LEONARD PAUL RUBIO and Heather Dunn at the Benicia High School Winter Ball in January 1986. Rubio shot and killed Dunn at the high school in September of that year. He spent nearly 22 years in prison for the murder before being released on parole Feb. 27. Courtesy Sue Grant
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Neighbors recall that Leonard Rubio loved Heather Dunn and was making plans to marry her and have children. That was before things went horribly, tragically wrong.
“He was amazed by her. She was the sweetest thing in the world, and he was like a teddy bear,” said Sue Grant, mother of two of Rubio’s high school friends.
Though Rubio had been seeing Dunn less than a year, Grant said, “He was carrying a major torch for her.”
Friends at the time said Dunn was popular, pretty and nice to everyone, and that Rubio was a good football player with a solid future in front of him.
Rubio had moved into his own place after graduating from Benicia High School in spring 1986, and Heather had her own space at his home, said Grant’s daughter, Patricia Luna, who knew them both. Others have suggested Rubio stayed with the Dunn family some of the time.
Things changed, Luna said, when Rubio found, hidden in Heather’s belongings, some love letters written to her by another boy. Early Thursday afternoon, Sept. 18, 1986, he went to his parents’ home and took his father’s gun without permission.
He then rode his 10-speed bicycle to the high school, where he confronted Heather near the gymnasium and pulled the trigger, killing the 15-year-old girl in front of 50 to 60 of her classmates.
But Rubio “never meant to fatally shoot her,” Luna insisted. “The moment the bullet left the barrel, he regretted it.”
Stories told by those at the shooting support this view. One witness told The Herald at the time, “I saw her fall and him rushing to her and then I just saw him walking back and forth like he was in shock.”
Another said, “He was saying, ‘I’m sorry and I love you.’”
Police told reporters they arrived at the school and found Rubio cradling Dunn in his arms. She was taken to Sutter Solano Hospital in Vallejo, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Rubio was arrested at the scene, charged with homicide, and taken to Napa State Hospital for psychiatric observation. Convicted of second-degree murder, he was sent to San Quentin State Prison in May 1988, where he stayed until his release last month on parole to Contra Costa County.
The shooting caught Grant and Luna by surprise. When told that day what Rubio had done, Grant refused to believe it.
“I just said no, no — not Leonard,” she recalled.
“He was a sweet kid, such a good, good kid. Nobody would have thought this of Leonard. He was my son’s best friend.”
Luna blames the tragedy on “blind teenage love.”
“When you’re in high school, you don’t know you have a future. It was stupid, teenage love. It went wrong.”
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Heather Dunn was my best friend since Kindergarten. Leonard Rubio was an abusive boyfriend. I had witnessed him hit heather and be demeaning to her many times. I begged her to tell her mother Chris but she wouldn’t. She made me swear not to say anything. We were 14 at that time. Heather did not want to marry Leonard or have a life with him, how could she at that age.
I think back to those times and get a tear in my eye for all the fun times. The sleepovers, summer camp, roller skating, running around Benicia care free. I miss Heather so much.
I don’t forgive Leonard Rubio. He should still be in Prison. He took someone away from me that he can never bring back. It doesn’t matter how many years go by, he meant to pull that trigger and for that I wish him nothing but pain and torture for this life and the next.
Yvonne Blackwood
Formerly Fitzpatrick
Dear Yvonne, thank you for providing balance to this story. I’m sorry for your loss.
Never knew about this story and I hope it can be a lesson on how to get help when a young relationship goes too far. She did not deserve her life taken from her. Thank you for your personal insight. I hope it reminds young girls to watch out for signs of bad behavior and serious red flags.
I witnessed this horrible crime and i agree with you..this was a if i cant have you nobody will murder…ill never forget that day. Tragic and unnecessary.
Glenn, bhs class of 87
I came across this today. What a despicable one sided story. There is way more to this story znd snot her side. This sickens me. I just found out he was released in 2010. I sat with a hand full of high school girls that night, one dhow had witnessed. It came to light that this kid had been abusive to Heather prior to the shooting and he had previously threatened her.
How dare you tell just one side. Heather is still dead… Rubio is free living his life somewhere out there. Not fair.
Leonard was a jealous controlling older boyfriend and a coward for shooting Heather. What a one sided piece of crap article, trying to make it sound like Romeo and Juliet. Heather was my classmate, I was there that day, I heard the gunshot and saw the aftermath. It sickens me that he is now free. There is absolutely no excuse for his actions that day, he knew exactly what he was doing.
This was not a love story,, this was. Murder!
Shame on you Benicia Herald for even printing this article. Heathers family and friends will remember that day for the rest of their lives, as well as the community that lived that day.
With the recent incident at the high school it brought back some horrible memories of that tragic day. I do believe this is called PTSD.
I graduated with Leonard. In all the years that I went to school with him, he was always a bully and extremely aggressive to others who weren’t his friends. Some of you may remember the P.E. game slaughter ball. During one game another student not realizing Leonard was already out but walking off the court hit him (not very hard), but Leonard still took offense to this and slammed the boy into the bars of the nearby double doors. The teacher (Wheat or Buhcanon) just yelled “RUBIO!!!” Although I can’t say if there was/was not detention or other consequence to Leonard later.
What sickens me the most is that Heather would never go on to become a mom, but Leonard, I believe, has kids of his own. In my perfect world, criminals convicted of extremely violent crimes would lose all reproductive rights. Don’t need the genes in this pool.