LaBonte & LaFleur
Montgomery
County, Texas
Date of Crime: June 8, 1997
Lonnie LaBonte and Russell LaFleur were convicted of the
murders of Misty Morgan and Sarah Cleary. LaBonte knew Morgan because
she was the girlfriend of his friend, Gerald Barton. LaFleur was a
young man who stayed at LaBonte's residence for about two weeks around the
time of the murders. During a police interrogation, LaFleur confessed
to witnessing LaBonte commit the murders. He said the confession was
coerced because police had put a syringe to his arm and threatened to kill
him while making it appear that he killed himself with an overdose of drugs.
Later evidence directly linked another suspect, Gabriel Saxton, to the
murders, but police refused to charge him. He had accompanied the
victims on the night of their murders, been with them at the scene of the
crime prior to their murders, and admitted robbing them of their personal
property following their murders. He even admitted stealing Cleary's
boots from her corpse. At trial, Saxton and LaBonte's girlfriend,
Melissa Brannon, testified that the defendants drove up a dirt road in a
pickup truck to the victims' car. Brannon said she was riding with the
defendants in the pickup. After killing the victims the defendants
then backed down the road in reverse. The defendants allegedly
returned later, after Saxton had time to rob the victims, and they set fire
to the victims' car with their bodies inside.
One problem with the witnesses' testimony is that crime scene photos failed
to show any tire tracks left by the defendants' truck. Photos showed
only two sets of tire tracks, one from the victims' car and another from an
investigating officer's police car. If the witnesses' testimony were
true, there should have been four additional sets of tire tracks, one for
every time the defendants' truck went up or down the road.
There are other problems with the case: (1) Saxton still had wounds
from the night of the crime, including a noticeable limp, three months after
the crime. In contrast, LaBonte had no wounds when questioned 11 days
after the crime. (2) Saxton had given police many different stories
about the night of the murders. (3) The murders occurred in Conroe,
Texas, but LaBonte's cellphone records indicate that he was in or near his
residence in New Waverly, Texas at the time. (4) Affidavits have been
presented from third parties who say Saxton admitted to them that he had an
undisclosed plea deal. Brannon also admitted she had an undisclosed
understanding with the prosecutor. The understanding was not directly
stated in order to allow her to deny it. LaBonte and LaFleur are
currently serving life sentences. [2/07]
________________________________
References: Justice:
Denied, Court
Actions
Posted in:
Victims of the State,
Southeast Texas Cases,
Favorite Case Stories
|