Ex-mayoral candidate charged: Allegedly staged wife's murder as suicide

A former candidate for mayor in California is accused of taking his wife's life and manipulating the scene to disguise it as a suicide.

As per the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office, Michael Anthony Leon, 66, has been apprehended and charged with the 2015 murder of his 52-year-old wife, Brenda Joyce Leon.

Since the passing of Brenda over ten years ago, her family has been pushing for her husband to be charged in connection with her death, as noted by the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.

The district attorney's office disclosed that an extensive investigation "revealed previously hidden digital evidence and novel factual information critical in deciding to bring charges." 

Michael was arrested on Thursday (January 22), at his Antioch, Calif., residence, where he once competed for mayor in 2012, finishing behind three other contenders.

"Brenda Joyce's family never ceased to believe the truth would emerge," District Attorney Diana Becton mentioned in a press statement.

In 2015, East Bay police discovered a purported suicide note and concluded that Brenda had died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. 

However, Brenda's daughters, Michelle Wonders and Monica Tagas, doubted the investigation, suspecting their mother was, in fact, murdered, as reported by the Chronicle.

In August 2021, the daughters lodged a wrongful death lawsuit, asserting that a John Doe "deliberately shot” their mother and "fabricated a suicide note and otherwise tampered with the crime scene to portray [their mother] as having taken her own life," according to the source.

Court documents accessed by the Chronicle indicated that prosecutors began revisiting the cold case not long after. 

By 2024, they issued a search warrant, enabling investigators to discover new digital evidence.

The family's lawyer, Matthew Guichard, informed the Chronicle on Sunday (January 25), that the daughters initiated a fresh wrongful death lawsuit on Friday (January 23), naming their father as the accused.

"The family is overjoyed,” Guichard shared with the publication. "They first came to me in 2017. … It's been a challenging journey."