Officers on a welfare check find an Oregon mom dead at her dining table with a glass of wine. Then they learn her son sat with her body for a full day
Ronald Kirk is set to spend decades in prison for the murder of his mother, Rosa Leyva. The 38-year-old was sentenced this week to life in prison, with the judge denying any possibility of release for at least 25 years, according to Law & Crime. He must also pay 5,000 dollars to cover funeral expenses.
A Clackamas County jury convicted Kirk of second-degree murder in October after hearing testimony about his behavior at home. Witnesses described him as volatile, dangerous, and frequently drunk or high on meth. Prosecutors said he shot his 61-year-old mother in the head in November 2024, weeks after she told him he needed to leave and began planning to evict him.
Police went to the home for a welfare check as Leyva failed to show up for work and stopped answering calls. Kirk answered the door and claimed his mother was inside and had been unconscious for roughly a day. Officers found her dead at the dining room table, a glass of wine and a laptop in front of her. Kirk told the court he plans to appeal his conviction, according to KGW.
His mother begged him to get help two weeks before she died
Leyva made her position clear in a text, writing, “You need to leave. I don’t want anyone in my house.” She also asked police for help, as she had grown fearful of her son, according to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office. A close friend of Leyva testified that the mother had expressed concerns in the weeks before her death. Leyva reportedly told the friend that her son believed she was possessed. Prosecutors said Kirk became obsessed with exorcism and demonic possession while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Prosecutors also presented a voicemail Kirk left for his own son a month before the killing, claiming Leyva was possessed and saying he had “almost” put a bullet in her head the day before. Home surveillance video from about two weeks before her death captured Leyva telling him, “You’re higher than a kite. Get some help. Please.”
Pillowcases were draped over her body. Investigators determined she had died the previous evening, around 6:45 p.m. Kirk “sat there with his mother’s dead body for a full day,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Rusty Amos told the jury.
The sentencing hearing included an emotional statement from Leyva’s niece, who told Kirk, “I hope you are one day forced to confront the reality of what you have done.” She also said he had forfeited the privilege of being part of the family’s lives. “There’s no place for you in our family’s future,” she told him.
Kirk’s life sentence still leaves the door open to parole someday
Under Oregon law, anyone convicted of second-degree murder must receive a life sentence and serve at least 25 years without parole or release, per ORS 163.115. As the statute requires that minimum, the judge imposed the standard sentence for the crime. However, once he serves that term, Kirk could ask the state’s parole board to consider his release.
Prosecutors tied those possession beliefs to his drug and alcohol use. Long-term methamphetamine use may bring anxiety, confusion, and violent behavior, along with psychotic symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. However, those findings describe general risks and cannot by themselves explain what happened inside the Gladstone home.
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