Moments after he allegedly shot 36-year-old Crystal Nelson in the face, Leland Guy Eagle is seen on video surveillance casually walking through the parking lot of a Blackstone Avenue motel. He makes the sign of the cross as he slips into the night.
The 37-year-old Eagle, who was on probation for a car jacking, was arrested on Oct. 4, 2021, and charged with the murder of Nelson, a mother of four. Her body was found by a member of housekeeping staff inside room 233 of the Clarion Pointe Fresno on Blackstone Avenue north of Ashlan Avenue.
Detectives found several pieces of evidence in the room, including Eagle’s wallet and identification card. The motel’s video surveillance footage also showed Eagle and Nelson were the only ones to enter or leave that room.
On Friday, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Gaab ordered that Eagle be put on trial for murder.
If convicted on all charges, Eagle faces up to 75 years to life in prison, said prosecutor Kaitlin Drake.
A few of Nelson’s family members attended the two-day hearing and said they know very little about Eagle, other than that he and Nelson had a brief relationship.
Video surveillance from the motel shows Nelson checking in on Oct. 2. She later paid for two more days. Cameras from the hotel and a nearby fast-food restaurant show them coming and going a few times. No one else attempted to enter their room, except for Laura Saldana, a housekeeping staff member.
Saldana was making her usual cleaning rounds when she knocked on Room 233 and no one answered. She knocked several more times before using her master key to enter the room.
She immediately saw suitcases and quickly left the room.
She called the motel’s manager Nick Patel and asked him what she should do. He told her they probably went out to eat breakfast and to check back in a half-hour.
She returned 30 minutes later, knocked on the door and still no one responded, so she entered the room to clean, she testified.
“That is when I saw the feet of a person laying on the bed,” she said. “I thought they were asleep because the room was dark.”
She walked in a little farther, hoping the person would wake up. Drake asked her what she saw next. Saldana paused and then responded.
“That is when I saw her face full of blood,” Saldana said.
She called Patel, who told her to leave the room and return to the office. Patel talked with Saldana for a few minutes, then they both returned to the room.
This time, Patel entered the room first.
“I tried to wake her up, saying wake up ma’am, wake up ma’am,’ Patel testified. “I touched her feet, but I could see that her body was already becoming purple.”
They called 911, and when Fresno police arrived they soon discovered Nelson had been shot once in the face, just below her left eye. A .40 caliber bullet pierced her skull and exited behind her right ear. A .40 caliber shell casing was also found on the bed.
Paramedics declared Nelson dead at 11:57 p.m.
Eagle’s defense attorney, Thomas Quigley, raised the possibility that someone else might have been involved in the shooting. Quigley said the room booked by Nelson had an adjoining room.
Patel said those rooms are reserved for families and only he has the key to unlock the door in between the two rooms. He added that hotel staff did not unlock that door.