Officials: Man arrested on parole violation had murdered his mother

Leo Longoria Galvan

A 61-year-old man found wandering along Highway 281 in La Feria on New Year’s Day had been sought on a warrant charging him with parole violation.

Leo Longoria Galvan was found guilty by a Cameron County jury on July 28, 1988, in the murder of his mother Reynalda Longoria that occurred at their Bluetown home on March 15, 1998, state court record show.

Longoria Galvan was sentenced to life in prison Sept. 20, 1988, and was paroled on Jan. 16, 2020, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A warrant for his arrest was issued Aug. 30, 2021, by the TDCJ.

According to a Cameron County indictment, Longoria Galvan stabbed and slashed Reynalda Longoria with the intent to cause her bodily harm.

According to a statement Longoria Galvan gave Cameron County sheriff’s investigators on March 15, 1988, he stated that after being questioned by his mother regarding his ex-wife, Longoria Galvan said “all of a sudden I exploded.”

Longoria Galvan’s statement in part reads that he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and started swinging it at his mother. He stabbed her inside the bedroom and then outside the kitchen.

Because she started yelling out for help, he slit her throat, his statement reads. Longoria Galvan said he washed the knife and then put in near her body.

According to Longoria Galvan’s statement, after he cleaned the area, he called the La Feria Police Department and told authorities he had arrived at the home and found his mother dead.

He also told an arriving sheriff’s department that someone had killed his mother.

His case was heard before a Cameron County jury who found him guilty.

Longoria Galvan’s Jan. 1, 2023, arrest by Cameron County sheriff’s deputies occurred following a welfare call made to the sheriff’s department about a man walking with a can asking for help, the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

Sheriff’s deputies found Longoria Galvan Sunday at 1200 Highway 281 in La Feria and when questioned by authorities, Longoria Galvan said he was asking people for a ride to a homeless shelter.

“After conducting an information inquiry with Cameron County Dispatch, the Deputy was informed that Galvan Longoria had an outstanding warrant #02781065 out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (Parole Division) for murder,” the news release stated.

Galvan Longoria was placed under arrest for the active warrant and was transported to Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito for processing.

While conducting an inventory of Galvan Longoria’s property, the deputies found a small amount of marijuana and a marijuana grinder.

Sheriff’s deputies charged him with one count of possession of marijuana and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Longoria Galvan remained in custody at a Cameron County facility.