Former Mayoral Candidate Accused of Murdering Wife, Staging Her Death to Look Like a Suicide By Charlotte Phillipp

A one-time California mayoral candidate is accused of killing his wife and staging her death to look like a suicide.

According to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, 66-year-old Michael Anthony Leon has been arrested and charged with the 2015 murder of his wife, Brenda Joyce Leon, who was 52 years old at the time of her death.

Since Brenda’s death more than a decade ago, her loved ones have advocated for her husband’s arrest in the case, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.

The district attorney’s office said that a lengthy investigation “uncovered previously unknown digital evidence and new factual details that were central to the decision to file charges.” Michael was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 22, at his home in Antioch, Calif., where he ran for mayor in 2012, placing behind three other candidates.

“Brenda Joyce’s family never lost faith that the truth would come to light,” District Attorney Diana Becton said in a press release.

Back in 2015, East Bay police found a suicide note and determined that Brenda had shot herself in the head. However, Brenda’s two daughters, Michelle Wonders and Monica Tagas, were left questioning the investigation, convinced that their mother had been murdered, per the Chronicle.

In August 2021, the two women filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that a John Doe “intentionally shot” their mother and “forged a suicide note and otherwise falsified evidence at the scene of the killing to give the impression that [their mother] had killed herself,” according to the outlet.

Court records obtained by the Chronicle showed that prosecutors began reopening the cold case soon after. By 2024, they had filed a search warrant that helped investigators find new digital evidence.

The family’s attorney, Matthew Guichard, told the Chronicle on Sunday, Jan. 25, that the daughters filed a new wrongful death lawsuit on Friday, Jan. 23, naming their father as the defendant.

“The family is ecstatic,” Guichard told the outlet. “The family first reached out to me in 2017. … It’s been a long, hard road.”

Originally from Concord, Calif., Brenda worked for her father’s transportation company before marrying and having children, according to her 2015 obituary.

She was remembered as a “doting” grandmother and someone who “lived life as a friend to all and carried the qualities of loyalty, selflessness and unconditional love with her throughout her time on this Earth.”

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“Family and friends would describe her as a loving and proud mother who found true happiness in watching her family grow,” the obituary continued. “She enjoyed the simple things in life and always reminded those around her to find the good in everyone and everything.”

Michael has been charged with murder and personal use of a firearm causing death, the D.A.’s office said. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

“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,” Becton said.

Michael is in custody in lieu of $1 million bail and set to be arraigned in court on Monday, Jan. 26, in Martinez, Calif.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.