my uncle decided to travel the road that Leon traveled on to see if something happened, you know, along the way.

And there was, he didn't find him. So he went back home and he called the coworker back. And at that very moment, the fire trucks were passing by, the coworker said. she, you know, didn't think too much of it because she had already called the police department to see if there was a car accident or anything like that or if Leon was in the hospital. And all they reported was there was a car accident. So that's why the fire truck was going out there. At 12.30 a.m., right around the time George got the call from Leon's worried coworkers,

someone driving down Farm to Market Road 2126, called 911 to report that there was a car on fire on the shoulder of the road. Soon after this call, a second person on their way home from work also placed a call to 911. They too reported seeing a vehicle on fire down the dirt access road, FM 2126. A 1988 Ford Thunderbird was engulfed in flames. Firefighters and deputies rushed to the area. As the crew worked to put the fire out, officers noticed something a few feet away from the car. As they got closer, they realized it was a human body later identified as Leon's. they did believe that Leon's car went on fire as a car accident.

So that's what they were going to. They didn't know that Leon was there also at the time. And so when they did get fire, a fire truck got there, put out the fire. And then that's when they noticed that Leon's body was a few feet on the ground in front of his car. And he had been executed. They have told me that he was kneeling down. kind of holding on to the fence that was there when they shot him in the back of the head.

And it came out through his left eye and was just left there. And all of this was done as a kidnapping at the Kroger parking lot at 1145. And the 911 call about the car being on fire came at 1220. So that's not a very long amount of time because it's also like a 10-minute drive to get to the gun range where this happened. So it took two minutes to get there, get him out of the car, execute him, set the car on fire, and then they left all within 35 minutes. So you know that it was absolutely planned and well planned. And also because they didn't know that there was a body in the area, the fire department just put the fire out without taking any kind of cautions, you know,

to save evidence or anything. So all evidence was destroyed in the fire and putting it out. It was clear that Leon had been murdered with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, execution style. It was later determined that the gun that killed Leon was a 38 caliber. Most reports state that Leon's body was found about six feet. in front of his car and that the second 911 caller only reported a fire. But one article from the Abilene Reporter News on May 11, 1996, states that this caller saw Leon's body about 20 feet in front of his car.

As Arlene tells us, this caller did indeed find Leon's body, and since she was a nurse, hoped to help Leon. But sadly, there was no helping him. So the first one was the one that described the vehicle. I believe they were like young kids that may have been partying in the area, but they're the ones that saw the truck going behind Leon's car. They described all of that. The second person was a nurse that was leaving work from the hospital. She was in R.N. When she saw the car on fire, she went down there to see if she could rescue anyone. And she's the one that discovered Leon's body there. And apparently this was something that haunted her for the rest of her life because I spoke to her daughter and her daughter said that her mom, it really destroyed her because when she found him, there was nothing she could do to help him. And so that was really hard for her to live with. And more, if you and I talk about a lot of different scenes in the episodes that we do.

And oftentimes we're talking about people finding a body, let's say, who are not trained law enforcement. They have, you know, some other type of job. And you can picture this scene in your head. The car is on fire. Well, that is going to draw someone's attention. I'm sure most of us have seen a car on fire on the side of the road as we drive by. Let's say on the highway. but to stop and realize that there's a body near this car and to get out.

And as this nurse did, you know, use her training to want to help someone only to realize that the person is already gone. You can imagine this scenario, but it's tough, I think, to understand just how traumatic something like this would be. Yeah, you would think as a nurse that she's seen a lot of things and dealt with. some very tough circumstances and seeing people injured and those kinds of things. But as we heard from Arlene, this really affected this nurse for a long time. You know, just seeing Leon's body there and knowing there was nothing at all she could do to help him that really weighed on her. Detectives arrived to examine the crime scene.

It didn't look like anyone had attempted to set Leon's body on fire, just his car. It also didn't appear that Leon had been robbed, but authorities weren't sure what was in the car or on his person before he was killed. The car was completely destroyed. All that was left was the metal shell and a mass of unidentified, melted, and charred material on the inside in the rush to put out the fire and not really realizing that they were at a crime scene. Firefighters and first responders trampled through the area. perhaps destroying or contaminating valuable evidence or clues. There was no evidence pointing to any suspect and no clear motive for the murder. But as Arlene explained, police in very little time concluded without evidence to support it that somehow Leon was mixed up in drugs.

One clue police did have was the description of a very distinct truck that was seen following very closely behind Leon's car. shortly before the fire started. It was described as a 1970s Ford pickup truck, possibly a one-ton with tinted windows, chrome mirrors, and a flat bed or no bed, with a gooseneck trailer hitch in the back of the truck. Based on the description,

this was not a very common truck, but rather a large pickup truck set up to hauled vehicles or equipment. The location of the crime scene was in a secluded area off the beaten path, and not a spot where many people could see from their homes, and probably not a place a stranger in town would easily find. It was a gun range and a local party spot. Police believe that someone forcedly on to drive his car to the spot where he was killed and his car set on fire. In fact, police believe that it was very possible more than one person was involved. Brown County Chief Deputy Mike McCoy told the Abilene reporter,

I'm confident it was more than one person. The fact that a witness saw the truck driving closely behind Leon's car could mean that one person was in the car with Leon, perhaps holding him at gunpoint, and that a second person involved was following behind in the truck and would likely have driven their accomplice away from the area. At this point, I had already lived there eight years, and I didn't know this spot because, you know, I don't shoot guns, so I had no idea this place existed, except for someone telling me that some of the kids would go party there because the railroad tracks were there. And when you go down there, you will see, you know, beer cans and bottles and stuff like that. So it definitely is a party spot. But unless you're

either partying or going to shoot, you wouldn't really know how to get there. I didn't know how to get there. Between the parking lot of Kroger to the actual spot, the gun range, it takes around nine minutes. I mean, that's, you know, depending on how fast you drive, there's traffic or whatever. So anywhere like around 10 minutes it takes to get out there. This gun range where it's located, because it is a gun range, there weren't any homes or anything around the area. So it was very secluded. Now there are more homes in the area, but at the time there wasn't. And this happened to be, from another co-worker I spoke to, this happened to be a local party spot and a drug spot, and that's where people went to party. And that's what was confusing, because I get conflicting

information that there was a party going on there at the time, or they were leaving already when Leon arrived there. But there were two people that actually saw a red and white pickup truck, driving slowly behind Leon's car on that road. While Leon's family scrambled to get answers in the hours after the murder and piece together what happened. They struggled also to get complete answers from police. And in fact, before some of them even officially knew that Leon had been murdered, at least one local news outlet was reporting his murder. Apparently, when my uncle was out there looking for,

Leon and he hung up with the coworker. He called police station himself. And I think at that time, they had already discovered Leon's body. So they informed him. He, of course, called his siblings, my mother and my aunts. And then I was called. And by that time, it was like 2 o'clock in the morning. I was dead asleep. You know, when the phone rings, it kind of scares you awake. You know, we had the lamb lines back then. And, you know, I just hear my cousin saying Leon's dead. And it's like, okay, I don't understand what you're saying. What?

And she repeated Leon's dead. I'm like, no, no. And then it kind of like hit me what she was saying. I just remember dropping the phone and yelling. After that, I don't remember getting dressed. I don't remember driving to the sheriff's office. I don't remember how I got there. I just remember standing out there while it's still dark outside.

And they made us all stand outside of the sheriff's department. We didn't even get to go inside. We're just standing out there for hours in the dark. And they would only speak to my uncle so he would relay messages, you know, like what they told him. And he told us. And it was approaching daylight whenever I heard somebody say that it was in the newspaper. already. And it said that he had been executed. And at that point, we hadn't been told that. We just knew he was shot. We didn't know he was executed. And that it made me angry that they put

that out there. Everybody knew and we hadn't learned that yet. I guess I just wanted to be angry at somebody, but I got in my car and I went to the newspaper office and I yelled at them about it. And I don't know why. People were looking at me like I was crazy, but I was like, how dare you tell everyone? And we didn't even know this yet. It was just so hard to understand. And I felt like we should have been told before that happened and we weren't. So that was an extra devastating. thing that happened to me that same day. Seriously, he was everything to me. He helped me raise my children. He was practically their father. And I can't imagine anyone who wanted to hurt him. That was the most difficult, devastating, the hardest day of my life. It was so bad that I don't even

remember most of that week. It's just gone. My memory's gone because it was too, too, hard for me to deal with. And because we're the type of, you know, typical Hispanic family, we don't really talk about our feelings or what we're going through. And so what I would do is just lock myself in the bathroom and cry so that my kids and nobody would hear me. I did that every single day for two years. And then I had to move away because I couldn't deal with it anymore. And to me, this sounds like a very difficult situation, compounding the fact that your loved one has presumably been murdered. It sounds like the family was having a very tough time communicating with police to the point where the media had more answers than the family. Yeah, it had to be a very hectic situation to be there at the police station.

with your entire family just trying to get answers, not really getting many. And then all of a sudden the news is reporting on things before you as a family member have answers. That had to be very tough for them. And then we also heard in that clip, How devastated Arlene was because she was so close with Leon that this stuck with her for a long time and really changed her life. Yeah, I think it's something very important not to lose. side of. You know, we talk a lot about victims, as we should. We also talk about perpetrators

in cases, you know, where we know who the perpetrator is. We oftentimes don't always know exactly what the family has gone through. But I think Arlene really paints a vivid picture of exactly how Leon's death affected her. In the suburbs, of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder which emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible.

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CCA, how schools should work. Visit cCA educate.me. Memorial services were held for Leon on Monday, May 13th at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Brownwood, and he was laid to rest at Rest Haven Cemetery in Brady. Leon's murder shocked and deeply saddened, his friends and family, no one could fathom that someone would want to hurt such a kind and giving person with no known enemies. But it became clear that Leon may have had trouble or run-ins with more. multiple people in the days and weeks leading up to his murder.

One of these run-ins involved a set of brothers. So I've been investigating myself, and so what I've learned is that in that week, there was a co-worker that Leon told that he was being harassed and threatened, and he was really scared, but he didn't give too much, you know, any specifics. And then the week prior to, he did tell his little sister, Lily, that he was being threatened. by the brothers and he was really afraid. Since they were teenagers, they were drug dealers. They actually would harm people.

They were the ones that were coming into Kroger and stealing food. And I think it was a, I don't know, a few weeks before Leon passed away that Leon stood up to them and told them that he wasn't going to let them steal anymore. And so they were angry with him for that. I don't know if they are the ones and this is why because of this or I also know that they were drug dealers and they did carry guns and they have they both have a long rap sheet, you know, of a lot of crimes involved with guns and drugs and harming people to this day actually and they still live there in Brownwood. So the whole town knows them, and a lot of people have heard them bragging about this at parties, and they have told the sheriff this. And the sheriff has never acted on any of those statements. Another run-in was supposedly with a police officer, who reportedly may have had a son who was a romantic interest of Leons.

He also told a cousin, like a couple of weeks prior to that, that a law enforcement, member did threaten to kill him if he ever caught him with his child. What Leon told my cousin specifically is that he was parked across the street from Krober. My cousin asked him why. Leon said because he was waiting for his girlfriend to come out. So my cousin asked him, why are you over here? And Leon said because her father said he would kill me if he ever caught me with her. Now, you have to remember that Leon was not out to any of the family members.

So I believe when he said daughter, he meant son. And because there is a lot of talk that he was killed because he was seeing a law enforcement son. I don't have any real proof, but there is a lot of talk that that did happen. Also, I'd like to mention that the sheriff's son actually. went into Kroger, I believe around three or four o'clock in the morning and looking for Leon. He was asking for Leon, and he had never done that before. And my theory is that he came in to either to find out if Leon was okay or to warn him about his father.

Those are the two possibilities because he's never gone in there before. And so we don't know why he would have gone in there this time other than knowing that His father was angry that they were seeing each other. He actually committed suicide. And from the Texas Ranger I spoke to, he told me he looked into Leon's case about eight years ago, and he did believe that, well, they're trying to make it seem like the sheriff's son is the one that killed Leon, and that's why he committed suicide. I don't believe that at all.

I believe he knows what happened, and it ate at him. But I do not believe he had anything to do with it. I don't feel that the son had anything to do with it. I think he was actually trying to check on Leon or warn him. But it's very convenient for them to put it off on him since he's dead because they don't want to deal with me anymore. So they're basically telling me that's who did it. Case closed. There were also reports following Leon's murder of a man who bragged about killing him specifically because

because Leon was gay. And he didn't want Leon seeing his little brother, which could make this a hate crime if true. I did speak to a person that has mentioned the third person that was out there that was involved in this. And he was saying that he killed Leon because Leon was seeing his little brother. And he hates the F word, you know. So that's the third person. And he personally heard him saying that.

He said he went to the sheriff and told him and they did nothing about it. So I think we do have to talk about these run-ins or potential trouble that Leon may have had with multiple people in the days leading up to his murder. You know, first you talk about these brothers. They had a bad reputation. They were reportedly, you know, in the store harassing. people, employees, and if Leon stood up to them, could they have wanted revenge for that? Or, you know, wanted to harm him because of, of the interaction that they had. Yeah, I think anytime you have somebody that's has a history and a reputation of being

bad guys and they're in conversation with somebody that's murdered, they're naturally going to come to the surface as a possible suspect in the case, especially if they had run-ins right before the person was murdered. So I understand why they were looked at. But one interesting thing is, you know, if you believe the theory that that car following Leon's car was one person driving and the other person was in Leon's car with him, maybe abducted him,

then that could indicate two people and maybe two brothers make sense here. And then you have this police officer who has a, a problem with Leon seeing their child. So Leon told a family member, you know, this police officer ran me off saying, I don't want you seeing my daughter. Arlene believes that it was more likely that he was saying, I don't want you seeing my son. But Leon may not have wanted to say that. because as we mentioned earlier, he hadn't told everyone, even in his family, that he was gay. I think maybe that adds to the confusion in this case because anytime you're looking to piece things together about what happened leading up to a murder and you look at those conversations and interactions, you know, here's Leon talking about a policeman's daughter, but in reality, it seems like this policeman had a son, not a daughter. And then, you know, as we hear, it seems like suspicion was cast on the sun, but Arlene doesn't think that he had anything to do with it, but may have known some of the details of what happened were been close to someone that was involved.

And then finally, you know, you have a guy who's running around town, bragging about killing Leon specifically because he was gay. And he didn't want Leon seeing his little brother. And this would not be unheard of. at all. This would be a hate crime, and there have been many instances throughout the years of people specifically targeting someone because they were gay. I think this really makes this case tough for investigators because which road do you go down? Or, you know, are one of these scenarios, one of these run-ins, do any of them have to do with Leon's murder or are they red herrings? Maybe someone murdered him that wasn't involved in any of these encounters, but for police investigating

the case, you sort of have to do your due diligence. You would hope anyway that you're going to do due diligence and check all these things out and see if there's any potential of involvement by any of these people. Despite the reported run-ins and alleged bragging by someone claiming to be Leon's killer, no arrest were ever made. It's not clear whether these potential suspects were ever checked out. And as you heard earlier, as far as Arlene was concerned, police quickly wrote Leon's case off as a drug-involved murder with no real investigation. In 2002, Leon's older brother George offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arresting conviction of the person or people responsible for Leon's murder. But nothing came from it. George

and the rest of the family hired their own private investigator as well. He was a well-known investigator named William Deere. They wanted him to try and figure out what happened to Leon. Unfortunately, William Deere claimed that his life had been threatened and abruptly stopped working the case. So after my uncle noticed that the Texas Ranger Bobby Gross was not actually investigating Leon's case, we talked about hiring somebody. My mom and my aunts didn't have money, so my uncle George and I pulled in our money together

to hire a private eye from Dallas because he was. very well known and respected William Deere. And he investigated for two weeks. And then he told us that he had been threatened. And he was actually scared that the town was very corrupt. And so he was not proceeding. And he left town. And from what I could find out, he never did investigate cases again since then. So I don't know what kind of threat he was given. But it was enough to really scare him. And this whole time, I believed that he didn't leave us anything that he just left. And so last year, I found out that he actually did have some items that he left of his investigation that he gave to my uncle George and my uncle had put it away in a closet and had never looked at it again.

And we just came into these. there are these big poster board type things. That's what his investigation is. And so he did have a list of suspects of, you know, theories and photos of the crime scene. When I got a hold of them, even though I know what happened, and it's been over 27 years, it was really hard to look at. And it was kind of like an out-of-body experience. because I'm looking at them and I hear people talking,

but I just can't comprehend what's happening. And so I brought them home and I stuck them in my closet. And I couldn't look at them again. And that's when I fully understood why my uncle did what he did. They're too hard to look at. He couldn't. And it took me a month to get at the strength to pull them out and look at them. It was so hard.

But I felt I had to, because I had to share this information with people. I had to make them see what happened and that Leon matters. And this case needs to be solved. It can be solved, but nobody is trying. And this is not the first time we've heard of this type of scenario in a case where it seems as though a private investigator is on to something and then their life is threatened. And to me, that almost always makes it seem like they probably were really onto something because why would someone need to threaten you off if you weren't closing in on the truth?

I think sometimes when people hear maybe the police are covering something up or have something to hide, a lot of people will just assume, okay, this sounds a little. bit like a conspiracy theory, but if it's true that William Deere, the investigator, was run off and fearing for his safety so much so that he wouldn't work the case, then I agree with you. It seems like he's maybe getting close to something and people that are involved are afraid he's going to get to the bottom of what's going on. Multiple investigators have pushed back against Leon's family's belief that they mishandled the case or didn't do a proper investigation and have publicly stated that they will continue to work the case until a suspect is identified.

Brown County Chief Deputy Mike McCoy told the Abilene reporter, first of all, a murder case never closes. We've followed up the leads we've got and will continue to. Texas Ranger Sergeant Bobby Grubbs added, I don't like unsolved cases. And I do believe this is something you see in quite a number of unsolved cases. whether it's the family believes that the police aren't doing enough or they believe even something more nefarious is going on in the police force and then you have the police you know trying to

defend themselves that happens quite a bit yeah and it's not often that police agencies admit that they've dropped the ball or rushed to a judgment without fully investigating you don't usually see them come out and say, hey, we, we didn't do a good job here. So you have to wonder, is this them being defensive because they know they didn't do a good job? Or do they really feel that the family is misguided and that they're not getting the credit they deserve? Well, there have been cases that it was clear that the police did get tunnel vision or, you know, focus on somebody to the detriment of the case. I mean, we've had cases like that, no doubt. But I think more often than not, there's just frustration on the part of the family that maybe they're not getting as much

information as they would like. Things aren't moving as quickly as they would like for them to move. I'm not sure which it is in this case. Leon's family had to be frustrated because as we mentioned, the police early on concluded without really a full investigation. that this was some kind of... Fresh air, longer days, a chance to reset. This season, let therapy be part of your spring cleaning. Clearing mental clutter, shaking off stuckness, and building something better. Grow therapy helps you get there.

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That's growth therapy.com slash book now. Growtherapy.com slash book now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Drug murder, and there was no evidence of Leon using drugs, selling drugs. He didn't have a record for anything like that. So how they arrived at that, I think, is probably what is so troubling for Leon's family. And if I was in their shoes, I'd feel the same way. I have a family murder that's murdered and it's quickly brushed off as a drug murder

and there's no evidence that are connected to drugs in any way. I think I'd be doing the same thing they are. Arlene recalls something odd from the day that Leon was killed that has haunted her, and she's worried that it could have been useful for those working the case. At the time, Arlene worked at Walmart, and it was common for Leon to stop in and say hi to her while she was on the clock. On her way to her car on May 9th, she noticed that Leon's Thunderbird was in the parking lot.

This was unusual because he hadn't found her or stopped in to say hello. Arlene told Project Cold Case that she thought to herself, Maybe I should go back inside and go find him and say hi. Instead, Arlene decided to just head home. She had three kids at home waiting for her, and like anyone else, she was happy to be off work. Arlene told Project Cold Case, I have lived with that regret and hated myself for that for almost 27 years.

Before Leon was killed, she didn't think too much of it. She would probably mention that he didn't come to see her the next time they talked, but there was no next time for them. Looking back on it, Arlene said to Project Cole case, I realized something had to be wrong because there's no way that he would have gone into the store and not said hi to me. And you have to feel for Arlene more.

She seems to feel as though she let Leon down by not tracking him down that day. But in her defense, she didn't know if there was anything wrong. For all she knew, Leon had to make a quick trip to buy something and he didn't have time to stop by and say hello. We don't know why he was there that day or really where he was. Maybe he went inside the store and Arlene didn't see him.

There is a very strong chance that Leon and Arlene not talking to each other that day may not have been in any way connected to his murder. But you heard earlier about some scenarios and run-ins leading up to Leon's murder that may very well be connected to it. The brothers that were angry with Leon, the police officer who didn't want his son in a relationship with Leon, or the man who reportedly bragged about killing Leon because he didn't like gay people. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence as far as we can tell that directly points to any, any one of those scenarios being the most likely. An alternate theory to some of the ones we've talked about is that Leon saw something he shouldn't have or had information on someone that they didn't want getting out.

What that might be and who may be responsible is not clear. As we talked about, by all accounts, Leon was a stand-up guy. He had a job, he was a good friend, and a wonderful family member that always helped his family when they were in need. He had a clean record. And there was no indication that he was a non-rength. involved in drugs, although police seemed to rush to that conclusion.

So this is the reason I feel that Leon's case went cold, because from the very beginning, they weren't communicating with us. Me being the person who was the closest to him and the family, I was never interviewed. The other family members weren't interviewed, only my uncle that he lived with. And I think because they knew that he was gay, they weren't putting too much effort. into it. I have pictures of the next morning where all law enforcement is standing literally on the spot Leon's body was with no protective gear. There's an outsider there in shorts and a t-shirt and a cap walking on both sides of the crime scene. It's just unbelievable. I don't think

they tried very hard. And immediately after this happened the next morning, They spoke to the people at Kroger that Leon works with. And that eyewitness that saw Leon's car told me that immediately Bobby Grubbs, that was the Texas Ranger that was heading up Leon's investigation, said that it was drugs. And basically was saying that it was Leon's fault because he was in that mess. And she repeated to him, no, that's not Leon. Leon was not doing drugs or dealing drugs. There were no drugs involved.

that's not Leon and other co-workers told him the same thing. But he wasn't listening. So it wasn't like a real interview. He was just trying to spread the word that it was drugs. And this is why this happened to Leon. Absolutely not the case because his toxicology report shows he was clean. You know, and being someone that I saw him like three or four times, five times a week, there's no way.

I would notice if he was on drugs and he wasn't. Like I said, I wasn't interviewed. They didn't use any protected gear from what I understand. They didn't really keep any of his clothing or anything that can now be tested. There's nothing to go on. My uncle went to talk to the investigator, Bobby Grubbs, and two weeks later, and he pulled out two little pieces of paper, and that was his investigation. Two weeks, two little pieces of paper.

were his investigation because he didn't believe in computers and he didn't believe in, you know, just taking a bunch of notes. And that's when my uncle came to me and said that we need to hire somebody else because Leon's case was not being investigated. It was not only gay. He was Hispanic. And then they wanted to add drugs to it. So he was a person that wasn't important to them. And so they didn't care to solve this case? There has always been a question of corruption or cover-up in this case. First,

Leon's body and Carr were found near the entrance to a gun range that was owned by Groner Pitts, the local coroner. Some people have asked a question whether he could have covered up a crime. He had knowledge of by basically botching

Leon's autopsy and pretending no evidence was recovered. People have pointed out that local police officers were associated with that same shooting range and have asked the question, could that indicate some involvement on their part? The reported threat from the highway patrol officer against Leon for interacting with his son doesn't help quell the rumors of impropriety in the investigation. It's not clear why, but Brown County Sheriff Bill Donahue reportedly recused himself from the case when he learned that Leon was the victim.

This leads many to believe that either Sheriff Donahue or someone he wanted to protect were involved in the murder. Even today, Arlene wonders why the sheriff's office apparently has his case file instead of the Texas Rangers who ended up investigating the case when Sheriff Donahue was accused himself. I do think, you know, the county sheriff accusing himself from the case adds a little bit of mystery. We just don't have that much information around it. But this speculation that you see from people online, you know, we see it in pretty much all of the unsolved cases that we do. People are grasping

to try to figure out the answers. So, you know, when you look online, you're going to see speculation because there's very few known facts. And, you know, when you look online, you're going to see speculation. because there's very few known facts. And oftentimes that speculation turns towards the police. I think at some cases, people get criticized for not recusing themselves. And it leads people to speculate, why isn't this person recusing themselves? Here, it seems like it's the opposite.

The sheriff recused himself without an explanation. And that led to questions, well, why is he recused? accusing himself without giving an explanation. So it's just one of the odd things in this case that people seem to point to when they consider the possibilities of a cover up at the police level or some wrongdoing on their part. And I want to go back to that very unique Ford pickup that was seen following Leon's car on the night of his murder. It's probably one of the best clues in this case. A petition started in January of this year, and it notes that the truck seen in the area the night Leon was murdered closely matches the description of a truck potentially involved in the murder of 13-year-old Amanda Goodwin. Amanda Goodman right there in Brownwood seven years before Leon was killed.

Amanda was abducted while walking home from Brownwood Junior High School on Tuesday, May 16th, 1989. Later that same day, her body was found on the side of the road about 10 miles from where she was last seen. She had been shot in the head once. She is a 13-year-old girl that was also executed and left on the side of the road and was previously seen in that red and white pickup truck that looked identical to what was described in Leon's case as well. And there were witnesses that saw this and went to the sheriff's support. but they didn't look for this truck for a few weeks. And I have that confirmed from the district attorney that was there at the time. And he says that they didn't go after the truck in time, because by the time they did go after it, it was gone. They tried to say that her execution was

also due to drugs. She was 13. And she was very, you know, into her church at the time. She was not doing drugs. While Amanda's case is similar to Leon's in that she was killed in the same area and shot execution style, we couldn't find any official mentions of any Ford truck being sought in Amanda's case and newspapers, but posters on some online forums mention a maroon truck in her case. On these forums, there's no mention of a missing bed on the truck in Amanda's case or any kind of trailer tone equipment, so it's a bit confusing. Like Leon's murder, Amanda's murder also remains unsolved. Many people speculate that due to the way Amanda's body was placed, it indicated that her killer had some semblance of remorse for what he had done to her, whether it's

an accidental shooting or an intended murder, that they were reluctant to have to do. This leads to the thought by some that she had a secret that she was about the spill, or that she saw something that she shouldn't have. If there's any connection between Amanda's murder and Leon's, it's not clear what the connection is. Of course, there may be no connection at all. And as Arlene told us, the Hans and Amanda's murders aren't the only murders in that area with similarities. Brownwood has five unsolved homicides, people that were executed, that are all unsolved. These cases are 40 years old, 37 years old.

Leon's going to be 28 years old on the tent. And it's like every 10 years. But they're all unsolved and all execution style. And there's one more interesting thing regarding the truck seen following Leon's car. Because I have tried to find this truck myself. I have gone through DMB records. And the only truck I could find was the sheriff himself owned a truck like that. I haven't mentioned this yet.

But from the moment this happened, the sheriff, Donahue, recused himself from this case. and after this, the truck has never been found. From what I found in the DMB records, he still owns it, even though he's passed away now, but it's never been sold that we could find. So it's just out there somewhere or in pieces. In 2008, authorities announced that they had persons of interest in Leon's case. At the time, according to Uncovered.com,

Ranger Bobby Grub said, in my mind, I know who did it. We just need a little bit more to take it to the grand jury. Obviously, they never got that little bit more because we're still here today talking about the case with Leon's murder being unsolved. In 2016, Brown County Sheriff's Office chief deputy Bobby Duvall told KTXS News, the Larellis case has got some fairly strong leads that we are revisiting and we feel a little bit optimistic that we may see some results out of that. It's unclear if these strong leads led police in any direction because they've been quite tight-lipped about the investigation. In 2020, the case was reopened as part of an effort to solve cold cases in the county. And I do think this is something that for many people is

frustrating and unsolved cases, you have police come out from time to time and say, well, we've got a strong lead or strong leads. We're pursuing this. But then you never really hear more about it. And it's almost as if they thought they had something, but it didn't pan out. The frustration, I think, lies in, you know, the fact that the police just can't come out and tell us everything that is going on in an investigation. I wonder if that's them just reacting to the case being in the news and they have to come out and say something that they're working on it, even if it's not really something that's strong, just to make it look like they're doing something. And I wonder if that gets Leon's family excited that, hey, maybe something's

finally going on here, maybe there's some movement and then to never hear anything again about it is that'll be frustrating. Last year in 2003, Arlene still didn't have all the details of the investigation. She told Project Coldcase, at this point, all I want is a copy of his autopsy. And all I want is for them to just admit they screwed up back then and didn't investigate properly. Just admit that you were wrong, okay? But most of all, she says, let's see what we can do with what have now? For 28 years, I've been trying to get the autopsy report, which they have denied and refused me. But because we've been putting up such a fight, last August, I did get a one-page report that said that the bullet was lodged in Leon's hand. So apparently he was, he put his

hands in front of his face, so it got lodged in his thumb area. And so, They did take it out. They put it in a baggie. They gave it to the deputy. It was put in the sheriff's desk, but nobody knows where it's at. They have denied me anything at all. Even to this last couple of months, I've been, you know, bugging the sheriff and the judge and the DA,

and they have formally written to me that they will not give me anything. I don't even think that this case will be. solved, but I want to get the word out that this case was mishandled. They need to take responsibility for their part in this case being unsolved. I need to bring awareness of the people that are still living in that town, that are dangerous people that are walking free, living alive that they shouldn't because Leon can't. It's very hopeless. It's a very lonely. It's a very lonely. only. It makes you very angry because Leon deserves justice. And this case could have been solved if it had been handled properly, investigated properly, but because of that, and they don't,

they don't have any evidence to test. I don't, I finally had to come to the conclusion because it's reality that this case probably will not be solved. So then I focused on just trying to hold law enforcement accountable for this case being unsolved. That's my focus now. And I think that helps me to deal with the fact that it may not be solved because that I had to take some time away for a while because that was really hard to come to that realization. Because how do you deal with that?

Like this is the person I loved the most in the world and he doesn't matter to anyone. else but me and he deserves justice but it's not going to happen. So I just need to hold them accountable for this and for the heartache and pain they've put so many people through just because they didn't do their job. They didn't wear protective gear. They didn't take care of evidence properly. They didn't talk to people. They didn't investigate. And this is the reason the case is cold. And that's on them. people have gone to them with things they've heard and seen and they do nothing with it. Why? As you can hear, Arlene doesn't sound very hopeful that Leon's case will be solved,

but that is not stopped her from keeping his case and his memory front and center. We asked Arlene how she keeps going on advocating for Leon and what kinds of things she does. Don't have an answer? I don't know. I just do it because I need to for Leon because I know he would do it for me. And that's what pushes me is my love for Leon and my feeling that he deserves justice is what pushes me. Sometimes I do have to take a break. It is overwhelming a lot of the times.

And I hate, you know, being on camera or anything like that. So it's hard, but I do it for Leon. And so I've done, I believe, 22 podcasts. I've done newspaper and radio episodes. I've been on panels at the True Crime Podcast Festival. I got a billboard up for a year. I was able to get a reward for $30,000. He's been featured on, you know, uncovered, season of justice, you know, so many different places. And then I started my own podcast. because I needed to tell Leon's story in full. And so on my podcast, the first three episodes are of Leon, and then I wanted to feature cases that are less known like Leon's, and those are the cases that I'm working on. My podcast is called Box in the Basement.

When I presented that, everyone gave me a strange look, they didn't understand. When I explained to them, in my mind, I have always pictured Leon's case file in this old, dusty, raggedy box that's down there in the basement. And that's the box that needs to be pulled out. And so that's the reason I named it box in the basement. Be sure to check out Arlene's podcast. And if you want to follow her efforts to get Justice for Leon, you can find her in these places. Facebook is Justice for Leon Larellis, our website, if you do. just type in Justice for Leon, it will pop up. We also have a petition on change.org.

And that is to have Leon's case reopened and looked at with fresh eyes. And I have my podcast box in the basement. You can find that on Facebook and Instagram. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity because that is my goal. It's just to keep Leon's memory alive. And even though I've lost hope that the case will be solved, I still want to. remind people that Leon was a beautiful soul and he deserves justice and he deserves to be remembered. And so I will be trying until I take my last breath. So we set it up front. The weekend we're releasing this episode marks 28 years since Leon's senseless murder happened. So help Arlene get the word out about his case by sharing this episode on social media. We appreciate Arlene coming on to

discuss Leon's case and her efforts to see it solved. If you want to check out the full conversation with Arlene, which is about an hour long, Patreon supporters will be able to find that interview in their Patreon fee. If you have any information with the murder of Juan Leon Larellis, please call the Brown County Sheriff's Office at 325-646-5510. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can call Heart of Texas crime stoppers at 800-22-8477. And that may mean you're eligible for a reward if your information checks out because there's still a $30,000 reward being advertised in Leon's case. If you want to learn more about Leon's case,

you can get to justice for Leon.com. There's a link to the petition we mentioned, and you can sign it and share your support. You can also reach out to Arlene at Justice Tips for Leon at gmail. com with information. So as we wrap this case up, Morp, obviously there's some information,

but very little, really, when you think about it in the grand scheme of a cold case, what we have is a ton of speculation. That's not all that uncommon in these types of cases as the years drag on.

Some of that speculation revolves around either incompetence on the part of the police or an outright cover-up. Now, I don't know if there's anything to any of that, but there's quite a bit of it out there online. What I will say is that for me, I keep going back to these individuals with whom Leon potentially had some trouble with or run-ins with in the days and weeks leading up to, his murder. Could one of these interactions hold the clue to what happened to him and who did it?

And my thought is, yeah, I think there's a real chance there. Now, they can't all be involved, I don't believe, but there definitely could be something to one of those interactions, whether it's with the brothers, the police officer, or this person going around town bragging about the murder. I think the problem. I think the problem. problem in this case is there's no clear-cut avenue to go down. If there was an easy-to-spot motive for someone to want to harm Leon, it would maybe make investigators jobs easier, but here you have some different events that could have had a role in his murder that they played, or maybe they weren't connected at all to Leon's murder. But either way, it seems like, at least

according to Arlene, that police made their minds up early and didn't do a full investigation that, hey, this is just some kind of drug thing. So Leon's case is one that has led to a lot of speculation as to whether police properly investigated it, if they made a rush to judgment, if Leon was involved in drugs or not. I think all of the evidence that I've seen points away from that, but the speculation is there. and here we are almost three decades later, the case hasn't been solved. And I think no matter what's true in this case, I'd like to see the case solved. So I hope police are still working on it and doing their best to solve it.

Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the day, that's what we all want, right? We want to see these unsolved cases solved and for the truth to come out, whatever it may be. We heard throughout this episode that Arlene seems to have given up hope that the case will be solved, but maybe some way, somehow she'll be proven wrong and the case will be solved that would end that there will be justice for her family. That's it for our episode on Juan Leon Larellis. If you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star rating, you can leave a review.

Also, keep telling your friends. The word of mouth about the criminology podcast really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, Ron X with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast discussion and fans.

So that's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.