'We just really seriously started investigating this on our own -- since the last nine months,” Lori Leonard's husband said. “And we found out more than the police did in 52 years.”
Lori Leonard remembers vividly seeing a police car parked outside of her classroom window. Although it was 50 years ago, it’s a day she’ll never forget.
There had been a terrible accident. Their mother, Madeleine Leonard, had been found dead -- just three years after the murder of their father...John and Madeleine Leonard raised their five children in Cresco. “It was a nice community,” Debra told Dateline. “Everybody knew everybody — everybody watched out for everyone.” Lori agreed. “We used to go to the movies. We roller skated every Friday night,” she said. “We loved it.
The attic apartment was located above a bar owned by family friends — Ann and Don Mick. “The Micks owned a garage, a gas station, the bar, and a taxi service,” Debra told Dateline. “Our dad did everything there. He was a mechanic, he was a bartender, a taxi driver — you name it,” Lori added.September 8, 1970, started out like any other day. The twins said that around noon, they were outside playing in their backyard when their father got a call.
They said what they heard was hard to comprehend. “He was shot and I think we were told — five times,” Lori recalled. “In the back of the head, Mafia-style.”Detective Vanlouvender confirmed that John died from multiple gunshot wounds. “An autopsy revealed 2 small caliber gunshot wounds to the left side of the neck along with two gunshot wounds to the rear of the left ear,” he said. “A 5th gunshot wound was discovered to the left posterior rib cage.
Lori and Debra learned about their mother at school the next day when an officer came to pick them up. “He told us that there was an accident with our mom and that he had to take us home,” Debra told Dateline.The sisters told Dateline they were initially told there was a connection between their parents deaths. “Chief Hartman -- now deceased-- came to our house and told us. He said she was run off the road,” Lori said. “He said — ‘It is definitely tied to your dad’s murder,’” Debra added.
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