Cold Case Breakthrough, Charges In Wife’s 2015 Death

ANTIOCH, CA — The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 66-year-old Antioch man with the 2015 murder of his wife after investigators determined her death was a homicide, officials announced.

Prosecutors charged Michael Anthony Leon Thursday in the death of his wife, Brenda Joyce Leon, who was 52 when she died on Sept. 28, 2015. District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit investigators found previously unknown digital evidence and new details that led to the charges more than nine years after her death.

Leon was arrested at his Antioch residence on Jan. 22.

If convicted, Leon faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in state prison.

“Brenda Joyce’s family never lost faith that the truth would come to light,” District Attorney Diana Becton said in a statement. “Today’s filing in Contra Costa Superior Court honors that perseverance and demonstrates that cold cases are never forgotten, regardless of how much time has passed.”

Leon is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today in Contra Costa Superior Court in Martinez.

He is suspected of murder and charges could include an enhancement for the personal use of a firearm in a death.