Father Hopes Daughter's Tragic End Will Save Others

After years in law enforcement, Jon Nielsen thought he had seen it all. But nothing had prepared him for the scene he encountered early Sunday morning.

“From the moment she had called me until the moment police arrived was ten minutes and everyone was dead,” Nielsen said.

When Nielsen entered the quiet home late Saturday night on Quail Road he found the lifeless body of his youngest daughter, 32-year old Monica Deming.

Deming was killed in what police are calling a murder-suicide which also left her ex-boyfriend, 38-year old Brandon Leyva, dead.

Nielsen says a video camera inside the home captured Deming’s attack as Leyva burst through the back door.

“The man body slammed his way through the sliding glass door as he came in, and evidently she tried to run toward the Christmas tree but she was killed in a hail of gunfire,” Nielsen said.

Ector county records show no protective order obtained by Deming against Leyva, and district attorney Bobby Bland said she had not sought such an order through his office.

However, public records show Leyva did in fact have a history of family violence accusations from other women --- two of whom filed protective orders against him in 2003 and 2012.

“We didn’t like his personality from day one, but we had no knowledge of his past,” Nielsen said.

In the days leading up to the tragic events, Nielsen says he and Deming purchased new security cameras that they planned to install Sunday as an added layer of protection.

They would never have a chance to install them.

At around midnight Saturday, Nielsen received a panicked call from his daughter saying someone was trying to break in to her house and moments later the phone went silent.

When police arrived at her home Deming was declared dead on scene.

“She knew she was gonna come to a bad end,” Nielsen said.

Sources close to Deming say she had filed harassment complaints against Leyva with the Odessa Police Department, but since this is an ongoing investigation, OPD has declined to comment on the case.