SAN ANTONIO — The advancement of forensics may have helped law enforcement solve the 42-year-old cold case murder of 18-year-old Carol Joyce Deleon. On April 13, 2023, the Texas Rangers arrested 68-year-old Larry Allen West at his San Antonio residence. It was the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) advanced DNA testing of new evidence that linked West to the killing.
The year was 1981 in southern Comal County on June 4, when the body of an unidentified female teenager that was partially nude was found along IH-35. According to an autopsy report, the victim died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Investigators tried identifying her through fingerprints, and they released a composite sketch to the local media. But it was to no avail, so they eventually buried her as a Jane Doe.
In May 2008, while reviewing the case file, the Texas Ranger’s Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program (UCIP) saw there was only one missing persons report that matched the description of the teenage victim from 1981. The Texas DPS said Deleon was only reported missing to the San Antonio Police Department in 2007 by a family member who hadn’t heard from her in 26 years.
Twenty-seven years later, the Texas Rangers confirmed Deleon’s identity through a photo provided to the family and DNA testing. Investigators discovered she lived in the West Avenue area of San Antonio and had graduated from Thomas Edison High School on May 28, 1981, mere days before her death.
The family tried to file a missing persons report back in 1981. However, no report was taken since she was 18 and foul play wasn’t noted. According to the Texas DPS, Deleon told family she’d be moving away once she turned 18, and they just assumed she had done so. But with the many years that passed without hearing from her, Deleon’s younger sister filed the missing persons report in 2007.
With forensic DNA advancements, the Texas Rangers kept investigating the case. In 2010, they created an unknown DNA profile that was put into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). During that time, they could not locate any matches. Given there were no leads to follow, as 27 years had gone by without one, this caused another delay in the case.
The Texas DPS's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program was used in 2020 to uncover the truth behind the homicide. Through normal forensic DNA testing, West’s identity was confirmed.
West is in custody on a $125,000 bond, and an indictment and trial are currently pending.