Overview
- Contra Costa County prosecutors charged 66-year-old Michael Anthony Leon with first-degree murder and a firearm enhancement in the 2015 death of his wife, Brenda Joyce Leon.
- Investigators say Leon shot his wife, forged a suicide note, and staged the scene to appear self-inflicted after the death was initially ruled a suicide.
- The District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case and, following a 2024 search warrant, reported finding new digital evidence central to the charging decision; specifics remain undisclosed.
- Leon was arrested at his Antioch home and is held on $1 million bail, facing a potential sentence of up to 50 years to life if convicted.
- Brenda Leon’s daughters, who long disputed the suicide finding, filed a wrongful-death suit in 2021 and updated it last week to name their father as the defendant.