Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He's Trying To Kill His Ex - The Leon Jacob Story

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Leon Jacob was a failed medical resident in Houston who, along with his girlfriend, veterinarian Valerie McDaniel, orchestrated a plot to hire a hitman to murder both of their ex-partners. Motivated by a desire to prevent his ex-girlfriend from testifying in a stalking case against him and to resolve McDaniel's custody battle, Jacob offered cash and luxury watches to an individual he believed was a contract killer but was actually an undercover officer.

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So this guy, he has the perfect way to get rid of his ex-girlfriend. Hire a hitman to kill her. Now the guy's name is Leon, and Leon is 39 when all this starts, and he's living in Houston, Texas. But here's the thing about Leon. He's always pretending to be a doctor. Like he tells people that he's this really good physician,

or sometimes he'll say he's a surgeon working at the local medical center. I guess he's trying to impress them. But of course, he's not really a doctor. He graduated med school, but he can't get his middle school, medical license, and he can't get his medical license because he keeps getting kicked out of residency programs for behavioral issues, because I guess the dude is just kind of a fuck-up. And if that isn't bad enough, he's also broke. Like he's in a lot of debt. He can't keep a real job. So his girlfriend is the one who's always paying his bills. Regardless, around 2017, all that changes. Because he

starts being abusive to her. And eventually, she gets tired of the abuse, and she leaves him and she reports him to the police. And so, bam, police arrest Leon for assault. Then he gets out on bail, and he starts stalking his now ex-girlfriend, and bam, he gets arrested again. Now eventually, Leon gets out on bail. But he's super pissed off that his ex got him arrested twice. And he decides that he's going to pay her back and end her life. And that is when he comes up with a plan to hire a hitman to take her out. Now, Leon, of he of course doesn't know any hitman, but he does know a friend of a friend who used to be in the military who might be willing to do the job.

This guy, who will just call hitman. So Leon meets up with hitman and he's like, will you kill my ex for $10,000? And hitman's like, sure, bro. So Leon pays hitman some of the money. Now, Hitman isn't really a hitman, and he doesn't want to assassinate anyone. He just wants to take Leon's money. So, after he gets Leon's money, he totally just disappears, and he ghosts him. But Leon, he doesn't know Hitman is flaking out on him.

He thinks he's still on the job about to make the hit at any moment now. So anyway, around this time, Leon decides to go visit his mom. While he's there, he meets his mom's neighbor. this woman, Valerie, and Valerie is a local veterinarian. And Leon thinks she is foin, and he really wants to be with her. So they hit it off and they start dating and things move real fast. Within a few weeks, Leon is already moving into her condo with her, and they're already telling people that they're going to get married.

Now, Valerie just got out of a bad relationship. Apparently, her ex-husband had been cheating on her for years, and she ended up divorcing him. Then they got into a pretty bad child custody battle, and she supposedly owes her ex $1.2 million for buying him out of the veterinary clinic that they started together. So she clearly hates this guy. Well, one day, Leon tells Valerie how much he hates his ex too. In fact, he tells her that he hates his ex so much that he once put a hit out on her.

And somehow, in one of these conversations, one of them brings up the possibility of putting a hit out on Baville. Valerie's ex-husband too. That way they would both be rid of their exes. And Valerie agrees that she thinks this is a great idea. And then Leon's like, why don't I use the same hitman that I hired before? The problem with that is that Leon still hasn't heard from that guy in a long while. Remember, he ghosted him and he ran off with his money. So he decides that he's going to need to track him down. And here's where the story gets really crazy. See, back when Leon was was arrested for assault and stalking, afterwards he got out on bail, and he met the bail bondsman. That bail bondsman just happens to have bonded out Hitman before as well.

So Leon is thinking, maybe the bondsman knows where Hitman is. And so Leon visits this bondsman, and he's basically like, give me hitman's number, because I can't get a hold of him and I need him to kill another person. But this means that the bondsman now knows that Leon is trying to pay someone to commit murder. So he goes straight to the police. And the police start investigating and now they're looking for hitman. And pretty quickly they find him and they bring him in and they question him. And hitman tells him, I'm not a real hitman.

I was just trying to take Leon's money. So police offer hitman immunity if he agrees to cooperate and help them with a little sting operation that they're doing to try and bust Leon. And hitman agrees because he didn't want to go to jail. So then hitman contacts Lee. And he's like, hey man, sorry I ghosted you, but I've actually found a better guy to do your hit for you. And the better guy he's recommending is, of course, an undercover cop who will just call undercover cop. And so Leon says, okay, the new guy can take over. And they agree to meet up at a local Olive Garden, of all places, to discuss their plans.

So Leon, Valerie, hitman, and undercover cop all meet up at Olive Garden to, I guess, eat unlimited breadsticks and discuss. this murder plot. And Leon tells them that he now wants to add the hit on Valerie's ex as well. And they get really specific about all this. Like Leon says that undercover cop can decide exactly how his ex is killed, while Valerie says that she wants her ex's hit to look like a carjacking gone wrong. And then she agrees to pay $10,000 for this second hit. Which is hilarious because hitman still has the money that he was paid for the first hit that he never did. But anyway, so the meeting ends. An undercover cop goes back, and I guess he talks with other officers working on this case, and they decide not to arrest Leon because even after that sting operation, they still need more

evidence to convict him. And so it's possible that Leon might end up getting away with all this. Uh, where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at walla.com. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in store and online, though some may vary. When Westchette first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jet well,

welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. On two. Of course he's not going to get away with all this. Come on. At some point, one of the cops working on this case gets an idea. They want Leon's X and Valerie's X involved in this because they want to stage some photos. So undercover cop contacts Leon's X. And he's like, I want to stage some photos of you looking like you got kidnapped so that we can bust Leon. And his ex is like, all right. The cop also calls Valerie's ex. And he's like, I want to state some photos of you looking like you got killed so that we can bust Leon. And her ex is like, all right. So undercover cop meets up

with both of the exes and they stage the photographs. Here's one of Leon's ex looking like she got kidnapped. And here's one of Valerie's ex looking like he got killed. Once he has these photos, undercover cop meets up with Leon again. And he shows him the pictures and he's like, look, the job is done. Both of your exes are taken care of. And Leon pays him some of the money that he owes him. Once that money exchanges hands,

that's all the evidence that police needs. And so, bam, they arrest Leon. Here's his mugshot. Also, bam, police arrest Valerie. Here's her mugshot. Now, pretty quickly, Valerie ends up getting out on bail. And while she's out, I guess she feels like all this is just too much to handle. And she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life in prison.

So she unalives herself. While Leon ultimately goes to trial and he's found guilty and he gets sentenced to life in prison. Hey, just reminding you that my entire catalog of true crime videos is now on Spotify. So if you want to listen to me over there, it's called the Ray William J. Johnson, True Story. This spring performance auto group invites drivers to upgrade with confidence.

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