An Angelo State Ghost Story Continues to Vex The Campus

The Halloween season is a great time for telling ghost stories. There are many haunted places all around San Angelo including the Lone Wolf Bridge, Fort Concho, and the Old Firehouse. What many people have forgotten is the very scary haunting on the Angelo State Campus.

On April 22, 1978, a call came into the San Angelo Police Department. The call was from Robert Mark Wagner.  He made the call at 11pm.  It was a Saturday night.  Wagner told police he just happened upon a dead body in the Hardeman Building Room 200.

It was the body of freshman Leandra Morales.

When the police arrived at the location, Morales was found with her shirt pulled up and three stab wounds to the upper chest and other injuries consistent with having being beaten. A pair of bloody scissors was found on campus.

Wagner told police he had been leaving the photography lab which had been on the second floor of the Administration Building, when he heard a moan coming from room 200. Upon investigation, Wagner claimed he found Morales on the floor and tried to help but she had struggled violently inflicting him with several scratches to the his face and neck and she succumbed to her injuries.

The story didn't add up and the next morning Wagner confessed and was taken into custody  Even though he admitted to police he killed Morales, he plead not guilty to the crime during his trail, but was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

You think that would end the story.  It didn't.

Back in 2003, a year before the Angelo State Ram Page offices moved out of the Hardeman Building to the third floor of the library, a columnist for the paper reported spooky instances.

Winston Hall complied an article consisting of numerous spooky instances that lead to one inescapable conclusion. The ghost of Leandra Morales is till walking the halls of Hardeman Building.

Over the years, workers report hearing footsteps in the hallway only to find no one there. Faint arguments between a man and woman have been heard. Those in the building report seeing an ethereal ghostlike apparition on the staircase.

The most ironic part, sightings spiked in 2003.  That was the same year Leandra Morales' convicted killer was released from prison.

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This is not the end of reported haunted happenings in the building.  Audrey Wilson, Director of the ASU ONeCard Program reportedly told ASU Rampage that back in the day when she was a student, she heard people mention that when they were in the building late at night, when they saw a female with dark hair in a white dress.

Robby Duncan's Shadow Hunters website, also tells or unplugged radios suddenly being plugged in and turned on. Elevators seem to operate due to unknown operators.

Current employees in the office where the murder took place know of the tragic past, but report not having experienced anything.