Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Murder of Leon Laureles in Brown County, Texas Part 2

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The Murder of Leon Laureles in Brown County, Texas Part 2 · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

0:01
Speaker 1: Gone Call.
0:02
Speaker 2: Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
0:05
Speaker 3: Listener discretion is advised. This is part two of two
0:11
Speaker 3: of the murder of Leon Laurels in Brown County, Texas.
0:14
Speaker 3: If you haven't listened to part one, it would be
0:17
Speaker 3: a good idea to do that before going any further
0:20
Speaker 3: into this episode. Here's a brief rundown of what we've
0:23
Speaker 3: already covered. One Leon Lorellis, who went by his middle name,
0:29
Speaker 3: was described to us as a gentle giant. He was
0:32
Speaker 3: tall and stout, but his physicality was dwarfed by his
0:36
Speaker 3: kindness and compassion. That's what made his violent death unfathomable.
0:42
Speaker 3: At around twelve thirty am on Friday, May tenth, nineteen
0:46
Speaker 3: ninety six, shortly after Leon was due to work as
0:49
Speaker 3: shift at the Kroger grocery store in Brownwood, Texas, his
0:53
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty eight black Ford thunderbird was found burning on
0:56
Speaker 3: a narrow road next to an outdoor shooting range off
1:00
Speaker 3: Farmed Market Road twenty one, twenty six, just a little
1:04
Speaker 3: east of Brownwood in a rural area. The body of
1:08
Speaker 3: thirty year old Leon Lorells was found near the blaze.
1:12
Speaker 3: He'd been shot in the back of his head while kneeling,
1:15
Speaker 3: described as execution style by authorities. Leon's car was seen
1:21
Speaker 3: by a witness parked in the Kroger parking lot sometime
1:24
Speaker 3: after eleven thirty pm, presumably shortly after arriving to work
1:28
Speaker 3: his shift. Another vehicle was seen next to his and
1:32
Speaker 3: both drove off. This was highly out of character for Leon,
1:37
Speaker 3: who'd never even been late for a shift, let alone
1:40
Speaker 3: skipped out on one without telling any of his co workers.
1:44
Speaker 3: He was most likely forced somehow. Leon, it appears, might
1:50
Speaker 3: have been in a relationship with a man from his
1:52
Speaker 3: hometown of Brady, Texas, a teacher or coach at his
1:56
Speaker 3: alma mater, Brady High School. Un expressed to a man
2:01
Speaker 3: named Steve Harris that he was frustrated because the man
2:05
Speaker 3: he was seeing preferred to keep the relationship a secret,
2:08
Speaker 3: while Leon was tired of hiding it. Since a faculty
2:13
Speaker 3: member of a small Texas town high school in nineteen
2:16
Speaker 3: ninety six would likely have lost his job if it
2:19
Speaker 3: became known that he was gay or worse, it could
2:22
Speaker 3: be considered a plausible motive to kill Leon, but there
2:27
Speaker 3: are other theories in the case, one of which just
2:30
Speaker 3: as plausible, if not more. One theory concerning the execution
2:35
Speaker 3: style murder of Leon Lorells is that the act was
2:39
Speaker 3: a hate crime.
3:01
Speaker 4: And he was always there for me, He was there
3:04
Speaker 4: for everyone. So the fact that somebody could do this
3:08
Speaker 4: to him, I just don't understand. And it's just left
3:12
Speaker 4: a big old hole in my heart.
3:15
Speaker 2: You know, it's not going to change anything if we
3:17
Speaker 2: find who did this, but I feel like he deserves just.
3:22
Speaker 3: As Leon Lorells didn't hate anything or anyone, but perhaps
3:45
Speaker 3: there were those who hated who he was. The city
3:49
Speaker 3: of Brownwood had a history of folks terrorizing gay and
3:52
Speaker 3: lesbian residents, among others, because of their skin color or
3:57
Speaker 3: religious beliefs. In fact, Howard pain University in Brownwood is
4:02
Speaker 3: consistently ranked among a handful of the absolute worst colleges
4:06
Speaker 3: for LGBTQ plus students in Texas. Colleges that discriminate against
4:13
Speaker 3: LGBTQ plus students once lost federal funds by doing so,
4:18
Speaker 3: But according to a twenty sixteen Dallas Morning News article,
4:22
Speaker 3: Howard Paine University is among nine colleges in Texas that
4:27
Speaker 3: continually filed for exemptions based on religious beliefs. But it
4:32
Speaker 3: gets much darker when you hear what others have been
4:36
Speaker 3: through in Brownwood and Brown County. The theory that the
4:39
Speaker 3: slang of Leon Loreles was a hate crime is incredibly plausible.
4:44
Speaker 3: A Brownwood High school student was harassed and once sexually
4:48
Speaker 3: assaulted while at school because he was gay. A Brownwood
4:52
Speaker 3: woman was raped by a man because she was a lesbian.
4:56
Speaker 3: I'll show you what it's like to have a man,
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Speaker 3: the rapist told her. As far as Leon's murder is concerned,
5:04
Speaker 3: an Arson investigator that worked the case in recent years
5:08
Speaker 3: said he'd been told that Leon had propositioned a man
5:11
Speaker 3: who was straight and that that person wanted to get even.
5:15
Speaker 3: According to this theory, the angry man told others who
5:19
Speaker 3: then took it upon themselves to get back at Leon
5:22
Speaker 3: or helped the man. Late local businessman Steve Harris fought
5:27
Speaker 3: against harassment and attempts to run him. His partner also
5:32
Speaker 3: named Steve and their business out of town for years.
5:37
Speaker 3: Not long after Leon's murder, Steve and Steve, inspired by
5:41
Speaker 3: Anthony and johna Latino's coffee shop I spoke of on
5:45
Speaker 3: Part one, opened up a deli in Brownwood like mister
5:49
Speaker 3: Anthony's Holy Grounds, Steve's Market and Delhi was a place
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Speaker 3: where anyone was welcomed, no matter who they were, so
5:56
Speaker 3: long as they were not driven by hate. Steve even
6:00
Speaker 3: Steve saw their fair share of hateful obstacles while growing
6:04
Speaker 3: their business. But they are not folks who tuck their
6:07
Speaker 3: tails and run. Steve Harris in two thousand and one
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Speaker 3: went after a local radio host and councilman who used
6:14
Speaker 3: hateful language against gay folks on air. When the radio
6:18
Speaker 3: station received complaints, they apologized for using the language, but
6:24
Speaker 3: city councilman Ed McMillan, who regularly called into the show,
6:28
Speaker 3: offered a six pack of beer if the radio talk
6:31
Speaker 3: show host said the derogatory word again on the air.
6:36
Speaker 3: Steve told me a little bit about the attitude in Brownwood.
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Speaker 1: I was born in Brownwood, but I was not raised here,
6:43
Speaker 1: and that's why I can see it for what it is.
6:46
Speaker 1: I believe I don't see it when rose collar classes.
6:49
Speaker 1: I came here frequently growing up during the summer because
6:53
Speaker 1: my mother's parents lived here. This town has had a
6:57
Speaker 1: history of intolerance and hatefulness, not only from political leaders
7:02
Speaker 1: radio talk show hosts. You know, there were gay and
7:05
Speaker 1: lesbian brothers and sisters and family members that were literally
7:08
Speaker 1: being attacked, and no one was lifting a finger to
7:11
Speaker 1: help them. No one was speaking out on their behalf.
7:14
Speaker 1: If anybody was doing anything, it was all closeted because
7:17
Speaker 1: there was no one speaking out against the hate radio
7:20
Speaker 1: and hate speech. And that radio station had all the
7:23
Speaker 1: major players advertising on it, you know, so it was
7:26
Speaker 1: community supported hate radio, is what I called it. It
7:30
Speaker 1: helped create an environment of intolerance. And there's good bad,
7:35
Speaker 1: and there's ugly everywhere, but in rural, small town America,
7:39
Speaker 1: it's very personal because you know typically the players involved.
7:44
Speaker 1: You know who your judge is, you know who your
7:46
Speaker 1: county attorney is, you know who your sheriff is, you
7:49
Speaker 1: know who your police chief bills, you know who your
7:51
Speaker 1: police officers are, you know community members, and so you
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Speaker 1: take it much more personal when you have all the
8:00
Speaker 1: hate around you.
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Speaker 3: He went on to say that there are some of
8:04
Speaker 3: the best people he's ever met in Brownwood too, and
8:07
Speaker 3: there's no doubt that's true. But there are further examples
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Speaker 3: of bigotry. In twenty seventeen, two young Brownwood men, when
8:16
Speaker 3: on a vandalism spree in nearby early on homes and vehicles.
8:22
Speaker 3: Twenty one year old Matthew Allen Keith and twenty two
8:25
Speaker 3: year old Jesse Rodriguez spray painted racial and homophobic slurs
8:30
Speaker 3: on homes and vehicles.
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Speaker 4: There.
8:32
Speaker 3: They blamed alcohol, and some local news outlets declined to
8:36
Speaker 3: mention the bigoted nature of the graffiti in their news
8:39
Speaker 3: stories about the incident. The bigotry displayed by Councilman McMillan
8:45
Speaker 3: wasn't the only example of such behavior by city officials.
8:49
Speaker 3: Other disturbing incidents of intolerance were reported upon as recently
8:54
Speaker 3: as twenty twenty two. At ten thirty am on April
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Speaker 3: twenty eighth, twenty twenty two, the Pride of Texas Filmfest
9:14
Speaker 3: director Brock Cravy entered the Brown County slash City of
9:18
Speaker 3: Brownwood Law Enforcement Center. The Pride of Texas Film Festival
9:23
Speaker 3: was a planned LGBTQ plus film festival set to take
9:27
Speaker 3: place in Brownwood, which was to be the smallest town
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Speaker 3: in Texas to host a Pride event. Cravey was to
9:35
Speaker 3: meet with Chief of Police Educating to discuss safety measures
9:39
Speaker 3: for the upcoming event, which was going to be that June.
9:43
Speaker 3: After introducing himself at the visitor's window and having a seat,
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Speaker 3: Cravey said he overheard the folks behind the counter saying
9:51
Speaker 3: in loud voices some disturbing things. We will not accept them.
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Speaker 3: Cravey heard, and where does he think he is? According
10:01
Speaker 3: to Cravy, after one woman attempted to quell her coworker's
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Speaker 3: bigoted statements by saying we aren't to judge them, another
10:10
Speaker 3: woman replied, it's our job as Christians to correct them.
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Speaker 3: They must be corrected. She apparently repeated this several times.
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Speaker 3: The Dallas Voice reported that Cravey's statement included the following quote.
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Speaker 3: A public servant, a member of law enforcement made a
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Speaker 3: statement about me that implied that killing me and hurting
10:33
Speaker 3: me was an option. I've never been more frightened in
10:36
Speaker 3: my life. End quote. The Brown County Sheriff's office is
10:42
Speaker 3: reluctant to call leon Lorellis's murder a hate crime. Their theory,
10:47
Speaker 3: at least the theory they seemed to be selling the public,
10:51
Speaker 3: is one that we've been told they often turned to.
10:54
Speaker 3: Some said that leon Lorellis had begun hanging around a
10:57
Speaker 3: group of guys known around Brownwood and Brown County as
11:01
Speaker 3: the Northeast or sometimes called the North Side Posse or
11:05
Speaker 3: the Brownwood Mafia. There were three families consistently involved in
11:10
Speaker 3: this group, though we will not be disclosing the names.
11:14
Speaker 3: First off, it's unlikely Leon was hanging around these guys.
11:19
Speaker 3: This group of men, we were told, wreaked havoc on
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Speaker 3: the city of Brownwood in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties.
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Speaker 3: Their pleasure apparently was inflicting pain and fear on others
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Speaker 3: whoever they chose on a given night to terrorize. They'd
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Speaker 3: corner off the city's main drag where folks cruised on
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Speaker 3: weekend nights. It's said the Northeast would box in someone
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Speaker 3: in their vehicle, pull them out, and beat them. No
11:48
Speaker 3: one we were told, ever, really knew why they'd show
11:52
Speaker 3: up at house parties slinging around guns, and when the
11:55
Speaker 3: police were called, somehow avoided consequence. We are told. That's
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Speaker 3: about the extent of the information we could gather on
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Speaker 3: these guys as far as their activities are concerned. We
12:09
Speaker 3: reached out to many folks hoping to get more, but
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Speaker 3: apparently the Northeast still inspire enough fear in the hearts
12:16
Speaker 3: of the residents of Brownwood to keep them from talking. Now,
12:20
Speaker 3: if Leon was indeed hanging around these individuals, it doesn't
12:25
Speaker 3: make a lot of sense given his character, unless somehow
12:29
Speaker 3: he was not aware of their violent activity. According to
12:33
Speaker 3: everyone who knew him well, Leon did not lead a
12:36
Speaker 3: high risk lifestyle. The Brown County Sheriff's Department seems to
12:41
Speaker 3: lean toward the theory that Leon Lorellis saw some sort
12:44
Speaker 3: of criminal activity he shouldn't have and was silenced as
12:48
Speaker 3: a result. There was at least one incident days before
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Speaker 3: Leon was slain that potentially backs up that theory.
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Speaker 4: I know that two days before this happened, he told
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Speaker 4: his sister that there were some people that were mad
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Speaker 4: at him and wanted to hurt him, but he didn't
13:05
Speaker 4: know why. But you know, she didn't really ask him
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Speaker 4: anything further than that, so he I think he was
13:14
Speaker 4: aware that, you know, somebody was after him or something.
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Speaker 3: Then again, that could back up many theories. There's another
13:24
Speaker 3: concerning the northeast. A coworker said they'd been going into
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Speaker 3: the Kroger where Leon worked and stealing merchandise. One night.
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Speaker 3: According to the coworker, Leon stood up to them and
13:36
Speaker 3: told them he'd call the cops if they continued to steal.
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Speaker 3: A petty reason to commit a murder, but perhaps it
13:43
Speaker 3: was just fuel for the already burning fire. Yet another
13:48
Speaker 3: theory involving the Northeast exists, one that backs up the
13:53
Speaker 3: notion that Leon's murder was the result of a hate crime.
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Speaker 3: Arlene has received multiple calls and email from folks saying
14:01
Speaker 3: they heard one member of this group bragg at parties
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Speaker 3: about killing Leon, saying that he killed Leon because Leon
14:09
Speaker 3: was quote fucking my brother. The people who reported this
14:14
Speaker 3: to Arlene also said they reported it to the Brown
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Speaker 3: County Sheriff's office, but never received a follow up call.
14:23
Speaker 3: Days before the release of our original part one, in
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Speaker 3: May of twenty twenty one, Arlene's cousin came to her
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Speaker 3: with something she'd never heard before.
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Speaker 2: I did have an interesting call the other day from
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Speaker 2: a cousin, my mom's second cousins and my third cousin
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Speaker 2: that was about the same age as Leon, and I mean,
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Speaker 2: I haven't seen him like in twenty years or whateverybody
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Speaker 2: called me and said that he had some information for
14:51
Speaker 2: me that he's tried to tell the police, but nobody
14:55
Speaker 2: ever listens to him. And he said that he had
14:59
Speaker 2: just gotten out of jail and he was at a
15:01
Speaker 2: halfway house in Brownwood, like sixty days prior to this happened,
15:05
Speaker 2: so him and Leon would hang out. Sometimes Leon would
15:08
Speaker 2: go visit him at the halfway house. And one day
15:10
Speaker 2: he was driving down past Kroger where Leon worked and
15:13
Speaker 2: saw Leon's car across the street, so he pulled into
15:17
Speaker 2: the parking lot. He said, he thought it was like
15:19
Speaker 2: a hasting store at the time, but we're not sure.
15:22
Speaker 2: But he asked Leon, what are you doing? And Leon said, well,
15:25
Speaker 2: I'm waiting for my girlfriend to come out of work. Girlfriend,
15:29
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe just a friend. I'm not sure anyway,
15:32
Speaker 2: So my cousin asked him, why are you parked out here?
15:35
Speaker 2: Why aren't you parked at Kroger? He said because the
15:39
Speaker 2: girl's dad is a highway patrol man and he doesn't
15:43
Speaker 2: like Leon, and he told them he would kill him
15:46
Speaker 2: if he ever saw him with his daughter. I was
15:50
Speaker 2: like done, and like, why have I never heard this?
15:53
Speaker 2: Why haven't you told anybody? And he said that two
15:58
Speaker 2: investigators went to behalf of White House a day or
16:01
Speaker 2: two after Leon was murdered and questioned him, and so
16:06
Speaker 2: he told him about this, and they kind of just
16:10
Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, okay, sure whatever. He's like,
16:14
Speaker 2: I don't even know how they knew I was there
16:17
Speaker 2: or why they were questioning me or anything. And I'm like,
16:22
Speaker 2: who were they? He said, I don't know. They just
16:24
Speaker 2: said they were investigators. They're not police. Like, it's not
16:28
Speaker 2: the police that was investigating, because it was, you know,
16:32
Speaker 2: out of city limits. It was the sheriffs and the
16:34
Speaker 2: Texas Rangers that were doing the investigation on this. Well,
16:38
Speaker 2: he doesn't know who they were. But a couple of
16:41
Speaker 2: days before Leon was killed, he was driving again, because
16:45
Speaker 2: you know, that's just what we do in small towns.
16:49
Speaker 2: He saw Leon at the park talking to a man
16:52
Speaker 2: in a red car, So you had to go a
16:56
Speaker 2: little bit distanced in order to turn around because he
16:59
Speaker 2: was going to go see Leon at the park. And
17:01
Speaker 2: when he did that, the guy in the red car
17:05
Speaker 2: was at the stop sign directly across the street from
17:08
Speaker 2: where he was. At the stop sign, he said, he
17:11
Speaker 2: pointed at the guy just to let him know, I know,
17:13
Speaker 2: I see you, and you know, so they had to
17:17
Speaker 2: go on. He drove forward, and again he had to
17:20
Speaker 2: go a little ways in order to turn around. He said.
17:22
Speaker 2: By the time he turned around because he was going
17:24
Speaker 2: to follow the guy in the red car, that those
17:27
Speaker 2: two investigators stopped him, but they only spoke to him
17:30
Speaker 2: for a few minutes and let him go. So he
17:34
Speaker 2: went back to the park and asked, then, who is
17:36
Speaker 2: that guy? And Leon said, Oh, he's a doctor. He's
17:39
Speaker 2: a friend of mine. He works at the hospital here.
17:43
Speaker 2: He doesn't remember her name, though, so he said. He
17:47
Speaker 2: tried to call the investigators many, many, many times. They
17:51
Speaker 2: would not answer him. He would leave messages to have
17:54
Speaker 2: them call him back, and they never returned his call.
17:57
Speaker 3: There is a belief that because Leon wasn't completely out
18:01
Speaker 3: of the closet, he used the term girlfriend instead of boyfriend,
18:06
Speaker 3: and perhaps Arlene's cousin was mistaken about the friend being
18:10
Speaker 3: the offspring of highway patrol. According to Texas Ranger Jason Say,
18:15
Speaker 3: the main suspect in Leon's murder died by suicide years ago.
18:20
Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen. The son of the man who was
18:23
Speaker 3: sheriff at the time of Leon's death took his own life.
18:28
Speaker 3: Ranger Say also suggested there were known witnesses, but said
18:33
Speaker 3: they were intoxicated and could not remember anything. The theories
18:38
Speaker 3: that can be reached from what Arlene's cousin told her
18:40
Speaker 3: are numerous, and perhaps a big piece of the puzzle,
18:44
Speaker 3: but apparently authorities did not seem receptive to the information.
18:49
Speaker 3: Speaking of puzzles, that the cases a jigsaw puzzle with
18:53
Speaker 3: multiple pieces. Is the Brown County Sheriff's department go to
18:57
Speaker 3: line when speaking to the press about the murder of
18:59
Speaker 3: life Leon Lorellis. That's what former Texas Ranger turned Brown
19:04
Speaker 3: County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs called the case. In May of
19:07
Speaker 3: two thousand and seven when he told the Brownwood Bulletin
19:10
Speaker 3: that they had several persons of interest that they wanted
19:13
Speaker 3: to either eliminate or move forward with investigating more closely.
19:19
Speaker 3: They set all of that again in two thousand and eight.
19:22
Speaker 3: Again we were told the motive the Brown County Sheriff's
19:25
Speaker 3: Department likes the most is the Leon saw something he
19:29
Speaker 3: shouldn't have and had to be silenced as a result. Motive.
19:34
Speaker 3: We were also told that that particular motive, as well
19:37
Speaker 3: as motives involving drug deals gone bad, are favorites of
19:41
Speaker 3: area law enforcement, particularly when dealing with unsolved crimes. After
19:47
Speaker 3: his autopsy and the subsequent reports were released, Leon's toxicology
19:52
Speaker 3: screening came back clean, But then Texas Ranger Bobby Grubbs
19:57
Speaker 3: had jumped the gun. Unclear why, but Leon's coworkers reported
20:03
Speaker 3: that Ranger Grubbs came into the Kroger store in the
20:05
Speaker 3: early morning hours after Leon was killed. As he questioned them.
20:10
Speaker 3: He pushed the coworkers hard to corroborate some sort of
20:14
Speaker 3: drug involvement in the crime, though again, no evidence that
20:18
Speaker 3: proves or even suggests Leon was involved with drugs exists.
20:34
Speaker 3: If there has been any progress made in the investigation
20:38
Speaker 3: of the murder of Leon Larellis, the cops are keeping
20:41
Speaker 3: it close to the chest, as they have kept virtually
20:44
Speaker 3: every detail of the case from the get go. It's
20:48
Speaker 3: unknown what happened to Leon's nineteen eighty eight black Ford
20:52
Speaker 3: Thunderbird Arlene told us the question of the driver's seat
20:56
Speaker 3: position is particularly relevant since Leon was a large man,
21:01
Speaker 3: he drove with the seat all the way back and reclined.
21:05
Speaker 3: Family does not know if the seat was in that
21:08
Speaker 3: position after it was found burning, nor did they know
21:11
Speaker 3: if the police took note of that, but the detail
21:14
Speaker 3: is a crucial one. While it is unknown if Leon
21:18
Speaker 3: drove his own car to his own slaying, it seems
21:21
Speaker 3: perfectly clear that he was forced or tricked since he
21:25
Speaker 3: didn't go into work at Kroger to tell them he
21:28
Speaker 3: had something to do, and he'd either be late or
21:31
Speaker 3: needed to skip his shift entirely. There is an incredibly
21:35
Speaker 3: unfortunate belief by some members of Leon's family, as well
21:39
Speaker 3: as Brown County locals, concerning the police's investigation. One of
21:44
Speaker 3: Leon's relatives told us they disagreed with other family members
21:49
Speaker 3: that Leon's murder has been covered up. He chalked up
21:52
Speaker 3: the failure to solve the case as law enforcement's general
21:56
Speaker 3: attitude toward it. The Brown County Sheriff's office was hesitant
22:00
Speaker 3: to pursue the case aggressively, this family member said, perhaps
22:04
Speaker 3: due to the notion that Leon's slang was a hate crime.
22:09
Speaker 3: The fact that Leon was gay, this relative believes, was
22:13
Speaker 3: enough for the Sheriff's office to work the case less
22:16
Speaker 3: than diligently. Late Brownwood business owner and activist Steve Harris
22:21
Speaker 3: believes that local law enforcement dropped the ball in Leon's
22:25
Speaker 3: case and in other crimes in Brownwood and Brown County.
22:31
Speaker 1: You'd almost have to be crazy to think that these
22:33
Speaker 1: people would get justice. I mean, seriously, the only time
22:38
Speaker 1: I've ever seen justice happen is when people rise up
22:41
Speaker 1: and demand that bad apples be called out of the system.
22:46
Speaker 1: And I spoke with the police lieutenant police chiefs the
22:50
Speaker 1: other day about in another situation that's going on right
22:54
Speaker 1: now in Brownwood, and he talked about how many bad
22:57
Speaker 1: apples they've had to get rid of out of the
22:59
Speaker 1: police department. There have been five different sheriffs in the
23:04
Speaker 1: sheriff's department since Leon's murder. All of them, from what
23:08
Speaker 1: I understand, val that it was important, you know, to
23:11
Speaker 1: solve his death. Yet nothing, And again I'll say, I
23:17
Speaker 1: believe the only way justice is going to come for
23:19
Speaker 1: these victims in Brownwood, Texas, in Brown County, Texas is
23:23
Speaker 1: for outsiders. Bring in the big guns, the federal, FBI,
23:29
Speaker 1: and what other agencies can. I believe that's the only
23:33
Speaker 1: way these victims are in this community, actually not only
23:37
Speaker 1: the victims, but the families and the community are going
23:40
Speaker 1: to get justice is by outsiders. I don't believe those
23:44
Speaker 1: who are in the system here are capable or are
23:47
Speaker 1: willing to get the justice. And I don't know how
23:51
Speaker 1: long you have to wait, but when you have all
23:54
Speaker 1: these murders on the books that are insolved, that are
23:57
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five thirty years old. How long is a
24:00
Speaker 1: community going to have to.
24:01
Speaker 3: Wait lending credence to the notion of some sort of
24:06
Speaker 3: cover up. Perhaps is the experience that private investigator William C.
24:11
Speaker 3: Deer had when Leon's family hired him to work the case.
24:16
Speaker 3: Deer is a relatively famous fixture in Texas, if not nationally,
24:21
Speaker 3: for his work on several high profile cases, including the
24:25
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty seven poisoning murder of wax Museum heiress Patsy Wright,
24:30
Speaker 3: his involvement with the exhumation of Lee Harvey Oswald's body,
24:34
Speaker 3: and his own investigation into the murder of Nicole Brown
24:38
Speaker 3: Simpson in California. Deer apparently began working on Leon Lorellis's
24:44
Speaker 3: murder case and instead of answers, found nothing but a
24:47
Speaker 3: tight lipped citizenry in Brownwood and what he called corruption
24:52
Speaker 3: in area law enforcement. He quit the case as a result.
24:58
Speaker 3: We reached out to William C. Deer, but didn't hear back.
25:03
Speaker 3: It is known that Leon's Bell's Department store credit card
25:07
Speaker 3: was used after his death, but by the time Sheriff's
25:11
Speaker 3: Office investigators went looking for surveillance footage, there was none.
25:16
Speaker 3: Even though Leon was known for his generosity, often buying
25:20
Speaker 3: gifts for friends and even allowing them to use his
25:23
Speaker 3: Bell's Department store credit card if they needed something. A
25:27
Speaker 3: robbery motive alone doesn't make sense. Leon was a working
25:31
Speaker 3: class guy. Even those who barely knew Leon were touched
25:37
Speaker 3: by his kindness and moved to tears by his murder,
25:41
Speaker 3: even after all this time. Like Steve Harris, I.
25:45
Speaker 1: Hate that Leon didn't get to experience the love and
25:52
Speaker 1: the relationship that I have been able to experience. For
25:58
Speaker 1: whatever reason, that he was mark as a gay man
26:02
Speaker 1: and he wasn't able to have that joy and to
26:06
Speaker 1: have people that loved him surround him, and that I
26:10
Speaker 1: have never really thought about it until now. That's heartbreaking.
26:15
Speaker 1: That he was taken so young. It is heartbreaking. I
26:21
Speaker 1: never haven't really thought about it in that way until now.
26:26
Speaker 1: It's tragic, will matter, But when you reflect on your
26:31
Speaker 1: life and you know of someone who was struggling but
26:37
Speaker 1: yet was strong and is no longer with us, and
26:41
Speaker 1: the possibility that he's no longer with us is because
26:43
Speaker 1: he was strong and that was a threat to someone.
26:47
Speaker 1: That's heartbreaking.
26:49
Speaker 3: On May fifteenth, twenty twenty one, the day before the
26:52
Speaker 3: original recording of this episode was released, Leon's niece and
26:57
Speaker 3: best friend, Arlene, gathered family at the site where Leon
27:01
Speaker 3: was killed. Family members emotionally and tearfully read poems they'd
27:06
Speaker 3: written in tribute to Leon. The memorial was streamed on
27:10
Speaker 3: Facebook Live and was both beautiful and devastatingly heartbreaking. There
27:16
Speaker 3: have been celebrations of Leon's life every year since. In Brownwood.
27:22
Speaker 3: The nonprofit Season of Justice helped Arlene get a billboard
27:26
Speaker 3: up in high traffic areas around Brownwood from September twenty
27:30
Speaker 3: twenty two to November of twenty twenty three. It's unclear
27:34
Speaker 3: if the billboard generated any new leads. Someone in Brown
27:40
Speaker 3: County knows what happened to Leon Lorellis, and how that
27:44
Speaker 3: someone can see a family member in such pain and
27:47
Speaker 3: not speak up is unconscionable. Leon's family is still in
27:52
Speaker 3: brutal anguish over his death twenty nine years ago at
27:56
Speaker 3: the time of this recording, His niece, Arlene, with whom
28:00
Speaker 3: he was close, is desperate for answers, for at least
28:04
Speaker 3: some ability to move forward by getting justice for her
28:08
Speaker 3: beloved uncle Leon, her best friend, the gentle Giant. She's
28:13
Speaker 3: made her life's mission to raise awareness and though it's
28:16
Speaker 3: difficult emotionally. Arlene continues that mission today.
28:21
Speaker 4: I don't understand how anybody could ever be mad at him,
28:25
Speaker 4: let alone want to kill him. He was always buying
28:29
Speaker 4: gifts for his friends, letting them know, use his bells,
28:33
Speaker 4: card or whatever.
28:35
Speaker 2: Taking him out to lunch. He was just always given.
28:39
Speaker 4: Even though he didn't even have that much money, he
28:41
Speaker 4: would spend it on everyone else.
28:45
Speaker 2: That is the type of person he was, is very kind,
28:49
Speaker 2: very trusting. Basically, I want people to know just what
28:53
Speaker 2: a wonderful person he was, that he didn't deserve this,
28:57
Speaker 2: and I'm begging people know anything to please speak up now.
29:03
Speaker 2: My heart's being broken for twenty five years now. I
29:08
Speaker 2: missed him all the time. They'll be like a song
29:10
Speaker 2: or something that reminds me, or I'll make one of
29:13
Speaker 2: his with recipes because I don't know if I told
29:15
Speaker 2: you that, but he was an amazing cook. So I mean,
29:20
Speaker 2: there's things that remind me, and it just it brings
29:23
Speaker 2: me to tears every single time because I still miss him,
29:25
Speaker 2: because I know that he would be right here next
29:28
Speaker 2: to me, you know, playing with my grandkids if he could,
29:33
Speaker 2: and he was always there for me.
29:36
Speaker 4: He was there for everyone so the fact that somebody
29:39
Speaker 4: could do this to him, I just don't understand, and
29:43
Speaker 4: it's just left a big old.
29:45
Speaker 2: Hole in my heart. You know, it's not going to
29:48
Speaker 2: change anything if we find who did this, but I
29:51
Speaker 2: feel like he deserves justice because he was an amazing
29:56
Speaker 2: person and what they did to him was still wrong
30:00
Speaker 2: and I need to pay for it. Everybody was deeply
30:04
Speaker 2: impacted by it, and I think more so for my
30:08
Speaker 2: uncle that he was living with, because you know, he
30:12
Speaker 2: was used to seeing him there every day. I don't
30:16
Speaker 2: know for a fact, but I feel like I'm the
30:18
Speaker 2: one that has been impacted the most because I was
30:22
Speaker 2: so close to him, and our family.
30:25
Speaker 4: Is you know, we don't talk about feelings, we don't
30:29
Speaker 4: talk about bad stuff, so we never really did talk
30:32
Speaker 4: about it except for when I would, you know, ask
30:35
Speaker 4: my uncle, has he had.
30:36
Speaker 2: Any updates, have you heard anything, you know, stuff like that.
30:41
Speaker 2: Now he only has a one brother and one sister,
30:44
Speaker 2: which is my mom that's left in the family. So
30:48
Speaker 2: I'm the one that's still here fighting fighting for justice
30:52
Speaker 2: for him.
30:55
Speaker 3: If you are able your presence at common Grounds Coffeehouse,
30:59
Speaker 3: located at eight zero nine Main Street in Brownwood, Texas,
31:03
Speaker 3: on May thirty first, twenty twenty five would be much appreciated.
31:08
Speaker 3: Leon Lorellis's Memorial Party is a three hour event that
31:12
Speaker 3: runs from eleven am to two pm that day. If
31:17
Speaker 3: you have any information about the murder of Juan Leon Lorellis,
31:22
Speaker 3: please contact the Brown County Sheriff's Office at three two
31:26
Speaker 3: five six four six five point five one zero. We'd
31:31
Speaker 3: like to thank the incredible folks who contributed to this episode, Arlene,
31:36
Speaker 3: Steve Harris, and John O. Latino. Also be sure to
31:40
Speaker 3: check out the podcast box in the basement for our
31:43
Speaker 3: Len's very personal and moving episodes about Leon. If you'd
31:50
Speaker 3: like to join Con Cold's mission to shine a light
31:52
Speaker 3: on unsolved homicides and missing persons cases, get the show
31:56
Speaker 3: at free and have access to bonus content. You can
32:00
Speaker 3: at Patreon dot com slash Gone Cold podcast. You can
32:05
Speaker 3: also support the show by leaving a five star rating
32:08
Speaker 3: and written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you listen.
32:13
Speaker 3: However you choose to support Gone Cold, we appreciate you.
32:18
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening, y'all.