Some people come into your life and love you in a way you never thought possible. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Subscribe to read this story ad-free <\/p>\n
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n
![\"arrow\"](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n
For Arlene Harbison, that person was her uncle, Juan Leon Laureles. <\/p>\n
Less than three years apart and raised together in Brady, Texas, Arlene and Leon\u2019s relationship was more like brother-sister than uncle-niece. They played instruments together in their high school band, danced the night away at local dance halls, and spent time in the kitchen cooking side by side. \u201cLeon was the only person in my family that I felt loved me unconditionally,\u201d she told Dateline. \u201cHe\u2019s my best friend. He\u2019s my person, not just my uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Leon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Juan-Leon-Laureles--and-Arlene-1-b3f406.jpg\")
Leon and ArleneArlene Harbison<\/p>\n
The youngest of nine children, Leon took on the caretaker role for his aging parents when his older siblings moved away. \u201cHe was the kind of person that if he saw anybody in need of anything, he would step right up and he wouldn\u2019t ask questions,\u201d Arlene said. <\/p>\n
At 14 years old, Leon got a special driver\u2019s license that allowed him to drive his parents to medical appointments as far away as Dallas. \u201cHe never complained. Not once did I ever see him upset that he had to take care of his parents,\u201d Arlene remembered. <\/p>\n
After his parents died, Leon, then a young adult, moved in with Arlene. \u201cI had a year-and-a-half-old son, and I was getting away from an abusive relationship,\u201d Arlene said. \u201cAnd so Leon moved in with me, and he took care of my son while I worked during the day.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Leon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Juan-Leon-Laureles-with-child-3fd759.jpg\")
Leon with Arlene’s sonArlene Harbison<\/p>\n
By the spring of 1996, Leon was 30 years old, sharing a house with his brother George in Bangs, Texas, and working at the Kroger supermarket about 20 minutes away in Brownwood. <\/p>\n
He still had his whole life ahead of him. <\/p>\n
Then, in the middle of the night on May 10, 1996, Arlene\u2019s phone rang. \u201cMy cousin\u2019s just crying and crying and saying, \u2018Leon\u2019s dead, Leon\u2019s dead,\u2019\u201d Arlene said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t comprehend that. And I just kept asking, \u2018What? What? What are you talking about?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Leon had been due at his midnight shift at Kroger. He left early, as he always did. According to Arlene, Leon liked to get there ahead of time to catch up with co-workers before the shift began.<\/p>\n
But that night Leon never clocked in. <\/p>\n
At 12:15 a.m., one of Leon\u2019s co-workers called George. Leon hadn\u2019t shown up. \u201cThe only thing I could think of is, \u2018Well, maybe he ran off the road or something,\u2019 so I drove back to Brownwood to see,\u201d George Laureles told Dateline. \u201cI never did see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifteen minutes later, a 911 caller reported a car fire on FM 2126, a stretch of road just beyond the Brownwood city limits, and past the Kroger where Leon worked. When firefighters and sheriff\u2019s deputies arrived, they found Leon dead, face down on the ground in front of a gun range. His car was burning beside him.<\/p>\n
David Mercer \u2014 a detective with the Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Department at the time, and now the chief of police in Early, Texas \u2014 arrived at the scene 30 to 40 minutes after the first responders. He no longer has access to the case files, but the details of that night have stayed with him. \u201cWe could see it was a homicide when we arrived,\u201d Mercer wrote Dateline in an email. \u201cThe Justice of the Peace pronounced the victim deceased and ordered an autopsy.\u201d<\/p>\n
While law enforcement managed the crime scene, Arlene and her family drove to the sheriff\u2019s office, desperate for information about Leon. \u201cI remember standing out at the sheriff\u2019s office with my mom, my aunt, my uncle, and I remember it was still dark and it was cold, and we were just left outside,\u201d Arlene said. \u201cNobody was telling us anything.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to Mercer, law enforcement notified the family of Leon\u2019s death and \u201ckept them updated on what information we know about.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 9 a.m. on May 10, the Travis County Medical Examiner in Austin confirmed what investigators had observed at the crime scene: Leon had been shot in the back of the head.<\/p>\n
Still waiting to learn what happened to Leon, Arlene says someone inside the sheriff\u2019s office mentioned that the local paper had run a story, and if they wanted information, they could pick up the morning edition. Arlene got in her car and drove to the newspaper office.<\/p>\n
It was there, Arlene says, that her family found out what happened to Leon. \u201cI yelled at them for putting in the newspaper when we didn\u2019t even know yet,\u201d Arlene told Dateline. \u201cAnd they just kind of just all sat there staring at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Law enforcement faced challenges with the crime scene. \u201cThe car had been burned,\u201d Mercer told Dateline. \u201cAll the evidence in the car was gone.\u201d No murder weapon or DNA other than Leon\u2019s was ever found. A few footprints found at the scene did not lead to any clues.<\/p>\n
The Texas Rangers were called in to help with the investigation almost immediately. Texas Ranger Ricky \u201cBo\u201d Brown was not a part of the original investigation, but spoke with Dateline about the role of the Texas Rangers. \u201cWe\u2019re the investigative branch of the Texas Department of Public Safety,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe assist agencies that may not have the manpower or the resources to conduct an investigation that would normally take several days, weeks, months, or years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown joined the Texas Ranger Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program in 2023. Assigned to the region where Leon\u2019s homicide occurred, Brown is currently reviewing Leon\u2019s case. Brown says he has access to Leon\u2019s case files but would not provide information regarding the time between Leon\u2019s last sighting and being found on FM 2126 to protect the integrity of the case.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement also questioned people and developed persons of interest, but according to David Mercer, \u201cWe never actually produced evidence to go any further with that.\u201d <\/p>\n
At Leon\u2019s funeral, the family prepared to say goodbye to him for the last time. Arlene remembers holding onto his casket. \u201cEverybody kept trying to pry me away, but I didn\u2019t want to leave him alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Leon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Juan-Leon-Laureles-with-family-b980a4.jpg\")
Leon with his familyArlene Harbison<\/p>\n
About a week and a half later, and feeling frustrated with how the investigation was being handled, George came to Arlene with a proposal: They should hire a private investigator. Arlene agreed, and together, they split the cost of hiring William Dear out of Dallas.<\/p>\n
Dear arrived in town and spent a week investigating. According to Arlene, Dear told her he was being threatened by police, and that Leon had likely witnessed something he shouldn\u2019t have. Before leaving town, Dear left the family with large white poster boards with crime scene photographs, a comprehensive list of suspects, and what she says is a detailed timeline of events. Dear has since died.<\/p>\n
According to Ranger Brown, the private investigator reviewed his findings with law enforcement and helped organize follow-up work. Brown told Dateline in a follow-up email that the records don\u2019t show any documented contact between Dear and investigators beyond that single meeting.<\/p>\n
Shortly before his death, Leon came out as gay to a small circle of close friends. Arlene remembers him being different in those final months: happier. \u201cHe was just starting to date,\u201d she said. For Leon, a Catholic Hispanic man in a small Texas town in the mid-\u201890s, that kind of openness hadn\u2019t come without risk. \u201cIt was one of those things you did not talk about,\u201d Arlene said.<\/p>\n
She was happy for him. And then he was gone. \u201cThe most heartbreaking part,\u201d she said, \u201cis that he was finally comfortable about being who he was. And it was all taken away from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arlene believes Leon\u2019s sexuality was connected to his murder. That belief deepened when rumors began to circulate that Leon had been romantically involved with the son of the town\u2019s sheriff at the time. Both the former sheriff and his son are deceased. <\/p>\n
In a follow-up email, Dateline asked Mercer about those rumors. \u201cI never heard anything about the sheriff\u2019s son being involved,\u201d Mercer wrote. \u201cHe was never considered a suspect.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Department did not respond to a request for comment on the initial investigation, their communication with the family, or where Leon\u2019s case stands today. <\/p>\n
Texas Ranger Bo Brown\u2019s recent participation in the Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program has given Leon\u2019s case a fresh set of eyes. \u201cWe want to put this case in a better place than when we found it,\u201d he told Dateline. \u201cSometimes that, you know, comes by way of the case being solved, and sometimes that\u2019s just being able to answer some reasonable questions for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Dateline asked Brown about the possible relationship between Leon and the previous sheriff\u2019s son, Brown said he is careful about how much weight to give the rumors that have surrounded the case. \u201cYou still have to follow up on it and do your due diligence,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHowever, a lot of that just is kind of a dead-end road for information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Brown stresses the importance of receiving tips from the public. \u201cTips are great. It gives us something to go off of. We take them very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people think that we get a tip, wad it up, and throw it in the trash can. That\u2019s simply not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Leon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Juan-Leon-Laureles-Solo-2-563172.jpg\")
Leon LaurelesArlene Harbison<\/p>\n
Arlene says getting justice is one of her main goals. \u201cMy other goal is to just not let Leon be forgotten,\u201d Arlene told Dateline. Every holiday season, she makes his recipe \u2014 roll-ups with cream cheese, crab, and chives, just as he taught her. A framed copy of Leon\u2019s favorite Madonna album hangs on her wall. \u201cIt seems like it would be easier after so much time, but for me, it\u2019s the opposite. It\u2019s gotten harder,\u201d Arlene said.<\/p>\n
George has also felt the impact of Leon\u2019s absence. \u201cIt just hurts a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t even pass by that area.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you have information about the death of Leon Laureles, contact the Brown County Sheriff\u2019s Department at 325-646-5510.<\/p>\n