State police make arrest in 40-year-old homicide case
Joseph Edward Leos, 58, of Mount Pleasant, is led from the Fayette County Booking Center to a police car after he was arrested Wednesday for his alleged involvement in the 1974 Dunbar Township shooting death of John Watson, who was 14 at the time of his death.
Fayette County District Attorney Jack Heneks Jr. comments on the arrest of Joseph Edward Leos, 58, of Mt. Pleasant in connection with the shooting death of John David Watson Jr. in 1974, during a press conference Wednesday at the state police barracks in Lemont Furnace.
This image, taken from the archives of the state police cold case files, shows a smiling John David Watson Jr. Watson was murdered in 1974.
A childhood friend of a 14-year-old boy found shot to death in 1974 has been arrested in his killing.
Joseph Edward Leos, 58, of Mount Pleasant was charged Wednesday with criminal homicide in the May 2, 1974, death of John David Watson Jr.
A Fayette County grand jury found that the motive for the killing was “the interpersonal relationship of Watson and Leos.”
Watson’s body was found in Wheeler Bottom, Dunbar Township, on May 3, 1974, down the hill from the home of Leos’ grandmother, according to court filings. Watson had been shot with a .22-caliber rifle after a fight with Leos, police alleged.
Neither the grand jury presentment nor the affidavit of probable cause spell out the nature of the relationship between Watson and Leos, who was 17 at the time, and at a press conference Wednesday, District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said he would not comment on any of the evidence, noting that the documents that were filed “speak for themselves.”
According to paperwork filed in the case:
Earlier in the day on May 2, Watson took his 10-speed bicycle to run to the store for his mother, and did not return to his home. Around 9:30 p.m., Leos came to the Watson residence in Wheeler and seemed frightened, Carol Jones Gandy testified before a Fayette County grand jury.
Gandy, Leos’ aunt and a friend of the family who was at the home, told grand jurors that Leos said, “something terrible has happened to Johnny. He is in trouble.”
Leos left, and around 10:15 p.m., the search for Watson began.
When Leos returned to the family’s home hours later, police were there, and talked to him.
According to the presentment, Leos said, “When I shut the door (at the Watson home), something just hit me and told me that Johnny was in bad trouble. That is all I can tell you.”
Searchers found Watson’s body early May 3, 1974, near the home of Leos’ grandmother. Court papers indicated that there were noticeable drag marks coming from the home.
When Thomas Watson hugged his brother’s body, it was dry, court documents indicated. That is in contrast to the rainy conditions of the previous night, police said.
Family and friends told police it was common knowledge that John Watson and Leos had been friendly with each other in the past. Filings indicate that Thomas Watson said his brother had recently started seeing a girl from school, and also noted that Leos, after his brother’s death, started living with and having romantic relationships with men.
Information from Gandy also indicated that she had never seen Leos in a heterosexual relationship.
Gandy said in her testimony that in the days before the incident she was riding in a car with John Watson, at which point she said he appeared scared, but he would not reveal why.
On May 5, 1974, state police searched the residence of Veatles Adaline Tinsley, Leos’ grandmother — a search that resulted in the confiscation of a blue coat — which Gandy said Leos was wearing the night he arrived at the Watson residence.
Police said on Dec. 8, 2009, Corporal John Tobin had the coat tested for gunshot residue. According to the report submitted by R.J. Lee Group Inc., the coat contained five particles unique to gunshot residue.
According to the affidavit, there was never any indication in any interviews with Leos that he had discharged a weapon, was in proximity of a discharged weapon or was in contact with the surface or object that had gunshot residue on it prior to leaving the Watson home on May 2, or before the coat was taken into evidence.
Police also confiscated a .22-caliber rifle from the Watsons’ home. While the bullet taken from Watson’s body was tested against the rifle, the results were inconclusive because the bullet was mutilated, police said.
Heneks said that although Leos was 17 at the time, he will be charged as an adult.
When asked how long Leos has been a suspect in the case, Heneks said, “His actions on the night in question aroused suspicion.”
He added, however, that because of the nature of the case and the nature of the scientific evidence at that time, the state police were not able to make an arrest.
“I think he probably was a suspect in certainly some of the family members eyes from the night that it happened because of his actions,” Heneks said.
Heneks, who headed the grand jury, praised police and the grand jurors for their work on the case.
“While I will not comment on any of the evidence reflected in the findings of the grand jury or the complaint in this case, I feel it incumbent of me to note that many of the family of the victim have passed away during this long process, but I hope that these initial charges represent a large step forward, bringing resolution to the loss of the young man … for the remaining family members,” Heneks said.
“The case represents the tenacity of law enforcement in never giving up on a case, and using updated techniques along with good, old-fashioned police work in seeking justice,” he said.
The single charge was filed through the office of District Judge Richard Kasunic II. Leos is in Fayette County Prison without bond, and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for March 3.
Prior to this announcement, the case was one of 27 cold case deaths in Fayette County that have gone unsolved.
In October 2013, Robert Leroy Daniels Jr., 43, and Robert Leroy Daniels III, 19, both of Connellsville, were charged with homicide in connection to the the stabbing death of David Gida of Connellsville.
In 2012, Trooper John F. Marshall began reexamining all the dormant cases in Fayette County and the surrounding area that fall under his purview as cold case custodian.
He then worked in conjunction with the Herald-Standard to take a weekly look at the cases in an effort to try and rekindle public interest in the investigations and to look for new leads.
Two articles on Watson’s death ran in December 2012 as part of the series.