"Now, almost a decade after Brenda Leon's death, Contra Costa prosecutors say her children were right; that it wasn't a suicide after all. The suspect is 66-year-old Michael Anthony Leon, Brenda's husband of 33 years who billed himself as a doer, not a talker, when he ran for mayor in 2012. Now Michael Leon is behind bars, scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, facing charges of murdering his wife with a gun, which carries 50 years to life in prison."
"The DA's news release says authorities "uncovered previously unknown digital evidence and new factual details that were central to the decision to file charges." A 2024 court filing from Leon's wrongful death lawsuit says that the DA's cold case unit was on the trail back then, and served a search warrant on "electronics" that provided new leads. The premise of the wrongful death suit was simple. Leon's children alleged that the killer "forged a suicide note and falsified evidence at the scene of the killing and suppressed evidence and information that would allow" police to identify the killer."
Brenda Joyce Leon died in 2015 from a gunshot wound; police initially ruled the death a suicide after finding a firearm and a note. Her obituary named her husband, Michael Anthony Leon, who had run for Antioch mayor in 2012. In 2021 Leon's children filed a wrongful death suit alleging a forged suicide note and staged evidence. Contra Costa District Attorney cold case investigators obtained electronics, uncovered previously unknown digital evidence and new factual details, and charged Michael Leon with murder; the charge carries 50 years to life.
Read at The Mercury News
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