Obituaries:  Mr. Leroy West, Sabine Parish       W-230
Source:  Sabine Index, Many, La., Mar 28, 1968
Submitted by: Carl Dilbeck
              carlrad@earthlink.net




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Mr. Leroy West

  A Zwolle man fatally shot his wife and 18 year old daughter, and
then killed himself, at their home Friday, at about 10:25 a.m.
The dead are Mr. and Mrs. Leroy West, and their daughter,
Earline.

  The incident was reported to the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office
at 10:40 a.m., by Zwolle Marshal Quinton Brandon, who was the
first officer to arrive at the scene.

  West shot his wife first three times with a .22 pistol. He then
turned on their daughter, and shot her three times with the
pistol. After that, West went outside to his car and got a .16
shotgun, came near the house, and blew his heart out.

  The couple's three sons, (ages 10, 12, and 13, and a daughter,
about 16), witnessed the tragic events.

  Deputy Sheriff Alfice Brumley, who investigated along with
Deputy Truitt Walden, said the children of the couple told the
following events happened before the shooting.

  The said the family had been arguing most of the morning. They
said West did not want Earline to go to work at a café in
Florien, where she had been working for about six days. Margie
Meshell, Earline's sister is said to have told Earline that if
her daddy wouldn't take her to work, she (Margie) would. Margie
and a girl friend, and three of the West children then left to go
to the washateria in Zwolle. She told her father she would be
back in about 10 minutes.

  The children said as soon as Margie left, West told the family,
"That's just long enough to go get the law and come back". He
then started shooting.

  The family had apparently been having trouble for some time.
About a month ago, West brought a wanted notice and picture of
Earline, who had gone missing, to run in the Index. Later West
said he found Earline in Shreveport, and canceled the wanted
notice, which was to run in the paper.

  Funeral services for Mrs. West and Earline were held Saturday,
March 23, at 1 p.m., in the Old Zwolle Cemetery, with Msgr.
Robert C. Friend officiating. Burial followed, under the
direction of Warren Meadows Funeral Home.

  Surviving children are four sons, David Earl, Charles, Tommy
Ray, and Leroy, all of Zwolle; and four daughters, Mary Jo,
Margie Faye Leedel, and Betty Sue, all of Zwolle.

  Other survivors for Mrs. West are three sisters, Mrs. Henry
Meshell, Lucy Rogers, and Mrs. Ben Santos, all of Zwolle; and
four brothers, Andrew Meshell, and Joseph James Meshell, both of
Zwolle, and Tony Meshell, and Paul Meshell, both of Dallas.

  Others surviving Mr. West are two sisters, Mrs. Eloise Adkinson
of Houston, and Mrs. Clara Denby of Lufkin, Tex.; three brothers,
Charles Williams of Stanley, and Jessie James West, and Cecil
West, both of Houston; and his father, Gus West of Zwolle.