UPDATE 10 am Monday: The man suspected of fatally stabbing a 15-year-old San Leandro girl was found dead in Oakland on Saturday, police said.
Henry Leon apparently committed suicide by hanging himself according to a preliminary investigation by Oakland police, who found his body about 4:23 pm Saturday at 7th and Maritime, near the Port of Oakland.
Leon, a 19-year-old Oakland resident, was suspected of killing 15-year-old Myrna Umanzor of San Leandro.
She died Friday night of multiple stab wounds inflicted in her own living room while some of her family members watched in helpless horror.
“I believe this is the guy San Leandro is looking for,” said Oakland police department Sergeant Jim Rullamas.
Authorities have not yet advanced a motive in the murder-suicide. Leon had no prior record.
Umanzor was a freshman at
Leon was the father of their daughter, 9-month-old Janet Daniela.
Members of the Umanzor family took turns holding the baby at their Pacific Avenue home Saturday, where Pedro Umanzor, the victim’s father, and two of his boys, Jose, 16, and Felipe, 13, gave this account of the stabbing.
The five boys in the Umanzor household, ages 9 to 16, were outside playing soccer Friday evening while Myrna sat inside with Leon and the baby.
Parents Pedro and Azucena Umanzor were away on separate errands.
At some point — Jose said it might have been about 5:40 p.m. — the boys heard an argument going on inside the house but said they couldn’t tell what it was about.
Jose, a sophomore at San Leandro High, said he looked through the picture window into the living room and saw Leon holding a knife to his sister’s throat.
He said he started crying out but didn’t know what to do because the front door was locked.
Felipe, who attends also looked through the window. With head downcast Saturday, he said he saw Leon standing over his sister, pinning her onto a couch and stabbing her repeatedly.
As their father arrived at the house, they told him what was happening.
With his sons translating, Pedro Umanzor told Patch he tried to kick in the front door. When that failed, he ran around to an open side door that led through the kitchen and into the living room.
There, he said he saw Leon remove the knife from his daughter’s body. Umanzor said he threw a glass at Leon’s head. The 19-year-old unlocked the front door and ran off, still holding a blood-stained knife, he said.
Police received a 911 call about the stabbing at 6:21 p.m. Friday. They found the victim with multiple stab wounds to her torso. Efforts to save her life failed.
On Saturday, San Leandro police and a description of his vehicle, asking for help in his apprehension.
But Oakland police found him dead later that same day. Leon's car, 2004 Cadillac Escalade, was found at the scene.
"Our hearts go out to the victim and her family members," San Leandro Police Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Tudor said Monday. "This was a heart wrenching case for us to investigate and has impacted the entire community."
The tragedy was San Leandro’s first homicide of 2012.
In 2011 there were seven murders in the city, including a outside a tattoo party in October that claimed the life of another San Leandro High student.
In 2010 four people were killed in San Leandro.
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