Conroe, TX: Man charged in wife’s shooting death

Leon
By Nancy Flake
Updated: 02.16.10
A Conroe man has been arrested for murder in the Tuesday morning shooting death of his wife of 40 years, police said.

Conroe police arrested Jesus Salas Leon, 64, around 8 a.m. after he was detained by a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputy as he was trying to leave a home in the 900 block of North First Street, Sgt. Bob Berry said.

Witnesses, including neighbors and family members, who had seen Leon shoot his wife, Eufemia Avila Bautista, 54, flagged down the deputy, who detained Leon until Conroe police arrived.

Leon and Bautista had separated about two months ago, and there are no known previous incidents of domestic assault, Berry said. Leon, who lived with one of their daughters, allegedly went Monday night to the home where Bautista was living with another daughter, and the two argued.

“He supposedly assaulted her then, but nobody reported it,” Berry said. “He left, went home and came back this morning.”

Leon allegedly rode a bicycle to the home where Bautista lived – approximately a mile away from where he was living, Berry said – walked into the house and shot Bautista with a 9 mm handgun.

Leon fired the gun several times, according to police, but Berry would not say how many times the gun was fired, how many shots hit Bautista or where they hit her.

EMS paramedics arrived at the home but were unable to help Bautista, Berry said. Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Trey Spikes pronounced Bautista dead and ordered her body sent to the Southeast Texas Forensic Center in Conroe for autopsy.

Leon allegedly was attempting to leave the scene either on foot or on the bicycle, Berry said.

He has been booked into the Montgomery County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder. As of late Tuesday afternoon, no bond had been set.

First-degree murder is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

Bautista’s death marks the fourth homicide in Montgomery County this year.

Antaja Doniish Harris, 25, of Conroe, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in the Jan. 17 stabbing death of Quentin Eugene Brown, 32. She allegedly stabbed Brown once in the chest with a knife, Conroe police previously said.

Earl Handy Jr. 39, of Magnolia, is charged with capital murder in the Jan. 16 stabbing death of Donna Handy, his estranged wife, in her Willis home. Investigators believe Donna Handy’s boyfriend, Joseph Taylor, who Earl Handy also allegedly stabbed, was the primary target.

Keith Ryan Randall, 18, and a 15-year-old girl were arrested Feb. 4 in the death of Michael Fred Gloede, 55, whose badly burned body was discovered following a Feb. 1 fire in Gloede’s home.

In 2006, Gloede and his son, Michael Brandon Gloede, were charged with murder in the death of Lori Randall, the mother of Keith Ryan Randall. Lori Randall, 32, was the girlfriend of Michael Brandon Gloede, who was convicted of manslaughter in July 2009.

Charges against Michael Fred Gloede were dismissed due to insufficient evidence, officials with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office previously said.