Larry Allen West murdered Carol Joyce Deleon in 1981, authorities said. (Mugshot of Allen: Bexar County Jail; images of Deleon via Texas Department of Public Safety)
Investigators claim that they found the man who shot an 18-year-old, recent high school graduate in the head six times. Larry Allen West was arrested Thursday for murder, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced.
Authorities said that Carol Joyce Deleon, 18, graduated from Thomas Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas, on May 28, 1981. Days later, on June 3, she went to a local night club. She was found shot to death along Interstate 35 in Comal County, Texas, on June 4, 1984, but investigators could not identity her, even after checking her fingerprints and referencing missing persons’ reports of nearby areas.
“She was buried in New Braunfels, TX as a Jane Doe,” the Texas DPS wrote.
Authorities managed to identify Deleon in 2009 by using DNA technology.
Investigators claim that the break in the case came after new testing of DNA found on Deleon’s body led them to West, according to KENS5. Authorities said there was no indication of sexual assault though some of her clothes were taken off.
Texas Rangers visited West at his workplace in Converse, Texas, and he voluntarily gave them a swab of his DNA, authorities said in documents obtained by the outlet.
He allegedly said he routinely went to local bars in Bexar County to pick up younger women, but he denied been involved in Deleon’s death. The DNA, found on the victim’s body and under her fingernails, allegedly told a different story.
“Larry Allen West could not be excluded as the foreign contributor of this DNA profile,” the arrest warrant affidavit reportedly said. “The probability of selecting an unrelated person at random who could be the contributor of this foreign DNA profile is approximately one in 422.1 quintillion.”
According to investigators, West’s ex-wives said he was a violent person. His first spouse claimed he repeatedly assaulted and raped her in their mere 30 days of marriage.
“We’ve been suffering for over 40 years not knowing what happened to my sister,” said Carol’s sister, Sandra Deleon, told the outlet. “The potential of what she could have been, what she could have been will never be known. We were robbed of that, she was robbed of that.”
West posted a $125,000 bond on Thursday.
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