Inset: Dillon Leigh Meckel (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in San Antonio where Meckel killed his wife (Google Maps).
A 36-year-old man in Texas has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his pregnant wife and their unborn child. The tragic incident occurred when he shot the 37-year-old woman in front of their two young children, just a day before Father’s Day.
On Wednesday, Bexar County Criminal District Judge Jennifer Pena handed down the life sentence without parole to Dillon Leigh Meckel for the 2021 murder of Laura Placker. According to court records, Placker was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Prior to his sentencing, Meckel entered a plea of no contest to the charge of capital murder concerning multiple persons. The judge acknowledged 1,403 days of time already served.
The indictment revealed that prosecutors accused Meckel of “intentionally and knowingly” causing Placker’s death by shooting her with a deadly weapon. Due to her pregnancy, they also charged Meckel with causing the death of “another individual,” specifically referring to the unborn child that Placker was carrying.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the tragic shooting occurred at a Motel 6 located in the 7500 block of Louis Pasteur Drive on the morning of Saturday, June 19, 2021.
Local police were alerted to the incident by 911 dispatchers after receiving multiple calls about gunshots from one of the motel rooms around 9:45 a.m. Responders arrived quickly and found Placker in the room, but despite life-saving efforts, she succumbed to her injuries at approximately 10:40 a.m.
The apparent cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head.
The couple had been staying at the hotel as part of their Father’s Day celebration, San Antonio Fox affiliate KABB reported. Father’s Day in 2021 fell on June 20, one day after the murder.
Responding officers said the two young children, ages 4 and 6, were in the room when authorities found Placker and had witnessed their mother’s murder. The kids were removed from the scene and placed in the care of Child Protective Services.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that after the shooting, investigators found Meckel staying in a room at the same motel. According to the indictment, officers questioned him in his room, and he readily admitted to fatally shooting Placker. The indictment and accompanying police report did not speculate as to Meckel’s motive for killing Placker.
