Cold Case Spotlight
Nearly two decades have passed since a Dallas police helicopter spotted a woman’s body in a grassy field behind Seagoville High School, and the question that has haunted one Texas family since June 2007 remains unanswered: who shot Melissa LeSueur twice and left her among the wildflowers she loved.
LeSueur, 35, was reported by The Dallas Morning News to have been picking wildflowers and rocks with a friend in a field near the high school on June 10, 2007, when the friend left for roughly an hour to retrieve bug repellent. When she returned, LeSueur and her 1993 Chevrolet Blazer were gone. Police discovered LeSueur’s body the next day, with gunshot wounds to her head and chest, according to the newspaper’s reporting.
The Case at a Glance
- Victim: Melissa “Missy” LeSueur, age 35
- Date: Body discovered June 11, 2007
- Location: Field behind Seagoville High School, southeast Dallas
- Cause: Gunshot wounds to the head and chest
- Status: Unsolved, no arrests to date
- Investigating agency: Dallas Police Department Cold Case Unit
LeSueur’s vehicle turned up days later after a driver crashed it into a home in the 3100 block of Bryan Street in Old East Dallas, then fled before police could question him, The Dallas Morning News reported. Fingerprints recovered from the SUV were traced to a man who told detectives he had purchased the vehicle from another man at an East Dallas gas station in exchange for drugs.
That trail led investigators to question several people over the years, according to the newspaper, but inconsistent statements, a lack of physical evidence, and what one detective described as a tight lipped drug circle kept the case from ever reaching the Dallas County District Attorney’s office.
Dallas Police Detective Bob Ermatinger, as quoted by The Dallas Morning News
One person of interest, a former roommate who had been accused of slashing LeSueur’s tires in the days before her death, died in police custody on an unrelated charge in 2013, according to The Dallas Morning News, closing off what detectives had described as a promising line of inquiry.
For LeSueur’s mother, Jean Powell, and stepfather, Don Powell, the years without answers have only sharpened the urgency. NBC 5 Dallas Fort Worth reported in 2017, a decade after the murder, that the couple was still pressing for a resolution as they grew older, with Jean Powell telling the station she hoped to see an arrest in her lifetime but was beginning to doubt it would happen.
Have Information?
The Dallas Police Department Cold Case Unit continues to investigate the murder of Melissa LeSueur. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Dallas Police at 214 671 3661 or submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Houston Trinity Bay at 214 373 8477. A reward has historically been offered for information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case; readers should confirm current reward status directly with Dallas police, as reward amounts and tip line details can change over time.
For a community like Seagoville, where the high school sits at the center of daily life, the case is a quiet reminder that some of the area’s deepest wounds remain open. Shop in Seagoville will continue to follow this case and update readers on any developments from the Dallas Police Cold Case Unit.
This article draws on original reporting by Julie Fancher of The Dallas Morning News (Oct. 12, 2015) and a 2017 follow up report by NBC 5 Dallas Fort Worth. Shop in Seagoville did not independently verify case details beyond these published reports and encourages readers with direct knowledge of the case to contact Dallas police rather than this publication.
