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A Texas man was arrested last Thursday in connection with the cold-case slaying of a teenager more than four decades ago – then was released on bond from jail the next day.
The Texas Rangers took Larry Allen West into custody for the murder of Carol Joyce Deleon, 18, whose body was found June 4, 1981, along Interstate 35 in Comal County.
She had been shot six times in the head, according to a warrant obtained by KENS5. An autopsy revealed bruising on her neck, and investigators concluded that the suspect was "forcibly holding or restraining the victim’s neck" when he repeatedly shot her.
Larry Allen West, shown in his booking photo, is charged with the 1981 murder of Carol Joyce Deleon, who had just graduated from high school. (Bexar County Jail / Texas Department of Public Safety)
Although she was partially clothed, investigators said there was no indication she'd been sexually assaulted.
Authorities were unable to identify her from fingerprints and missing persons reports, and she was buried as a Jane Doe.
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In 2009, due to advances in DNA technology, authorities were able to identify her as a recent Thomas Edison High School graduate who'd gone missing after attending a nightclub in San Antonio.
A break in the case came in 2019 after DNA from fingernail scrapings and her body were submitted for genetic geneology testing, which identified three suspects of interest – including West – authorities said.
The Texas Rangers went to his workplace in 2021, and he voluntarily gave them a swab of DNA that matched the samples found on her body, according to the arrest warrant.
He was arrested April 13 and released the next day on $125,000 bond, court records show.
"We’ve been suffering for over 40 years not knowing what happened to my sister," Carol Joyce Deleon's sister, Sandra Deleon, told KENS5. "The potential of what she could have been … will never be known. We were robbed of that, she was robbed of that."
West's first wife told investigators that he had allegedly raped and beaten her during their brief 30-day marriage, according to the arrest warrant.
He couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
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West is due back in court in May for a pretrial hearing.
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