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E217: Leon Laureles
3.9k Plays1 year ago
In May, 1996, two 911 calls came in concerning a car that was ablaze on a rural road in Brownwood, Texas. When first responders arrived, they quickly realized that this wasn’t a car accident. This was a murder. While Leon Laureles’s death came as a shock to all who knew and loved him because of the kindness and joy he brought into their lives, they soon discovered that he had been harassed and intimidated in the weeks before his death and was fearful. But how far did the fear extend? And are justice and truth still within reach?
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Transcript
Childhood Memories and Emotional Impact
00:00:00
Speaker
There is a persistent common memory I have from my childhood. My parents divorced when I was young and with my mom working evenings from around second grade through sixth grade, I would ride the bus to my grandma's house and she would watch me until my mom got off work. While I have so many beautiful memories of writing poems together or having picnics at the local lake complete with homemade milkshakes, that's not what I remember most vividly.
00:00:30
Speaker
you
00:00:30
Speaker
Instead, it was the everyday repetitive moment that stands out, even though at the time it seemed small. As I walked up the hill from the bus stop to my grandma's driveway, she would walk outside, nearly always wiping her hands on a towel because she was already preparing supper. When I reached the driveway, I'd look up to see her on the porch. She'd smile, and she'd hold out her arms for a hug. My entire life, that was my greeting from her.
Loss and Injustice
00:01:00
Speaker
When my grandma passed away, I knew immediately that the most painful thing I would have to endure would be to walk into the funeral home. Because for the first time in my life, I would see her and wouldn't see her smile. For the first time in my life,
00:01:21
Speaker
her arms wouldn't open wide for a hug. That is the loss you feel. It's tangible. When one of the most integral people in your life is gone. Someone who made you into the person you are.
00:01:39
Speaker
It's by understanding that amount of love that you can also imagine the level of anger so many families feel when the life of that person who means so much to them, what my grandma meant to me, is taken. And either they don't know who created that pain in their life, or they know that justice is never served.
Introducing Juan Leon Lorelles
00:02:02
Speaker
I thought about that love and that pain a lot this last week while preparing for this case. I heard so much about the joy in people's lives because he created it. I heard about the empathy, the care.
00:02:19
Speaker
But I also heard about the violence committed against that beautiful soul. I heard about the frustration with law enforcement. I heard the sound of pain in a voice. The kind created by nearly 28 years without answers. This is the case of Juan Leon Lorelles.
00:03:14
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:03:23
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
Bond with Niece Arlene
00:03:52
Speaker
This week I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Leon's niece Arlene about his case. She has been a visible and vocal advocate for her uncle who was one of her best friends. And I can tell you from the family members and friends I've spoken with over the years, taking on that task
00:04:13
Speaker
is not for the faint of heart. It means reliving the worst moment of your life over and over again. So Arlene, thank you for sharing, for enduring that pain again in hopes that this time it can lead to answers.
00:04:31
Speaker
Juan Leon Lorelles, who went by Leon, was the youngest of nine children, born on January 3rd, 1966. Not only was Leon the baby of the family, all of his siblings were several years older than him, teenagers or older, when he was born. Because of that age gap, Leon's older siblings had children born around the same time he was, including his niece, Arlene, who was only two years younger than Leon.
00:05:01
Speaker
As such, because Leon and Arlene were much closer in age, they were more like brother and sister than uncle and niece. The two were even in the high school band together. Leon always had a love for music, and Arlene wanted to be just like him, so when he joined the band, so did she.
00:05:20
Speaker
It's easy to see why she did when you hear her describe how genuine and fun-loving Leon was.
Remembering Leon's Traits
00:05:28
Speaker
Here's Arlene describing not only her favorite memory of Leon, but also his personality.
00:05:42
Speaker
dance all, especially older people, but he loved to dance so much. So we would go anytime there was a dance there and just have the best time dancing together. That's my favorite memory because that's who he was. He loved music, he loved dancing, and he always has a smile on his face, and that's how I like to remember him. Yeah. Now, how would you describe his personality?
00:06:12
Speaker
He was very shy, soft-spoken, the kindest person you'd ever meet. He was generous, loyal to his family and friends, and he was selfless. Yeah, I've read in several interviews you've said, and other people as well, how caring he was. Can you think of some specific examples that would illustrate that?
00:06:43
Speaker
Well, the times that he showed me how much he cared were all the times that he would just show up at my door anytime I needed him, anytime something, you know, was going wrong or happening or, you know, hard times in my life. He just showed up and he was there to help me and help me take care of my children and
00:07:11
Speaker
anything I needed, he would give it to me without me ever having to ask him. And from talking with his friends and coworkers, he was the same way with them. He was always there, always ready to lend a hand, always made sure that he celebrated their birthdays and Christmas with little small gifts. He was just one of those people that he was a treasure to have in your life.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah, because there's definitely a difference, and I don't know if people think about it that often, between someone who's kind and generous and then someone who's not only that, but has, I don't know, the foresight or the empathy to know what you need before even you know that you need it.
00:07:59
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that's exactly correct. That's exactly who he was. Like I said, I never asked. He would just know and he would show up and he knew I needed somebody to just cry on his shoulder or a hug or something. He just knew and he was there every time. And I know his friends say the same thing.
00:08:22
Speaker
The beauty of Leon's soul was evident in how he treated those around him, including his parents. With that age gap between siblings, Leon's older brothers and sisters had long since moved out of the home, leaving him as early as 14 years of age to be the caretaker for his aging parents.
00:08:41
Speaker
Arlene said she could remember Leon requesting to get his permit early and that he would drive his parents the four and a half hours from Brady, Texas to Dallas, Texas, so they could receive dialysis. He made that trip once a week. Can you imagine as a new driver going into Dallas?
00:09:02
Speaker
I was scared to go around sharp curves and Leon was driving into the metropolis of Dallas, but Arlene clarified not once did she ever hear Leon complain. His love for his parents was too deep for that.
00:09:20
Speaker
Unfortunately, both of Leon's parents had passed away by the time he was around 19. At this point, much of his family had moved away from
Life in Brownwood, Texas
00:09:28
Speaker
Brady, Texas. Arlene, in fact, was living in San Angelo, Texas at the time and was in the process of getting a divorce. With a little one at home and now having to navigate the life of a single parent, Leon gladly stepped up to help Arlene. He moved in and would watch her son during the day while Arlene was at work.
00:09:49
Speaker
Just having her best friend back with her made the difficult transition feel a lot more manageable. Eventually, Arlene began a new relationship and later still welcomed her second child. Her small family made the move to Brownwood, Texas around that time. Since Brownwood is also the town where a couple of Leon's brothers, Frank and George, had moved, Leon moved there as well.
00:10:15
Speaker
Brownwood is the location central to Leon's case, as we'll discuss in a moment. So I want to take just a quick second to share with you how Arlene described it to me. And it's Brownwood. What size of a town is it or what's it like? It's much bigger now, but at the time, I saw it as a very small town.
00:10:44
Speaker
We didn't have like, I don't know, we didn't have a theater. We didn't have a lot of the stores that most towns have. I think we had a Walmart, a Safeway, Kroger, and like a Bell's department store. The mall had like, I don't know, seven stores in it. It was really small. It was a very conservative town.
00:11:14
Speaker
It's, there's a lot of churches. I mean, there's more churches and there are stores there. And then with the University Howard Payne, which is a Christian university as well.
00:11:31
Speaker
In Brownwood, Leon continued to help caring for Arlene's children while she worked during the day, and he began working the graveyard shift at the local Kroger grocery store. The move likely wasn't the easiest for someone as shy as Leon, which made it hard to make new friends. But with Leon's kindness, when he did make a friend, they knew how much they meant to him. So too did Arlene's children.
00:11:58
Speaker
Oh, how much Leon loved them. He was a father figure to them. He taught them important lessons about life, but also about loyalty and love. Here's what Arlene said about Leon's role in her children's lives.
00:12:14
Speaker
I do know that he loved me so much that he always wanted to take care of me and help me and he loved my children so much that he was like a father figure to them and they loved him. He was the greatest uncle in the world. He's the one that taught
00:12:33
Speaker
and their colors and numbers and ABCs and how to write their name. It was him. He spent time with them like that, not just being there, but actually being a wonderful uncle to them.
00:12:48
Speaker
After hearing this, I told Arlene that I believe some people are just born to be caretakers of others, to make sure that the people around them feel physically and mentally healthy and supported. For people like that, they help others, yes, but by helping others, they also feel fulfilled themselves.
00:13:07
Speaker
It helps them, too. It's what they're used to, and Leon was definitely a creature of routine, even though, as you can imagine, that routine naturally would change with time. When Arlene's children, for example, were old enough to begin school, obviously Leon no longer needed to care for them during the day. It was then that Leon moved in with his brother George, who, remember, also lived in Brownwood.
00:13:32
Speaker
Once there, Leon began a new routine, which was primarily centered around family and around work. For example, Arlene told me that Leon would leave for work every single night around the same time, around 1130. That meant he would be pulling into Kroger at 1145. He would even always park in the same spot each night, which I totally understand since I do the same thing.
00:13:56
Speaker
and arriving at 1145 meant that he was early for work, leaving him plenty of time to greet all of his coworkers before his shift began at midnight. Listen, even though Arlene described Leon as shy, the friendships he developed were deep.
00:14:11
Speaker
Leon was always buying this friend a birthday present, that friend some candy because they were feeling down. The best way I can say it based upon my research and my time spent speaking with Arlene is that Leon was invested in the people he cared about.
00:14:28
Speaker
But by the end of April 1996, Leon wasn't feeling safe in Brownwood any longer.
Fear and Harassment
00:14:35
Speaker
In fact, Leon had mentioned to a coworker that he was being harassed and admitted to being scared. Though to my understanding, he didn't clarify who was harassing him when he spoke with the coworker. Leon did mention something similar to his sister on May 8th.
00:14:52
Speaker
Neither group, friends, nor family knew that Leon had mentioned his fear to the other. Nor did they realize that his fears were closer than anyone thought.
00:15:04
Speaker
When speaking with his sister, Leon was much more specific, naming two brothers who he told his sister Lily were quote unquote after him, but that he didn't know why. What he did know was that he was scared of what they might do.
00:15:23
Speaker
Rumors abounded about these two individuals and the violence they were capable of. While those were merely rumors, there was a very real fear that Leon felt that could be due to the fact that a coworker told Arlene that shortly before the late evening into early morning hours of May 9th into May 10th, 1996, when our case this week takes place,
00:15:46
Speaker
Those two men came into Kroger during a shift where Leon was working, so very late, and stole merchandise.
00:15:56
Speaker
The coworker told Arlene that Leon had seen it happen and had confronted them. Was this fear he felt due to something that had happened as a result of that encounter? There hadn't been much time for those Leon shared his fears with to react since the night after those concerns were shared, Leon was gone.
00:16:19
Speaker
Let's get into what we know of the last hours during which we can account for Leon's whereabouts and other sightings of him. We know that Leon was home around 6.30 for dinner because his brother George recalls that Leon made burgers and had eaten them with a friend who had come over. We know that Leon left for work around 11.30, like always. A coworker saw Leon's car pulling into the Kroger parking lot. Here's what Arlene told me about this sighting.
00:16:50
Speaker
co-worker that was there. She looked out the window and saw Leon's car, not Leon, but his car in the parking lot. She said she noticed that he didn't park in his usual spot because there was another vehicle there. So Leon parked next to that vehicle. And she said that she looked out, saw the car and said, yay, Leon's here. And so she went back to work cause she figured he'd be in in a few minutes and he'd like to talk to everybody.
00:17:18
Speaker
We talk a lot on the show about memory, and I wanna bring it up again here. Arlene told me that this coworker beats herself up over the fact that she can't recall what vehicle was parked in Leon's typical spot, but she shouldn't, because that's totally normal. After all, when she looked out, other than the one detail out of the ordinary that Leon had to park one spot over, everything else was typical.
00:17:45
Speaker
If something appears the way it does any other day, of course small details won't register in your memory because you don't realize that they are important.
00:17:55
Speaker
It's also important to note here that the coworker never laid eyes on Leon himself, just Leon's car, and that Leon never made it inside the store. Instead, when the coworker looked up, both vehicles were gone. I don't know about useless hounds, but my mind keeps going back to what Arlene told me about Leon being a creature of habit. Had someone known he always parked there, and that's why they pulled in,
00:18:26
Speaker
Because there's no way he would have not showed up for work by choice. When Leon wasn't inside Kroger by the beginning of a shift, the coworker called Leon's brother George, with whom Leon lived, to see if he had gone back there. Everyone was worried. Here's what Arlene told me of that conversation.
00:18:47
Speaker
When she went back to work, she noticed that it was already 12 and she hadn't seen Leon, so she looked out the window again and neither his car or the other vehicle were out there anymore. So that's when she called my Uncle George to ask if Leon was there.
00:19:06
Speaker
Uncle George said no, he left for work at 1130. And so he decided to drive the route that Leon took to work to see if something had happened. He made it all the way to the store and then back home. And during that time, the coworker had called the hospital and the police department to see if there were any accidents that Leon could have been involved in.
00:19:33
Speaker
and they told her there was only a bad car accident. And so when Georgia arrived back at his house, he called her back and she said at that time there was a fire truck that was passing by and she assumed it was going to that car accident. She had no idea that it was Leon. And so my uncle hung up and then that's when he made his phone calls.
00:20:13
Speaker
Though, as Arlene just told us, that car on fire was the scene of Leon's murder. Family and friends didn't yet know that.
Discovery of Leon's Murder
00:20:23
Speaker
They only believed there had been a car accident.
00:20:26
Speaker
Two separate 911 calls came in around 1230 in the morning on May 10th, 1996 to report a car on fire on rural Farm to Market Road 2126, just a few feet away from the entrance to a secluded rifle range.
00:20:45
Speaker
One of those callers had actually stopped to see if she could help. She was a nurse driving home from her work shift. Seeing the car ablaze, she got out to see if anyone were there and injured. That's when about 10 feet away from the rifle range entrance and several feet away from his burning car, she saw Leon's body. He had been shot in the back of the head.
00:21:10
Speaker
As an outsider looking in, the details of the scene seem to tell me that Leon's death was premeditated. I say this because even if an individual might carry a firearm with them daily, they don't normally carry an accelerant.
00:21:27
Speaker
This seems instead to me planned and seems strategic. Because of those reasons, both Arlene and her gut and I feel the same, that there was likely more than one person involved. You see, if both cars were gone when the coworker looked out at the parking lot again, that means someone was driving the car that was parked in Leon's normal spot and someone was driving Leon's car.
00:21:55
Speaker
That likely wasn't Leon himself, or at least not Leon alone, because he wouldn't have willingly followed someone to a secluded area if he were threatened by them. In my mind, there had to have been some kind of evidence in Leon's car, or else why would it have been taken in the first place from the Kroger parking lot? And why would it have been set ablaze?
00:22:21
Speaker
Then we have the details given by the other 911 caller of a truck seen driving very slowly behind Leon's car. Here's Arlene describing not only that 911 call, but the location of the scene.
00:22:37
Speaker
The 911 caller was very specific and detailed about that vehicle. It was red and white one time with flatbed, chrome mirrors, and a trailer hitch. That's how much they saw of this vehicle that was never found.
00:22:58
Speaker
And that's so specific. Exactly. Especially with the, I read, you know, no truck bed, just that gooseneck trailer hitch. So very specific. How many of those could there possibly have been that we can't find it?
00:23:16
Speaker
Exactly. And in a small town where everybody knows everybody, there's just no way it could have, you know, no one who owned that truck. In fact, some people do say that they know of someone who owned a truck like that, but it was never seen again. So and he was found on the roads pretty secluded.
00:23:44
Speaker
houses back there they are now but not that thin and there's a gun range out there so you know it was pretty far out there where you couldn't hear the gunfire and there's this little like dirt access road to the gun range that goes underneath the road okay and that's so they took that and that's where this happened and Leon was
00:24:15
Speaker
property.
00:24:17
Speaker
The gun range, Arlene told me, and I verified in my research, was owned by a sheriff's deputy. Now, I wanna comment here as well that, again, if I'm deducing, based on the evidence in front of me, I would be inclined to say that in addition to there likely being more than one perpetrator, I would argue that they were also, at least one of them, local. They knew enough to take this rural road, and even to know where the access road was.
00:24:48
Speaker
As for the accident, as it had been called in, when law enforcement and paramedics responded to the scene and identified the decedent as Leon Lorelles, his brother was notified. Immediately, siblings were calling siblings who were calling their children and other members of the family to let them know that the unthinkable had happened.
00:25:10
Speaker
Arlene got the phone call around two or three in the morning. It didn't register at first, but now she realizes just how significant that moment was in her life. To this day, anytime the phone rings in the middle of the night, it's complete terror for me. I just feel something bad's going to happen because I remember that.
00:25:33
Speaker
so vividly, like it just happened, picking up the phone and my cousin's saying Leon's dead and I thought, okay, I didn't hear right. So I asked her what and she repeated it and it was just a living nightmare from that moment on. My life was changed forever.
00:25:59
Speaker
Much of her memory is hazy during the next few hours. That's the impact of trauma. Unfortunately, the family hasn't had the best relationship with law enforcement, whom in the best of circumstances would have helped the family to navigate this time, or at least have pointed them toward resources.
00:26:17
Speaker
Instead, Arlene told me, the family's relationship with law enforcement was basically non-existent. She said that she was never interviewed about Leon, never questioned. And here she was, the person closest to Leon in all the world, the person he would come by to visit at least two times a week every week. Worse yet, when I asked her how she learned about the details of Leon's death, here's what she recalls.
00:26:46
Speaker
It was so distraught. There's a lot of things I don't remember in those days.
00:26:53
Speaker
My mind is just completely blocked. I only remember standing outside of the sheriff's department. I don't remember how I got there. I don't remember getting dressed. I don't remember anything but standing out there looking out at the dark sky and just praying that this wasn't true. It was a mistake. This isn't real.
00:27:18
Speaker
And it's still dark. We're all standing out there. Now I, I question why does he make a stand outside? But they did. And they only would speak to my uncle George. So he would go in and speak to a Texas Ranger, Bobby Grubbs. And then he would relay messages to us. I don't even know that I knew anything about his car at that
00:27:43
Speaker
time all I knew is that he was shot. It was when Don, it was Don, I could see some light coming up when I heard somebody say that it was in the newspaper and that made me really angry because it said that he was executed which
00:28:02
Speaker
I hadn't learned about yet. Oh my goodness. And so I was just rage filled to me. I drove down there and I yelled at them. They're looking at me like I'm a crazy person. And I don't know why I did it, but I was just so angry. And I said, why would you put this in the paper when we didn't even know yet? Right. And nobody, you know, said,
00:28:32
Speaker
for that reason because we didn't know yet. And I didn't even know what to do with these feelings. I was just so angry that everyone else knew before we did.
00:28:45
Speaker
Fairly soon into the investigation into Leon's case, the Sheriff of Brownwood actually recused himself from the case on conflict of interest. I wasn't able to confirm in my research the exact reason why though, unless it was because the crime took place just outside of property owned by one of the deputies.
00:29:03
Speaker
That would make sense as you're too close to an individual with a direct tie to the case and don't wanna be prejudiced in any way. But according to Arlene, it was too late, much too late for that on multiple levels.
00:29:19
Speaker
On the first level, it was too late to eliminate prejudice because even though the Sheriff had recused himself from the case, which from Arlene's understanding meant the whole department would be recused from the case. After all, again, a deputy owned the range and a Texas Ranger, Bobby Grubbs, that Arlene mentioned was called in to the investigation.
00:29:40
Speaker
Crime scene photos published in the paper show several members of the sheriff's department there at the scene and even, she told me, the owner of the range in civilian clothing on both sides of the property fence holding a metal detector. So even if they didn't officially work the scene, they were present and involved
00:30:03
Speaker
Whether or not any shell casings were found on the ground, whether they figured out the caliber of weapon used, even the autopsy has never been shared with the family. And even the evidence we know was collected is problematic. When Leon was shot, he had his hand covering his face and the bullet was lodged in his
00:30:30
Speaker
and that was removed given to the Sheriff's Department. They then placed it in a desk drawer and then it was lost. The second level of concern with prejudice came from another detail that Arlene told me, that nearly every person investigating the case is part of a common social group called the Brownwood Mafia.
00:30:56
Speaker
The Brownwood Mafia is a group founded in 1962 and is comprised of businessmen, government officials, and the like, whose goal, at its inception, was to promote growth and development in the area. Since its founding, though, there have been whispered rumors, or not so whispered if you partake in Facebook commentary, on its links to corruption.
00:31:18
Speaker
Without even delving into rumors, it is understandable why Arlene feels as though, if anyone with a link to that group were involved in a crime, that it would be hard to get justice. The group is made up of law enforcement, Texas Rangers, attorneys, judges, someone involved in the justice system at nearly every level.
00:31:43
Speaker
The final level of concern with prejudice will take us all the way back to the beginning of this episode, when Arlene described to you the town of Brownwood and what we know of public opinion in the 90s, combined with the fact that Leon was a homosexual Hispanic man living in a small town.
Rumors and Motives
00:32:01
Speaker
Arlene believes that what happened to Leon was likely a hate crime. If so,
00:32:06
Speaker
And related to sexuality though, the list of who had known he was homosexual would have been relatively small. You see, Leon was just working on coming out and had not yet done so to many of his family members nor friends even yet. He was just starting to date someone new. However, even that information wasn't public since the person Leon was seeing wasn't ready to come out yet.
00:32:32
Speaker
Still, those who did know wondered whether someone with a deep-seated hatred had discovered the truth and had taken Leon's life because of it. Ultimately, it was what the family felt was a lack of genuine effort in Leon's case that pushed them to their next step. Here's what Arlene said happened when George asked law enforcement for an update.
00:32:55
Speaker
Just a few weeks after this happened, my Uncle George did go to Bobby Grubbs and asked him, you know, like, updates on the case and what information has he found or, you know, anything on the investigation. And Bobby Grubbs pulled out two little pieces of paper, like, post-it notes to him on the desk, and that was his
00:33:21
Speaker
And he admitted before that he just throws his notes on the secretary's desk and she needs to type them up. But two little pieces of paper were the investigation of a Hispanic gay man that was executed in this small town.
00:33:37
Speaker
This private investigator came highly recommended and had an excellent record. And being someone from outside the area, the family hoped he would be just the person to come in and shake things up, to get things into motion, and to get the family some answers. Unfortunately, the family didn't get the results they hoped.
00:33:56
Speaker
My Uncle George found him. My Uncle George is one of his people. Like his job, he just kind of looked at monitors and that's all he had to do. So he would do a lot of research and reading and stuff like that. And so he found this private eye that was highly respected and he highly recommended from Dallas, Texas. And we thought that's great. That's what we need because of his qualifications and recommendations. That's
00:34:26
Speaker
who we thought would be the right person for this job. And not to say that he wasn't, but what happened was he started digging and was threatened, I'm presuming by law enforcement. And he was threatened and he said, there is a very large corruption going on in this town and I'm
00:35:00
Speaker
even though the PI was no longer involved the family did get some of the information he had gathered though it's information that Arlene has seen only recently and it's not a lot of documentation at that though there are whiteboards with photos and a list of suspects that list matches nearly identically with the people whom Arlene herself has suspected all this time the same names are there
00:35:26
Speaker
Here are a couple of those working theories that Arlene has. Theory number one, the brothers whom Leon had mentioned to his sister that he was fearful of were individuals that Arlene has been told in interviews with several individuals were ones not to be messed with and were rumored to be both racist and homophobic.
00:35:44
Speaker
If the rumors were true, and Leon, again, a homosexual Hispanic man, had confronted them about stealing, as the coworker reported. Was this their response? If so, Arlene's gut feeling that more than one person were involved would also be confirmed.
00:36:02
Speaker
Theory two, some kind of link to corruption in law enforcement, and theory three, a hate crime related to Leon's sexuality. I mention these two together because the little we do know about these theories seem to have them linked.
00:36:17
Speaker
I want to preface by saying that there are no direct pieces of evidence to link law enforcement to Leon's murder and therefore I make no claim of involvement. However, there are several indirect links to law enforcement that Arlene has discovered in the information that has been told to her that I want to mention. Arlene said that the son of one law enforcement officer was friends with Leon and she has heard that the father was homophobic and didn't want his son to be friends with nor hang out with Leon.
00:36:47
Speaker
A coworker of Leon's also told Arlene that just hours after the 911 calls concerning the scene of Leon's death, that son of an officer came into Kroger around 4 AM looking for Leon, only to find that he wasn't there. Arlene wonders why he came in that morning of all mornings and wonders if it were either to check on Leon because he was worried or to warn him that something might happen.
00:37:15
Speaker
Finally, there's the recollection of a family member a few weeks prior to Leon's death. Here's what Arlene told me about Leon's new relationship and the memory her cousin recalled. He was dating somebody. It was somebody recent. The reason I know this is because
00:37:35
Speaker
I think a week or so prior to this, Leon went into the local coffee shop where somebody named Steve worked and he was openly gay. So Leon confided in him that he was dating somebody new and he wanted to come out, but that person didn't want to come out. So, you know, that was
00:38:04
Speaker
So I do know that he was dating somebody because of that conversation he had with this person a few weeks before. My cousin lived in Brownwood too and he saw Leon Park across the street from the Kroger store. And so he pulled in and asked him like, what are you doing? Leon said, I'm waiting for my girlfriend to get off work.
00:38:30
Speaker
my cousin said, well, why are you parked over here? And he said, because her father is a, I don't remember if it's a highway patrolman or, you know, somebody in the law enforcement, that was her father. And he said, if I ever catch you with her again, I will kill you. But my feeling is that because Leon was not out, any other family members,
00:39:02
Speaker
for he and daughter for son because he was not out to the family. And this could be the same person who he confided in Steve that he was starting to see who didn't want to tell her family. I think so. Or of course the real answer could lie in some combination of those theories.
00:39:25
Speaker
In 2008, law enforcement announced that they had a new lead in Leon's case. In fact, a ranger working on Leon's case reported to the abling reporter news in their article titled Brown County Authorities Find Leads in 96 Killing. Quote, in my mind, I know who did it. We just need a little bit more to take it to the grand jury. I could probably get them indicted now, but I don't know if I could convict them and just indict them without a conviction as a waste of time.
00:39:53
Speaker
And it's not what you want to do because you can't come back to it." However, in the years since, no arrests were made. Not even a name was provided. Then around 2016, Arlene was told that the most likely suspect had committed suicide two years earlier in 2014. There is one person she knows who committed suicide, a son of one of the local law enforcement officers.
00:40:21
Speaker
though she does not believe that this son was directly involved in Leon's death. Ultimately, all Arlene wants are answers and honesty, and she doesn't feel like she's getting either.
Arlene's Quest for Justice
00:40:34
Speaker
She has recently tried, again, to get the autopsy and any other records that she can concerning Leon's case. She has filed Freedom of Information Act requests. She has spoken directly with people, but no matter where she turns, she feels the door shut in her face.
00:40:51
Speaker
to illustrate, here's what she said of her attempt to get the autopsy again.
00:41:07
Speaker
me so that I can request those records again. And he emailed me back and said this is what his email is. As per the Attorney General ruling, which you are a party to, I
00:41:22
Speaker
I will not release any information on this case. I will not comment on what other investigators have said to you. Please reach out to them. I assure you this case, I would very much like to close and arrest and convictions. I still believe this could happen. So even though I pointed out to him,
00:41:47
Speaker
Families, Victims' Rights, Human Rights Act, I am allowed to have that, a copy of that, if you have not worked on the case in three years. And according to the person that emailed me prior to this email, he told me that they haven't worked on the case in a good while, and it is not an actively working case.
00:42:20
Speaker
for many years now. And I have sent many FOIA requests along with other podcasters and friends. And they've all told me that the records are kept with the judge, the local judge there in Brownwood, which is really odd, but I contacted him. He told me that I needed to contact the sheriff.
00:42:46
Speaker
Contact the sheriff. He said he doesn't have it. Called the DA. The DA tells me I don't need the autopsy because we all know what his demise was. Called the judge again. And he says he has no clue about this case at all. He doesn't remember it. And then called him again and he said it was lost in a flood.
00:43:07
Speaker
And then after more pestering him, we received one page copy that is digitized, but is not signed by the medical examiner or the deputy that took Leon's body, you know, to Austin. There's no signatures.
00:43:32
Speaker
the sheriff went blank is this, are the records digitized? He said no. I've been told many things back and forth because as many times as I've called, I spoke to the records keeper at the sheriff's department. She told me it wasn't digitized and that it was in a box in the basement and that they don't really work on it.
00:44:00
Speaker
And then I get this one page that is digitized. Then I ask the sheriff and he says it's not digitized. So which is it?
00:44:08
Speaker
It's because she heard of the box in the basement and has this mental image burned in her mind of not only Leon's records, but the records belonging to the beloved family members of others, kept down in some dingy basement collecting dust, that she decided to create her own podcast, appropriately titled Box in the Basement, where she has covered not only her cousin Leon's case, but other unsolved cases as well.
Box in the Basement Podcast
00:44:33
Speaker
While you'll hear the show's promo played at the end of this episode, here's what Arlene told me about her podcast. In my mind, that's how I've always pictured his case file in this box, dusty and raggedy in the basement, because they have told me it's in the basement. I just see this lonely box not ever being touched. And so when I came up with that name, people looked at me a little strange. And I'm like, you don't understand. This is the perfect
00:45:02
Speaker
name for this because those boxes are in the basement collecting dust and the families that, you know, associated with these boxes are just left with unanswered questions. I find it very admirable that you have made this choice to start the podcast and not only to focus on Leon's case, but to focus on other unsolved cases.
00:45:31
Speaker
Because during this journey, I have met a lot of other families just like me, where we are just left alone.
00:45:43
Speaker
law enforcement doesn't communicate. We don't have any answers. They won't return our calls. They won't speak to us. And we don't have a list of what to do, who to call, where to go for help. And we're just left to figure this out all on our own. And it's a very, very hard and lonely journey. And I want to be able to help those people, the other families,
00:46:13
Speaker
with the things I know that can help them because it took me many years to find anybody that wanted to help me and I want to be able to help them without them having to go through that struggle.
00:46:27
Speaker
It's clear that Arlene has a passion for helping people.
Continuing Leon's Legacy
00:46:30
Speaker
The same way Leon was a caretaker and seemed to know what people needed even before they realized they needed it, Arlene is now carrying on Leon's legacy and the way that she has put her own story out there so she can help others.
00:46:44
Speaker
because their story is her story. Their pain is her own. But she keeps going, putting herself through the trauma again and again, as I mentioned in the beginning, for the best reason of all, because of love and the ways in which Leon's words and actions grounded in love still touch every aspect of her life.
00:47:09
Speaker
Arlene shows us that while pain can be tangible, so too is love. As such, it only seems appropriate to end with her words. My call to action is for anyone that knows anything to please come forward any little bit could be, you know,
00:47:30
Speaker
lead to something more. And I have created a website for Leon. It's called Justice for Leon Morelos, where you can submit a tip anonymously. There is a submitted tip online or a phone number where you can call in any information or tip.
00:47:50
Speaker
I also have a Justice for Leon Facebook page where you can connect all those things to the GoFundMe and to the website. I have a petition to have Leon's case reopened and looked at with fresh eyes and possibly have his body exhumed and reexamined. So that would be so much appreciated if you would sign our petition.
00:48:17
Speaker
I think I just want people to know that when a person is taken from you, it doesn't just affect one or two people or just the immediate family. I want them to understand that it affects the coworkers, his friends, the person, the family on his body. It has affected their lives from that moment on to this day.
00:48:44
Speaker
So there's so many people that are affected and not having any answers just makes our struggle even harder. And it's hard, it's a hard journey for sure. But because I don't have any family members that are helping me with this justice for Leon,
00:49:10
Speaker
I am totally alone. And so I have learned from trial and error, and I have learned through tears and pain. But I do it because I believe Leon was such a beautiful person that he needs to be remembered. And I have to be the one to make sure people don't forget him. But he also needs justice. And so that's my fight is for him.
00:49:38
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always follow us on Twitter at cases coffee on Instagram at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffee and cases podcast at gmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:50:08
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
00:50:32
Speaker
There are over 200,000 unsolved homicides in the United States justice system right now. And many of those cases haven't seen the light of day in years, decades in some instances.
00:50:48
Speaker
The case files and evidence are sitting in a box on a dusty shelf in a basement. Forgotten by law enforcement and the media, while the families and friends left behind wait for answers and fight for justice, sometimes there is nobody left to remember or to speak up on behalf of the victim.
00:51:09
Speaker
I'm Arlene. And I'm Leah. And that is exactly what Box in the Basement sets out to do, to shine a light on those forgotten victims and to bring attention to unsolved murders and disappearances. We want to help families tell their stories and we want to assist the families and friends of victims find the resources and support they need to continue their fight for justice. Join us every Wednesday for new episodes of Box in the Basement, wherever you find your podcasts.