Kansas City, Mo — A woman's crusade to clear her brother's name maintaining he didn't desert a U.S. Navy ship three decades ago has led to a murder indictment in his death.
Michael Edward LeBrun, 55, of Greenwood, has been indicted on accusations that he beat and strangled Ensign Andrew Lee Muns, 24, while the USS Cacapon was at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines on Jan. 17, 1968. The one-count indictment, returned under seal by a grand jury Thursday, listed robbery as the motive. Muns' body never was recovered.
LeBrun made an initial court appearance Friday on the indictment.
LeBrun's lawyer, Glenn E. Bradford, said his client would plead not guilty at an upcoming hearing.
Both LeBrun and Muns had been assigned to the refueling vessel that supported Navy operation in Vietnam. Muns was the ship's payroll officer and LeBrun, a second-class petty officer, was a supply clerk.
"My family knew from the very beginning Andy would not have walked off that ship voluntarily," Mary Lou Taylor said. "We knew something bad had happened. When I got started with this, I just wanted to clear his name."
Although a New Jersey court declared him legally dead in 1976, the Navy until recently had listed him as a deserter.
At Taylor's insistence, the U.S. Naval Investigative Service was prompted to reopen its probe into Muns' disappearance.
About three years ago she contacted an investigator who then spoke with the Navy's Cold Case Squad, which has authority to reopen criminal matters if new evidence or information is uncovered.
The squad formally reopened its probe in 1998 and began to work through the case. Special Agent James Grebas testified Friday that the Navy contacted LeBrun in November 1999 and spoke with him about Muns' disappearance.
Grebas testified that LeBrun made no explicit admissions and ended the interview by telling Grebas: "Go do your homework."
Naval investigators interviewed LeBrun again last September at a Missouri Highway Patrol facility in Lee's Summit and as video cameras ran, LeBrun re-enacted the murder, Grebas said.
Investigators asked LeBrun if he would like to speak with members of Muns' family and he said yes. LeBrun then confessed to Taylor, again on videotape and with a Navy special agent sitting in.
"He did it in a very remorseful manner," Grebas said.
Bradford said investigators had tricked LeBrun into confessing by assuring him that the statute of limitations on Muns' disappearance had expired and that he would move to suppress the videotapes.
LeBrun was released on a $50,000 bond.
Shelby LeBrun, his wife, testified that he was recovering from cancer and required regular visits with his physician.
"He didn't do anything," she said. "This is a (worthless) investigation.
"First of all, this is a crime that happened over 30 years ago, if it even is a crime," she said. "The original way it was stated, this man, this Navy person that disappeared, did it of his own free will. He took off with a bunch of money and went AWOL. His family doesn't buy that story."
A Navy spokesman said the case would be the oldest murder to be solved by the cold case unit.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.