Crowley vigil honors slain mother, daughters

Police remain mystified about what prompted a 36-year-old man to kill his fiancee, her two daughters and apparently himself Sunday inside the Crowley home that they all shared.

“There was no indication that anything was going on in this household. I believe they had some get-together recently with family members and everything was fine,” Crowley Police Chief Luis Soler told reporters Tuesday.

“This is just as odd to us as it is to the family. No one saw this coming.”

Police also do not know why Sam Morales spared the woman’s 9-year-old son, whose call to a relative led police to the residence in the 200 block of Kennedy Drive on Sunday afternoon.

Officers found the bodies of Morales, Xiomara Leon, 34, and her daughters Linda Gonzalez, 18, and Yasmine Zavala, 13, in different areas of the house.

Leon and Gonzalez died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office said Tuesday. Zavala was strangled. Their deaths were ruled homicides.

Morales died from a gunshot wound to the head, but the manner of death had not been reported by late Tuesday. Police said that they believe Morales’ wound was self-inflicted and that the preliminary investigation points to a triple murder/suicide.

The 9-year-old survivor was not hurt and has been released to the custody of other relatives.

Soler would not disclose what the boy told investigators but said “he did not witness much of the tragedy as it unfolded, just some of the aftermath.”

‘I want to wake up’

Gonzalez, who had just graduated from Crowley High School this year, wanted to be a doctor, her grandmother Elizabeth Martinez said at a vigil Tuesday night.

Gonzalez’s former theater teacher organized the vigil, which drew family members, local ministers, classmates and friends.

“This was not a dysfunctional family,” Martinez said to the crowd at Bicentennial Park in Crowley.

“Linda was the best example for the other two [kids] to follow,” she said.

Tiny white candles were lighted and the crowd sang Amazing Grace. Many wept. At one point, Martinez sobbed: “I want to wake up. I want to wake up and this not be real.”

“Thank you to everyone for taking the time to remember my daughter and my granddaughters,” Martinez said.

“My daughter Xiomara was a beautiful, loving person. Yasmine had so much to give.”

A family friend spoke up and said Xiomara was so inspirational that she and her husband named their baby girl after her the minute they found out they were expecting.

A local minister said the tragic deaths brought his family closer together with the realization of how quickly your loved ones can be lost.

“It’s sad that sometimes tragedy brings us closer together,” he said.

‘So many questions’

Leon and Morales had been together for four years.

Soler said that police had received no previous reports of domestic violence between the couple and that Morales, a concealed-handgun license holder, had no criminal history.

Child Protective Services also had no history with the family.

Robert Arndt, a co-worker and friend of Leon’s, said he got to know Morales through Leon. He described Morales as a “prankster” and said he never saw any signs that Morales could be violent.

“He was a fun guy to be around,” Arndt said. “There was never anything in my mind that would have put that question there.”

Arndt said Morales seemed to serve in a fatherly role for Leon’s three children.

“He saw the boy kind of as his own son,” said Arndt, who has started a fund to benefit the 9-year-old.

Arndt said Leon worked in sales at an AT&T store and was known as “Mama Xio” because she was motherly and helpful.

“She was always going out of her way for other people but didn’t want people to do that for her,” Arndt said.

He said Leon happily told co-workers about getting engaged to Morales.

“There are so many questions,” Arndt said. “Some of them will be answered. It may be better that some of them aren’t answered. None of it makes sense.”

At the Tuesday night vigil, Martinez implored the public to stop writing negative and accusatory comments on social media without knowing the whole story — one she doesn’t even know.

“God have mercy on their souls,” she said of people quick to comment.

Investigation continues

The Crowley school district’s crisis response teams will be on hand early next week at David L. Walker Intermediate School, where Zavala was a sixth-grader.

Gonzalez was working at Crowley High School as substitute teacher and tutor, district spokesman Anthony Kirchner said.

Soler said the investigation is far from closed as authorities try to determine a timeline for the tragedy.

He said investigators seized a semiautomatic firearm from the home, as well as several pieces of electronic equipment, including phones and cameras.

“It is our hope some of those items will reveal more clues as to what transpired,” Soler said.

Still, he told reporters Tuesday, “I don’t know if we’ll ever know exactly why it took place.”

Staff writer Monica Nagy contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 31, 2014 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Crowley vigil honors slain mother, daughters."