Luke's Thunder

In October 2017 we installed a memorial bench in Luke's honor on the hillside in the Town of Paris Park, overlooking the swimming pools where Luke served as a lifeguard. The bench was funded by the generous donations of caring community members, who chose to give toward a memorial for Luke. Because of the continued schism in our family, due to the wedge of loyalty to the Irwins, an actual memorial service was not possible. I decided, as the eldest and legal next-of-kin to Luke, that a publicly located memorial was best. Also, I did not want to continue holding on to the monetary donations and felt the community deserved a place to honor our hero. I am grateful to the board members of the Town of Paris who easily agreed to my request and graciously supplied the concrete slab on which the bench is installed. Abundant thanks to all those who donated to the GoFundMe account and have offered support throughout this tragedy. Luke's uncles, Tim and Jason Leonard, attached the ben...

I have done difficult things. Many of these difficult things have been related to the death of my brother, Lucas Benjamin Leonard, on October 12, 2015. Speaking at our father's sentencing was definitely one of the most difficult. Our father, Bruce Leonard, was originally arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter. I immediately knew that this was not an accurate reflection of the truth of what happened. The Grand Jury indicted him along with the other defendants on 13 counts, 6 of which were later dismissed. At the last minute, one day before his trial was to begin, Dad chose to plead guilty to 1st and 2nd degree assault. The sentence would be 15-16 years. Sarah Ferguson's trial did begin the next day. D.A. Scott McNamara asked me to speak on behalf of my father at his sentencing. Typically, the prosecution provides opportunities for victims to speak at the sentencing of a criminal, but Mr. McNamara understood the need for my father's true identity to be presente...

My step-mother, Deborah Wright Leonard was sentenced on February 6, 2017, to 5 years in New York state prison. Debi was the first to take a plea deal, which happened relatively early in the case--Dec. 2, 2015. The authentic Debi came forward for a brief period following her arrest and incarceration. When she was asked by Judge Michael Dwyer and the Oneida County District Attorney what the motivation was for the beatings of my brothers, she responded that Lucas had expressed a desire to leave Word of Life Church and had in fact attended a different church the previous August. ...He attended church with me. That was a big no-no, and Debi knew that. She told the judge that she was concerned about what would happen if Tiffanie Irwin found out. When I went to visit Debi in the Oneida County Correctional Facility, she revealed that she thought I had gone behind her and my father's backs to convince Luke to come with me to church. She was quite surprised to learn that Luke was the one who...

David Morey was sentenced on January 9, 2017, to 5 years in state prison. While he was complicit in committing very much the same crimes as Joseph Irwin, David did so, I believe, because he was under the complete control of the Irwins. After the sentencing, David's defense attorney, Michele DeTraglia thanked me for the statement I gave, saying that it touched David and was what he needed to hear.                  David grew up being trained as the slave of the Irwin boys, meekly following their orders. Even his mother, Linda, was trained to see her son in that role. I remember one day when the boys were still quite young, around 10, the founding pastor, Jerry Irwin, scolded Linda for allegedly thinking that his boys, Daniel and Joseph, existed solely to entertain her son, David. At that point, the boys were simply playmates, and David was the oldest of the three. But even then, it was being established that the oldest would se...

Linda Morey's husband is a saint. ...And I will just leave that right there. Initially, I thought that writing the Victim Impact Statements for Linda and her son, David, would be easier than the others. I was mistaken. Yes, Linda "drew first blood" the night of October 11, 2015, when she punched my brother, Christopher, in the face. Linda is also the one that fetched the weapon--the power cord--that was wielded by my step-sister, Sarah, when she inflicted the lethal blows on Lucas. Yet, I knew that Linda was an instrument of the Irwins' making. And I knew that she is dearly loved by her husband. Therefore, my statement at her sentencing on January 9, 2017, was tempered by these facts. Linda's remarks following my statement did seem remorseful, although she did not apologize directly to the victims or their family.                 I cannot understand what possesses a person to be so uncaring toward another human, even to the point of be...