Tip from Florida prison inmate has led to arrests in 20-year-old Broward murder

A tip from a Florida prison inmate unraveled a nearly 20-year-old cold case in which a man was gunned down just steps away from his Lauderdale Lakes home, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

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On May 13, 2007, Leon Heron, 34, was going home to his wife with dinner from Taco Bell when two people confronted him and demanded his belongings.

Heron fought back and managed to gain the upper hand, but one of the attackers pulled a gun and shot him, deputies say.

Detectives worked to identify the killers, but the case eventually went cold.

That changed in April 2023, when Brittany Hanfield, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence for armed robbery, said she had information about the murder.

Broward Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit Detective David Towsley met with Hanfield, who said she was a witness to the killing but gave “vague details,” BSO says.

Towsley pressed her for more information.

“What she told me was ultimately what it ended up being was two 17-year-old young ladies who were out driving around Broward County in a stolen SUV looking for somebody to rob,” Towsley said in an episode of BSO’s “Open and “Unsolved.”.

Investigators later determined that Hanfield was not a witness but a participant in the killing. The investigation also led them to a second suspect, Sheila Arstil. Both women are now charged with first-degree murder, according to Detective Towsley.

“We have the DNA which puts them there. We’ve got their confessions,” Towsley said.

On Sept. 11, 2024, detectives met with Arstil at her home, where she agreed to be interviewed. She was shown photos of Heron but said she did not recognize him, according to her arrest report.

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After detectives confronted her with information from Hanfield, Arstil confessed that the two women were at the apartment complex that night looking to rob someone.

Arstil told investigators she had the gun, while Hanfield carried a gold folding knife.

Heron “was shot by accident, it wasn’t supposed to go down like that, it was just random,” Arstil told investigators, according to her arrest report. “She stated she was trying to be a gangster.”

Arstil said the gun went off about two feet from Heron and continued firing until it was empty, though she was unsure how many rounds it held. She said Heron had a few hundred dollars on him, which the women took before fleeing.

The two left in a stolen Nissan Pathfinder, leaving Heron on the ground. After the shooting, they went to Arstil’s mother’s house, investigators said.

Arstil did not say what happened to the gun, only that it had “disappeared.”

Hanfield was arrested on a first-degree murder charge on Nov. 10, 2025, and a Broward County grand jury indicted Arstil on a charge of first-degree murder on Oct. 7.

Jail records show that Hanfield was transferred out of state prison to the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach. She was set to be released from prison in February 2031, according to Florida prison records.

Detective Towsley says he’s proud to finally have answers for Heron’s mother.

“His mother was so grateful to get this information, to know finally what happened to her son,” Towsley said. “She loves her son like nobody would believe, and all of these years, it’s been eating at her soul, as to what happened to him. Why was he targeted? Why was he killed? So, I was very happy to bring her that information.”

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This story was originally published October 16, 2026 at 1:41 PM.