Trail To The Truth: Who murdered James?

SMYRNA, Del.- Many of us have a routine and we don’t like to break it.

63-year-old James Leager had a routine that he stuck to. He was retired from the Delaware Department Of Transportation but he kept a parttime job helping tend his friend’s farm in Smyrna.

He’d wake up, go to the farm, come home. Rinse, wash, repeat. But one day in 2016, James’ routine came to a screeching halt.

“April 27th of 2016 troopers responded to Blackbird Green Spring Road to a farm property. The report was a man injured in his vehicle; Mr. Leager was found seated in his vehicle, parked on the farm property,” Delaware State Police detective Daniel Grassi said.

The Murder 

James was found at 7:00 a.m. parked in his usual spot, in his Bronze 2011 Ford F-150. He had suffered a blow to the back of the head, and he was in a semi-conscious state. This was foul play.

“He was hit in the back of the head so hard that the lady in the hospital told us it was equivalent to a five-story drop on your head,” Jeff Leager, James’ brother, said. “That was a lot of pressure, a lot of force.”

“For three weeks, James laid unconscious in Kent General Hospital until he died. What started as an assault investigation was now a homicide, and police knew the what, but they didn’t know the why or the who.

Who was so upset with James that they could hit him so hard that it killed him? And why did they do it? Grassi said the area that James was found in certainly didn’t help the investigation.

“We don’t get any of the things that we look for at homicide scenes, like live eyewitnesses, surveillance, passersby, things like that,” Grassi said. “It’s a rural two-lane road that doesn’t get a lot of traffic, so all of the things that we hope for when we’re assigned a homicide, they’re not present for this case.”

The Investigation 

Years went by with no solids leads, so law enforcement decided to switch strategies. Instead of asking for tips in the community, they took a different approach. James’ case was featured on a cold case playing card deck that was distributed to prisons across the state. Getting information that way could be a long shot, but Jeff said the family had faith in the initiative.

“I mean, it was another way of getting the information out. It was a good thing, really,” Jeff said. “I mean, has it helped? Don’t know, because they can’t say certain things… whether it helps or not, but we’re all hopeful that it helped.”

But even after the cards were distributed, James’ case remains unsolved.

The Impact 

Almost 10 years later and James’ family is still left wondering, who robbed them of their time with their son, brother, dad? Jeff said all these years later and that unsettling question still eats away at them.

“It’s scary, I mean, it’s scary for anybody who may be around this person, because you don’t know what they’re capable of,” Jeff said. “If they’ve done it once, can they do it again? And at this point, they probably feel like they’ve gotten away with it.”

But while the answers they’re looking for may not have come yet, that doesn’t mean they won’t come at all. James’ daughter Jaime Gilbert believes that whoever is holding onto those answers has been consumed by guilt, and she pleads with them to come forward.

“How would they feel if you were in our situation? It’s been almost 10 years; he has a grandson that he hasn’t seen, hopefully he’s watching him grow up to see how much of a young man he has become. He missed out on a whole lot,” Jaime said.

“At least make an anonymous tip. Call Crime Stoppers; you don’t have to identify yourself, and just pass that information off to the police, and maybe we can do something with it that can further along the case,” Grassi added.

If you have any information on the 2016 murder of 63-year-old James Leager, you can call Crime Stoppers at 800-847-3333. There is a $5,000 cash reward for any information that could lead to an arrest.