Mario Alberto Leon, 32, was found stabbed to death in his home in the 4700 block of West Deming Place, in the Kelvin Park area of Belmont Cragin on Chicago's Northwest Side, on the evening of Monday, May 14, 2018. The Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, records the address as 4712 W. Deming Place. Area North detectives of the Chicago Police Department conducted a homicide investigation.
Leon's family went to his home to check on him after they had not heard from him for several days and he failed to show up for work, police said. He was found unresponsive at 7:18 p.m. with stab wounds to the chest and abdomen and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy the next day found he died of multiple sharp force injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Because he had not been heard from for days, he may have been killed well before he was found.
One detail stood out in the early reports: a day before his body was discovered, on Sunday, Leon's vehicle was found set on fire somewhere in the Near West police district, miles from his home. Police did not say who burned it, how it got there or whether it was connected to his killing, and no suspect, motive or description of anyone seen at the house has been made public. The Sun-Times tracker lists no suspect, and no reward announcement could be found.
Almost nothing else about Mario Leon's life has entered the public record. He had family close enough to come looking for him, and a job he was expected at. No obituary, memorial page or fundraiser that can be confirmed as his could be found. His name is a common one, and searches are crowded with other men named Mario Leon, including a 22-year-old reported missing from Brighton Park in 2017 and later found safe, a professional baseball pitcher and a Minnesota police officer. None of them is the man killed on Deming Place.
The 4700 block of West Deming Place is a residential street in Belmont Cragin, one of the city's largest Northwest Side community areas, made up largely of brick bungalows, two-flats and small apartment buildings with many Latino families. On a block like this, neighbors often notice comings and goings, unfamiliar cars or a car that suddenly disappears from its usual spot. Someone may also have seen the vehicle that was later burned, and who was driving it.
Chicago recorded about 580 homicides in 2018 and about 500 in 2019. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of homicides in the years that followed, though those figures count cases closed without charges.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Mario Alberto Leon could be found in news archives or public records. More than 8 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who saw Mario Leon in the days before he was found, who noticed visitors at his home on Deming Place in mid-May 2018, or who knows anything about how his vehicle came to be burned, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
