Estranged boyfriend arraigned on murder charges

JOHN DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- A Palmer man who allegedly shot to death a friend he found asleep with his former girlfriend was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder and first-degree burglary.

According to court records, Eugene Gordon Jr., 40, allegedly kicked in the front door of Jesus "Jesse" Manglona's house at 1700 Rae Lane early Tuesday, walked upstairs to the bedroom where Manglona and his girlfriend, Laurie Welsh, were sleeping, pointed a loaded .357-caliber Magnum revolver at Manglona and shot him in the face.

The gunshot awoke Welsh, who told Alaska State Troopers she felt as if someone had thrown sand across her face. She said Gordon was standing at the foot of the bed, waving the revolver at her, saying, "You're both going to die."

A life-and-death struggle ensued as Welsh tried to wrest the gun from Gordon; she said she heard a clicking noise coming from the revolver before she grabbed it, threw it across the room and ran out.

Manglona's 13-year-old son, Jesse, was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom and awoke to the gunshot around 2:30 a.m. He said he could hear people struggling and screaming upstairs and at one point heard Gordon say, "I killed him, I'm going to prison."

"I didn't want to go upstairs because I was afraid he might shoot me or take me hostage," Jesse said after Gordon's arraignment Wednesday. "I called my sister on my cell phone and told her I wasn't leaving my room 'til someone got there."

Jesse's sister, 19-year-old LeAnna Manglona, arrived at the house shortly after 3 a.m. and said she ran upstairs, where Welsh tried to prevent her from entering the bedroom and kept saying, "We have a situation in there."

But LeAnna pushed Welsh aside and entered the room, where she saw her father lying on the bed, positioned exactly as he usually was while sleeping, she said.

"I saw him lying on the bed and thought maybe he had passed out, maybe [Eugene] had hit him or something, there was blood everywhere," LeAnna said Wednesday at the Palmer courthouse. "But there was no pulse; he was dead."

An autopsy revealed Manglona was likely asleep when the .357-caliber bullet entered near his nose; the trajectory of the bullet was consistent with him laying in bed, investigators said.

Gordon was hiding in the bathroom closet with the revolver, family members said. When he emerged, LeAnna confronted him and asked him why he had killed her father; he didn't answer, she said, and appeared to be emotionless and blank.

Gordon was intoxicated throughout the incident, according to court documents filed by investigators.

At approximately 3:45 a.m., state troopers arrived to find Gordon in a brown Ford Ranger. When he saw the troopers, Gordon tried to speed out of the driveway, but the Ranger got stuck in new-fallen snow.

As more troopers arrived, a tense standoff began, with Gordon holding the revolver up to his head and threatening to commit suicide. Gordon refused to get out of the truck and used a cell phone to call his brother and mother, who both arrived to assist troopers.

Hostage negotiators were called, and with the help of Gordon's brother convinced him to put the gun down and get out of the truck. Gordon was arrested and taken to the trooper post in Palmer for questioning.

An affidavit filed Wednesday by trooper investigator Leonard Wallner shed some light on Gordon's possible motives. During interviews, Welsh told investigators she and Gordon had been romantically involved for about five years but broke up more than a month ago. For the past three weeks she had been dating Manglona, one of Gordon's friends.

Manglona's children, Jesse and LeAnna, said Gordon recently told Welsh he had been following her and Manglona around for several weeks. According to statements in the affidavit, Gordon told Welsh he "just couldn't get over the break-up of their relationship," and he let his emotions take over.

Relatives and family members said Gordon and Manglona were friends who frequented each other's homes.

LeAnna said Gordon spent time with Manglona as recently as last Thursday, playing darts at Mat-Su Resort; to her knowledge, Gordon had given no indication he was angry at Manglona or wished to harm him.

Manglona, 53, worked at Alaska Sales and Service in Anchorage. He was divorced two ago years ago after a 20-year marriage to, Debbie Killian, who called troopers Tuesday morning and arrived at Manglona's house during the troopers' stand-off with Gordon.

"Everybody liked him," Killian said. "He was highly respected, an excellent father and a caring man."

Palmer District Court Judge William Estelle presided at Gordon's arraignment Wednesday, at which Gordon, a stocky, bearded man with heavily tattooed forearms, was appointed a public defender.

Gordon is currently being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in lieu of $500,000 bail. A pre-indictment hearing is scheduled for today at 10 a.m.

Gordon, a seven-year Mat-Su resident and employee of Vend Alaska, has prior offenses that include a felony conviction for aggravated robbery in Minnesota in 1984 and a 2000 driving under the influence conviction.

If convicted of the charges now brought against him, he could face a maximum prison sentence of 99 years for first-degree murder, 20 years for first-degree attempted murder and 10 years for first-degree burglary.

"He's looking at staying in prison for the rest of his life," Palmer Assistant District Attorney Rick Allen said after Wednesday's arraignment. "This is a very sad case."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.