Harris County investigators probe death of man found in Spring home

A dropped 911 call led Harris County deputies to a Spring home on Goldensong Court, where they found 47-year-old Juan Antonio Salinas Leija dead inside a house under renovation in the Northgate Crossing community.

Precinct 4 deputy constables were sent to the 23200 block of Goldensong Court around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 12, after the call disconnected. When they arrived, they found Salinas Leija deceased inside the residence. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said detectives and crime-scene investigators responded, and by Monday the case had shifted sharply from an unexplained death to a murder investigation.

Authorities later charged 19-year-old Josue Chirino with murder. Court documents alleged Salinas Leija was killed with a sledgehammer, and investigators said the attack happened on or about Friday, April 10. That timeline matched reports that family members had not heard from Salinas Leija since Friday afternoon and went to the home to check on him.

Salinas Leija was described as a carpenter and contractor working on the renovation at the property. The home sits in the Villages of Northgate Crossing area, near Hardy Toll Road and Northgate Crossing Boulevard, a residential pocket where an ordinary worksite drew an emergency response and then a homicide probe. Authorities have not said there is any broader threat to neighbors, but the case has left unanswered how a job inside a suburban home turned lethal.

Gonzalez said Chirino was arrested with assistance from Pasadena police and Harris County sheriff’s violent-crimes personnel. Follow-up reporting also said Salinas Leija’s truck was missing and later recovered in south Harris County with other people inside, a detail that added more questions as detectives worked to reconstruct the final hours before the death.

For Spring, the most pressing issue now is the gap between the first call and the murder charge. What began as a dropped 911 call on Goldensong Court became a case centered on a worksite, a missing carpenter, and a criminal allegation that investigators say happened inside a neighborhood home.