S6 E4 - "HE was my everything" - Justice for Juan Leon Laureles - A Nefarious Nightmare - True Crime

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And the Faiious Nightmare contains themes thatmay be explicit or triggering. For some
specific warnings and disclaimers will be mentionedin the show notes. And the Fairious
Nightmare assumes all parties that are mentionedin these cases to be innocent unless proven
guilty in the court of law.A listener discretion is strongly advised. You
can help us grow the show byleaving us a five star written review on

(00:20):
Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or youcan join our patreon for light hearted bonus
content with this Welcome to season sixon Leon Loureles was a kind, sweet
and quiet thirty year old living inCentral Texas when or on around May tenth,

(00:40):
nineteen ninety six, he was murderedhis car set on fire, all
believed to be a hate crime.In the days prior to his murder,
Leon confided in coworkers that he wasbeing harassed in stalk. To this very
day, his niece, Arlene Harper, has been very vocal in trying to

(01:02):
get his story told and to getjustice enclosure in the case of his murder.
Was it perpetrated by those who hatedhim because he was different? Were
the police aware and involved? Whycan't Arlene be shown an official autopsy report?
And where is all the media coverageon Leon Lorells? We attempt to
figure out the answers and more.In today's case, I'm Courtney Fenner and

(01:26):
I'm Amanda Cronin and a Nefarious Nightmarepresents he was My everything? Justice for
Juan Leon Loreles. Before we getinto this, I want to tell I

(02:02):
guess a relatable story about my ownuncle, Robert Bob Sharer. My uncle
Bob was not related to myself ormy sister by blood, but he was
even closer to us than our ownfamily most of our lives. My mom
moved us to Guthrie, Oklahoma forabout half a year for a job my
dad had gotten. This was backaround when I was like five and my

(02:24):
sister was three, and my dadwas absent in his own affairs and we
just never saw him. We wereseverely destitute, alone, living in horrific
conditions in a house that felt likeit would implode at any given moment,
and knowing this and being pissed atmy dad for not being present the entire
time, my uncle Bob would stealhis mom's credit cards road trip at to

(02:46):
Guthrie and fill our fridge with food, our closets with clothes, and our
toy boxes with dolls. Uncle Bobwould pick my sister and I up from
school early on the days that wereparticularly rough. I mean I was bullied
throughout my entire elementary years, andhe'd take a swimming out to this place
in Richardson called Sugarless Delight. It'sa local business and they sold sugar free

(03:08):
treats that we never could tell thatthey were even sugar free, or to
Disney movies in the theater we sawthe likes of Cinderella and the Little Mermaid.
And he'd always drive us through BurgerKing or McDonald's to get kids meals.
I remember being in the third gradeand he decided to perm my hair.
He gave me a perm and Ihonestly hated it, but he really

(03:30):
tried to make me an on trendlittle third grader at that time and attempted
to get me out of the spotlightof bullies. Our fondest memories of him
were held between nineteen eighty eight anduntil nineteen ninety five, and we had
no idea the entire time that hewas a gay man. We didn't care.
It was something my mom had cleverlyavoided explaining to us until just before

(03:53):
he had passed away due to complicationsfrom AIDS, which is the virus that's
caused by HIV. Back then,we didn't understand homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic
and the stigma's attached to it.All of it was just running rampant.
So with all of the love,there was also a lot of confusion,
ignorance, and fear. But withthat, my uncle Bob, who I

(04:15):
miss and think of to this veryday, was one of those people who
shaped me to be the individual Iam today, who's especially present when I'm
at events such as Pride or whenI advocate for those who are persecuted for
being different in any form. Thereason why I'm remembering my uncle at this
moment is while speaking with Arlene,she talks of her beloved uncle, Juan

(04:40):
Leon Lorellis, who was taken fromthis earth under different circumstances, but listening
to his story seemed to have broughtmy own uncle back to life. If
for just a moment, it wasas though my uncle was sitting right next
to me, and I feel reallydeep within my heart that my uncle Bob
and Leon would have been the bestof friends. So rest in peace,
Uncle Bob, and rest in peaceand injustice, Leon Loreles. Last week

(05:06):
we concluded the multi part series surroundingMariah Gordon, who was seeking justice for
Willow, who had her life stolenfrom her by the hands of a monster
who does not even deserve the honorarytitle of father. We are going to
travel about one hundred and eighty sixmiles north of San Antonio, where that

(05:28):
horrific crime occurred, and about twentyseven years back in time to Brownwood,
Texas, which is a small,conservative and predominantly Christian town in central Texas.
One thing Brownwood is known for isthat it was once home to the
largest military training center in Texas calledCamp Bowie. This was around during World

(05:50):
War Two, but was shut downshortly after the war ended. Another known
and unfortunate fact about Brownwood is thatit is at the very least home to
several allies of white supremacy groups.In fact, according to The Washington Post,
in just four years prior to themurder of Juan Leon Loorellis, a

(06:12):
well known white supremacist group, planneda rally in Brownwood on the front steps
of a courthouse. There were manythat were angered that these individuals were given
a permit to actually hold a rally, but nonetheless, it is a testament
to the fact that this hate grouphad some friends that are quote unquote higher
up who did them favors. Fortunately, many held a counter rally, including

(06:36):
the predominantly black Greater Faith Community Church, to which the clan felt inspired to
add a cross lighting, which iswhere they light a big cross on fire.
It's been said that the invitation extendedto the clan had come from several
local businesses. It's also believed thatthe white supremacist group also had ties to

(06:57):
law enforcement, which has since beendenied, but Leon's niece Arlene, who
we will be hearing from in justa minute, believes it to be true.
She describes Leon as a reserved individualwith endearing laugh that brightened his whole
face. Leon was a caregiver muchof his life and enjoyed both cooking and

(07:18):
dancing. He also deeply cherished hisfamily and closest friends. He was known
as a gentle giant, shy butsweet. His memory would remain in the
hearts of many acquaintances, co workersand family members to this very day.

(07:38):
With all of this being said,we're going to give the floor to Arlene
Harbison, who's Leon's niece. Pleaselisten, remember him as the wonderful individual
as he was, and please continueto keep his memory alive as we have
a particular call to action after wehear from her. My name is Arlene
Harbison. I am the niece ofLeon Lorellis. I'm proud to say that

(08:03):
I'm a mother of three sons andI have five grandchildren that are my entire
world and my life. Basically it'sabout them and making them happy, making
great memories, just spending as muchtime with them as I can. I
guess from you know, having theloss of Leon has taught me to cherish

(08:28):
those moments and to make sure Isay I love you as much as possible.
I feel like I didn't get thatchance with Leon, and so I've
regretted it my whole life, andI'm not going to do the same thing
with my grandchildren. I you know, I spend a lot of time with
my grandchildren, but I also liketo do crafting. I like to do

(08:50):
you know, reading and some artwork, and I'm just kind of a
simple person, you know, Iwas really growing up. So as I
get older, I do tend tohave the ability to go and meet new
people, which before I was alwaysscared, but I can do that now.

(09:11):
And I've really enjoyed meeting a lotof the podcasters that have I've you
know, reached out to. Ilove meeting them and they are such wonderful
people and they've become like family tome. I'm also the type of person
that I cannot see somebody in needand not stop and ask if I can

(09:33):
do anything for them. And mywhole family knows this about me. You
know, if I see a homelessperson or somebody in need, I'm going
to stop and I'm going to askthem what I can do to help them.
And I've brought up my kids thatway, and my grandchildren. They
help me pack up blessing bags andI make sure everyone has them in their
cars, and in the holidays,we go out and pass those out along

(09:58):
with blankets, you know, Beanie'sgloves that kind of stuff in the wintertime,
and handwarmers. And that's just thetype of person that I want to
help as many people as I possiblycan. And that's just who I am.
As a person, and Leon wasexactly the same way. He was
the type of person that you neverhad to ask him for help. He

(10:20):
could just know and sense it andhe would be right there to help you
with anything, no questions asked.And he was such a giving person.
He took care of his elderly parentswhen they were sick. He took care
of me from the day I wasborn. He helped me raise my children,

(10:41):
and he was always helping his friendsand co workers and even down to
the customers have told me how muchthey loved him because he was so kind
and so friendly, and you know, it was just a very gentle soul.
And I think he passed that alongto me, and I wanted to
pass it up along to my childrenas well. He was two and a

(11:03):
half years older than me. Hewas my uncle. I never really thought
of him as my uncle. Hewas just more of like my best friend,
my protector, just always there forme. It wasn't like a niece
and uncle type of situation. Maybemore like a brother, but I'd say
even closer than that, because wedid spend a lot of time together.

(11:28):
He worked at a local grocery storecalled Kroger. He started working there at
the graveyard shift because he would takecare of my children during the day while
I worked, and that he juststayed on that shift after my kids got
older. But every coworker has reachedout and said how much they loved him

(11:48):
and how wonderful he was, andeven customers too, Like I said,
so, I mean, yeah,that is a testament like to who he
was. This happened on May tenth, nineteen ninety six, so just a
little over twenty seven years ago.I believe that Leon was the type of
person that he was a little naivebecause we grew up in a very small,

(12:11):
conservative Catholic town, so we didn'tthere's a lot of things we weren't
aware of, so he was naive, and he was also like a peeper
pleaser. So I feel like peopletook advantage of that. And I don't
think it's anything that he brought onhimself. It just happened that some person

(12:33):
disliked him for whatever reason, andthat could be because he was gay.
It could also be because he wasHispanic. This town that we lived in,
in Brownwood, was very very racistand homophobic, and so it could
be it could possibly be a hatecrime. So I don't think it was
anything he did to cause this.Yeah, it was just something that well,

(13:00):
honestly, what I believe is thatbecause he got threatened two weeks prior
to this by a state trooper sayingthat he ever caught Leon with his son,
that he would kill him because Leonwas gay, I think they assumed
that anybody he hung around with washe was going to turn them gay or

(13:22):
whatever. And so both the sheriff'sson and the state trooper son were friends
with Leon, and Leon did mentionthat he was having people threatening him and
he didn't know why, though,so I leaned towards the possibility that it
was a hate crime, you know, could it have possibly been something he

(13:45):
did, because that was the firstthing that the Texas Ranger he was in
charge of the investigation, that hetried to tell everyone that Leon was dealing
drugs and so he did this tohimself. But everyone he spoke to said
absolutely not. Leon was not doingthat and he was not that kind of

(14:07):
person and that's not true. Andthey kept trying to push that narrative,
but everyone said no. So thenwhen they were trying to speak to him
and explain why that was impossible,he would just walk off, and so
they did try to make it seemlike it was something he did to cause
this, but when that wasn't working, then they did turn into it could

(14:33):
have possibly been a hate crime.Then later they turned around and said they
don't have hate crimes in Brownwi,Texas. So I'm like really sure.
Our sheriff's department there was involved,very big into the what they were KKK
back then now white supremacists whatever,And to this day they're still trying to

(14:56):
recruit people. They try to recruita police officer and he reported them.
Of course he got fired, butthey are still to this day trying to
recruit people like that. So notonly was Leon gay, but he was
Hispanic too, So you know,he was just hated for who he was,
not anything that he did. Becauselast year they tried to have a

(15:18):
Pride parade and there was a gentlemanthat was trying to do a documentary on
it, and you know, youhave to get permission from the sheriff's department,
and he actually recorded them saying alot of not just racist things,
but about gay people, like theyjust all need to die and they're not
gonna They're not welcome in their townand things like that, and it was

(15:41):
recorded and this was last year,so sad. I can only imagine how
hard it was for Leon back then. You know, It's just because we
were brought up Catholic, we neverspoke of it. He never came out
to the family, but because Iwas close to him, I knew.

(16:02):
It's just we didn't talk about it. I just knew. And at this
time of his life, he didn'thave to take care of anyone, so
he was starting to live for himself, and he started going out, and
he started meeting people, and hestarted dating and then this happened. So
it makes me really sad because hedidn't get to enjoy the things that everyone

(16:26):
else gets to enjoy, falling inlove and getting married, having children and
things like that when he was juststarting his life. I kind of do
want to add. Like the personthat was there at work, she saw
Leon pull into the parking lot becausehe always arrived early so that he could,

(16:48):
you know, just talk to hiscoworkers and you know, chat a
little bit before his work, andshe did see him. She noticed that
he had not parked in his usualbecause there was another vehicle there, but
she didn't take notice of the vehicle. You know, it's one of those
things you just don't think it's importantat the time. Because he was there

(17:11):
early all the time, around elevenforty eleven forty five, and he would
chat with people. She thought thatshe may have missed him coming in and
he was just talking with somebody.But when twelve am came and she hadn't
seen them, she was immediately concernedand looked out the window and his car
was not there anymore. And that'swhen she called Leon's brother that he was

(17:33):
living with. And so my uncleGeorge drove the route that Leon goes just
to see if maybe something happened,if with his car whatever. He went
all the way to Kroger, wentback home, and when he got back
home, the coworker called him andsaid that there was another nine one one

(17:53):
callar calling about a car accident onthat deserted road where Leon was found.
And she saw the fire truck passby at that moment, but again they
just thought it was a car accident. They didn't know that it was Leon's
car at the time. And shehas felt tremendous guilt because she wished that

(18:18):
she had paid more attention to thatother vehicle, or that she had noticed
him sooner that he wasn't in thestore, And I just tell her,
you know, you have nothing tofeel guilty about. You didn't know this
was going to happen. But it'speople like that, like she couldn't talk
about Leon for years because she feltso much guilt, just as I felt

(18:42):
guilt that I saw him at theparking lot of my job that day and
I didn't go back in to talkto him. I've held that regret so
deeply for so long. You know, it's one of those things. Didn't
you just think you'll see him tomorrowand tomorrow doesn't come, and you didn't

(19:03):
get to talk to him that onelast time, And that guilt has eaten
up, eaten at me forever,and until recently somebody asked me, like,
well, would he have gone intothe store and not talk to you?
Absolutely not. He came to visitme twice a week every week,
and I worked close to the frontdoor, so he would not have come

(19:25):
in and not talked to me.So I don't think that he was in
the store. We don't know ifhe had been like you know, approached
there at the parking lot and takensomewhere because he wasn't in the store,
and they were like, you can'tfeel guilty because he wasn't there. Even
if you had gone back in,you wouldn't have found him. And it

(19:47):
wasn't until then that I could feela little bit more peace with that guilt.
As far as me seeing a redflags, no, I didn't because
I knew that Leon was starting togo out and I just wanted him to
enjoy his new life and I didn'tpry. I also was like a single

(20:07):
parent with three boys and a fulltime job. I was just trying to
get through my life, you know. But he did mention two days prior
that the Gatlin brothers were after himand he was really scared. She didn't

(20:29):
let the other the rest of thefamily know, so we didn't know about
this until after. The cousin thatLeon told the state trooper said I will
kill you if I see you withmy son. He didn't come forward until
afterwards either, And then he didtell a coworker that there were people harassing
him and after him, but hedidn't know why. So there's there's there's

(20:53):
people that he did tell and Ididn't know about it. So you know,
it's one of those things that youdon't know how serious it is until
after. But if I had heardit, I would have known that Leon's
not the type of person that talksabout no problems or anything like that,

(21:15):
and so if he was mentioning it, it was serious and he was really
scared, but I wasn't aware ofit at the time. The Gatlin brothers
are two young guys that were dealingdrugs at the time, and they're also
well known as people that are notgood people. They you know, deal

(21:38):
drugs, have guns, hurt people, and things like that, but they've
never really gotten in trouble for anyof those things. They still live there
to this day, and that's whypeople are afraid of them and don't speak
up because they are afraid of thosepeople. I feel like Leon probably met

(22:00):
them at some party he went to, because you know, back then in
a small town, you usually partiedlike out at the park or the lake
or something like that because we didn'thave clubs. So I feel like they
may have met him there, andif they found out that he was gay,
that could be a reason why theyhated him, because the younger brother

(22:22):
was very, very homophobic and everyonewill tell you that. And so I
feel like, you know, thatcould possibly be the reason did they chose
to do this, But because itwas so well organized, I don't believe
they are the ones that orchestrated it. They just you know, were there
to perform the act. And andI feel that the sheriff himself had something

(22:51):
to do with this because his sonwent into the grocery store that night looking
for Lee on like frantically looking forLeon. He had never been in there
before, He had never been lookingfor Leon before. I feel that maybe
he was there to warn Leon orto see if Leon was okay. Also,

(23:15):
the sheriff's truck was seen behind Leon'scar out there on that road where
he was found. That truck disappearedright after. Not only that, there
was nine years before, there wasa thirteen year old girl that was executed
the same way, thown on theside of the road. She was seen

(23:37):
getting into that same pickup right beforeshe was killed. Honestly, I don't
remember a whole lot because it wasjust so traumatic that I feel that my
mind has, you know, protectedme by blocking some things out. Son

(24:00):
remember a whole lot. I remembergetting the phone call around two am.
And my cousin just saying Leon's dead, and it's one of those things like
you don't think you're understanding correctly,so you say what and before she could
finish saying it again, I rememberjust falling to the ground, dropping the

(24:22):
phone and just yelling no, no, no no. I don't remember exactly
what happened after that. I don'tremember getting dressed. I don't remember what
I do with my kids. Idon't remember driving out there. But the
next thing I remember is being outsidethe Sheriff's department in the middle of the
night, me, my aunt,and my mom, My uncle. George

(24:45):
was the only one that they wouldspeak to, so the rest of us
just stood outside for hours and theywouldn't tell us anything. So I didn't
know exactly what happened, just thathe was shot. And I remember when
daylight broke someone mentioned that it wasin the newspaper, and I was really
angry because they hadn't yet told usthat he was executed. They just said

(25:10):
he was shot, and I wasso angry I literally drove there and went
inside and just started yelling at them, like this on Leon's family, how
dare you put this in the paperbefore they even tell us this. You
know, they were just staring atme. They didn't know what to do

(25:30):
about me. But I was justso upset that everyone knows and we hadn't
found out yet, and I don'tknow what I expected them to do.
I was I didn't know what Iwas doing myself. I just, you
know, was angry about that becausewe hadn't been told. So that's how
I found out that he was executed. We were told that his car was

(25:53):
set on fire, so they said, due to the fire and the water
damage, that there would be noapp so they immediately removed the car and
took it to the junkyard and destroyedit. So there's no evidence, you
know, they didn't preserve anything.The sheriff himself had recused himself that very

(26:15):
night, yet the next day inthe newspaper, he's standing there with all
of the other deputies, literally onthe spot where Leon's body lay. No
booties, no gloves, no evidencebags. The owner of that property is
standing there and they're just chatting awayand laughing. And I feel that there

(26:38):
was no collection of evidence. Itwas a preserved that the site was not
preserved. And I don't know whatthey did, but for years after you
could still see the black spot onthe ground where Leon's car had burned,
and it was it was like blackburned because it was so much Excel aren't

(27:00):
used, so there was really nothing. But you know, I mean,
I just wanted to know maybe theposition of the seat would tell you if
Leon drove his car there, becauseLeon was a big person and he had
a seat all the way back andreclined, and these guys were short,
so if they had driven the car, it would have been in a different

(27:22):
position. But they didn't. Idon't think they took pictures or anything like
that, so we don't know.It was very convenient and just when you
see that picture, and I'm theonly one that has that newspaper clipping because
when I went there to yell atthe people at the newspaper, I grabbed
a whole bunch in newspapers. Idon't know why I just did. And

(27:45):
my mom's telling me, oh,you can't do that. You didn't pay
for all of those, you didn'tpay for them. I don't care.
I don't care. I'm angry rightnow. I don't care. But if
you searched for you can't find thesethings. Only I have them, and
I have put them out there,but the fact that I see them not
really trying to investigate, not havingany protection gear on, tells me that

(28:06):
they didn't really investigate because Leon wasjust a throwaway and it didn't matter.
And the fact that he accused himselfbut was there, what does that tell
you He shouldn't have been there.And that's why I feel that there was
some involvement. And it was anine to one one collar that called in
and said they saw that red andwhite pick up with a flatbed that was

(28:30):
behind Leon's car. And that callcame in like around not twelve twenty something,
and we searched the dmv wrecords andthe only truck we could find local
there was the sheriff that owned thattruck and it has not been sold or
anything from what I know. Onenine to one one caller said that they

(28:53):
saw the pickup and they thought that, you know, somebody had, you
know, was in trouble or somethingwith their car, and so they reported
it. The next caller was anurse coming from the hospital after her midnight
shift, and she called about thecar on fire, and she stopped and

(29:15):
went to the car, thinking thatmaybe she could rescue somebody out of the
car, and that's when she sawLeon's body, and this traumatized her so
much to the very last day thatshe died. Her daughter told me that
it weighed on her very heavy becausethere was nothing she could do for him.

(29:38):
And you know, as a nurse, that's your job, and she
wasn't able to do anything for him. So she's the one that called the
police and that they came shortly afterthat. That's what I want people to
know, is like when they takesomebody's life, it's just not one person
or two people that are affected.There's so many people did. She was

(30:00):
traumatized by it, his coworkers whoare so traumatized, you know, me,
our family, his friends, everyonewas so affected by this, and
we still are to this day.And people don't realize how many people are
affected when something like this happens.I feel him with me all the time,

(30:23):
and that's why I'm still fighting becauseI know Leon would have done it
for me, and so even ifI don't get justice for him, I'm
not going to stop trying, notat all. I'm not afraid of them.
I don't care what happens to me. I'm not going to stop trying,
because Leon was a beautiful person andhe deserves to be remembered for who

(30:45):
he was, not just what happened, but he also deserves justice. Unfortunately,
I don't have much support from family. At the beginning when this happened,
Leon was living with his brother George, so it was George and I
that were fighting to get answers andto get justice. And two weeks went

(31:10):
by and my uncle went to theTexas Ranger and asked, like, what
has he, you know, foundout what progress he's made on the investigation.
And this Texas Ranger didn't believe incomputers, so he just had this
little notepad and he pulled out ofhis pocket two little notes, and that

(31:32):
was his investigation. And that waswhen my uncle came to me and said,
we've got to hire somebody else.There's not going to be justice from
these people. And so it wassupposed to be a family, you know,
that pitched in to hire this PIfrom Dallas that was highly recommended William
Deare, But my mom and myaunts didn't have money. So my uncle

(31:57):
put up half of it and Iput up the other half, and I
used nearly all of my savings todo this because this was important to me,
and the PI was there a coupleof weeks, and then he said
that the law enforcement in town wasso corrupt and they had threatened him,
so he was not going to continue. And so at that point, we

(32:22):
didn't know what to do. Imean, like, nobody prepares for you,
prepares you for this, of course, but we were also very naive,
and we trusted in the law enforcement, and we trusted that they would
do their jobs, and when theydidn't, we didn't really know what to
do. And that's when I tookto like contacting all of the local news

(32:44):
and trying to get the story out, but it was almost impossible. They
didn't want to cover this story.And I feel like a lot of the
reporters, you know, had toget permission from law enforcement, and so
if that's the way they were backthen, and if they didn't have that
permission, they weren't going to coverthe story. And so I only had

(33:07):
one person come out to my homeand they only interviewed my uncle for some
reason, like the women were notimportant back then, so you know,
we were ignorant. So the manof the family had to talk and to
this day. The lady doesn't remember. I'm like, you went to my
house and you sat on my couch, but she doesn't remember me because she

(33:30):
did an article for me last year. That was the only reporter that I
could get to cover the story.And every year I would do a visual
and some of the family came,like a couple of the sisters and maybe
a cousin or two. But thatwas all the support that I got.

(33:51):
And as far as like fighting forjustice, now, my uncle decided it
was too much for him and hecouldn't proceed any longer. So it's just
spin me for you know, thelast fifteen years, it's just spin me.
And for someone who's not doesn't knowthe law or anything like that,
it's really hard to try to figureout who do you turn to, how

(34:15):
do I get help? How doI know how to fill out a Floyer
request? Because those are the thingsthat I mean, they have to be
precise, and I didn't have aclue. So it was a lot of
trial and error and asking people forhelp. And when I turned to the
true crime podcast world, those arethe people that helped me told me who

(34:37):
to turn to, how to fillout a Foyer request, what to do
if you know, they decline itor whatever. They're the ones that have
helped me get this far. They'rethe ones that helped me, you know,
fill out a form it sees inof justice, to help me get
the billboard and things like that,and I'm so grateful to them. There's
like family to me. I lovethem so much because I know I would

(34:59):
not be this far without them.My calls action would be if he would
just please follow, like share theFacebook page, because I think at this
point the only thing that's going tohelp is get in his story out there
and putting pressure on law enforcement tobring someone in to take a look at

(35:20):
the case, you know, ina fair way, and actually do proper
investigation, because if we don't,if we don't push for that, it's
never going to happen. They won't. They refuse to give me the autopsy,
they refuse to speak to me,they refuse to give me any information.
And so that's all I can dois keep trying to push Leon's story

(35:40):
out there, get it some recognition, put some pressure on law enforcement.
That's all I know to do rightnow. I want people to know that
Leon was a beautiful human being.He loved everyone, took care of everyone,
and he was so special. Peoplestill remember him, you know,

(36:02):
just customers, friends, co workers, and that I lost a piece of
my heart that day, and that'ssomething that you don't replace. Time doesn't
help. It's still just as painfultoday as it was that day. And
I'm able to talk to him withoutbreaking down now, but after these interviews,

(36:27):
I do break down because my heartis still broken and he's dearly missed,
and I there's no way to fixthat. But I just want him
to be known as this beautiful soulthat he was. There is a person
that contacted me. She said ittook a lot of courage and some alcohol

(36:51):
in order to tell me this story. That her best friend was dating a
guy that was there when Leon waskilled, and even though he didn't pull
the trigger, it has haunted himso much so that he would wake up
in the middle of the night screamingthat Leon was haunting him. Leon was

(37:15):
there and wouldn't leave him alone.And this happened for years. So he
took the drugs and drinking, andhe couldn't get rid of Leon's you know,
haunting him. So he turned tolike, you know, the dark
side trying, just trying to getrid of Leon's spirit, but it has
eaten him up that much, buthe won't come forward. And this was

(37:37):
the story that this person reached outto me and told me she knows who
did it, because he said whodid it? But he hasn't come forward.
And I understand that it's hard,but it's been twenty seven years.
It's been eating at you for twentyseven years. It's time for you to

(37:57):
just speak up and let us knowthe name of that person that pulled the
trigger. That's the person. Iwant you to get justice for Leon.
I don't care that you were there. I don't care about any of that.
I just want the person who didthis to be brought to justice because
Leon deserves justice. And I knowthat there are other people out there that

(38:22):
know the truth, because some peoplehave gone to the sheriff himself and said
that the person that did this isbragging and laughing about it at parties,
and they have gone to the shriffhimself and nothing has ever been done about
him. There's been multiple people thathe has told this to. Judge Doug

(38:43):
Hurt, who at the time wasa coroner, has been quoted as saying
that he has all of the recordsbut doesn't remember where they are. How
convenient. Additionally, the DA atthe time, Michael Murray has been quoted
as saying to the Arlene, quote, why would you need the autopsy when
you knew what his demise was?End quote. The mistreatment in this case

(39:07):
towards Arlene is exactly what we wantto call out. It's behaviors like this
that really damages the reputation of thosein the higher ups. They are here
to serve and protect. It's interestingthat we are expected to trust these people
who often betray that trust with insensitiveremarks and mishandling of information. Arlene has

(39:31):
been treated in such a cruel andcallous manner, but that will not stop
her from the fight. To thisday, Leon's case remains unsolved. The
biggest takeaway we want you all tonote is that his story needs to be
told. His billboard at the timeof writing this, which was October two

(39:52):
of twenty twenty three, still stands. Thanks to Season of Justice. It's
going to be up just a fewweeks longer from this day, but with
that his story should remain told inhis voice. Through Arlene. Harbison heard
something is absolutely afoot with this case. And as the saying goes, something

(40:14):
in the milk ain't clean. Aquote from Arlene goes, he was my
everything, and now he's gone,it's still just as hard for me as
it was that day. He hadjust turned thirty that January. He was
a really big guy, but hewas pretty shy. He was more than
just a gentle giant teddy bear.He was very caring and giving. He

(40:36):
would always buy all of his coworker'sbirthday gifts, Christmas gifts, take them
shopping, take them out to eat. When listening to that quote, think
of the person in your life thatdoes that for you. What would you
do? Because to this very day, nobody has come forward with information leading
to an arrest in his case,and we understand that fear is likely a

(41:00):
motivating factor, but we urge anyonewho has any information to please contact the
Brown County Sheriff's Office at three twofive six four six five five one zero
or the Heart of Texas Crime Stoppersat eight hundred two two two tips.
That's eight hundred two two two eightfour seven seven. Also, we want

(41:23):
to urge anyone who can lead Arleneand her family to an official autopsy report
to do so. There are doubtsabout it, after all, as the
official autopsy report has been withheld,but a family desperately seeking justice in the
murder of their beloved deserves to knowthe truth. We also urge any other
true crime podcasters, media, etcetera to please reach out to Arlene Harbison

(41:46):
and continue talking about Leon. Pleasejoin the Justice for Leon Lorelli's Facebook group,
and please donate to the GoFundMe fora PI in his unsolved death,
all which will be listed in theshow notes. One, Leon Loreles was
a bee. He was strong andresilient, yet, being a gay,

(42:07):
Hispanic man in the mid nineties ina small conservative town, he was vulnerable.
Someone took advantage of his vulnerability andmurdered him. Arlene Harbison, his
niece and survivor, speaking on behalfof Leon, is also a bee,

(42:27):
strong, resilient, yet vulnerable inthe eyes of the law, who takes
advantage of her in so many ways, ignoring her pleas for health and justice,
we must respect and protect bees atall costs, for without bees,
we as a human race will notsurvive and thrive in life. So be

(42:51):
vigilant for When you mess with thebees, you get the hive. Thank
you for listening to an Nefarious Nightmare. Music used in the theme was originally
by ghost Stories Incorporated remixed by RyanRCX Murphy. Additional background music is provided

(43:15):
by Epidemic Sound. A Nefarious Nightmareis scripted, researched, and produced by
Courtney Fenner and Amanda Cronin. I'mLeanie Hobbs and as always, be vigilant
for when you mess with the bees, you get the hive.

All Episodes

S6 E4 - "HE was my everything" - Justice for Juan Leon Laureles

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S6 E4 - "HE was my everything" - Justice for Juan Leon Laureles