Leon Augusta Mickens Jr. was a 35-year-old father, son, Army veteran and former Albert Gallatin High School football player whose life ended after a shooting in Masontown, Pennsylvania. Online obituary information lists his date of death as August 16, 2011, his birthday, while news reports say the fatal shooting occurred the evening before, on August 15, 2011, near Spring Valley and North Water Street. Reports say Mickens was shot in the head.

Police investigated at the time, interviewed witnesses, collected evidence and identified a person of interest, but no charges were filed in 2011 and the case remained unsolved for years. Relatives later said they feared the person responsible might never be held accountable. In July 2024 authorities charged Frank Timothy Campbell Jr. of Merrittstown with criminal homicide and aggravated assault in connection with Mickens’ death, citing witness statements, photographs, circumstantial evidence and DNA from a cigarette butt found within inches of the initial blood spatter. The cigarette produced a CODIS hit in 2019, and prosecutors said combining that DNA link with earlier accounts and other material was the basis for the renewed charges.

Did anyone in Masontown at the time see activity near Spring Valley and North Water Street on the night of August 15, 2011?