“A couple celebrating a wedding anniversary found tied up in separate closets. The husband had been stabbed to death tonight. Investigators have plenty of questions about this. 32 years was the anniversary they were celebrating.”
“What was your first impression of Sandra?”
“Was how could this diminutive-looking middle-aged lady possibly have committed this crime?”
Houston, Texas.
Home to Sandra and Jim Melgar, who had been married for over 30 years and lived in a nice, quiet neighborhood on Kelsey Meadows Court.
Jim Melgar was born in Guatemala but immigrated to the United States when he was 3 years old. His family had decided to settle in Houston, where Sandra and her family lived. The two had met in school, with Sandra saying he was funny and charming, loving to make bad jokes and be a goofball.
After weeks of him asking her out, she finally agreed to go ice skating with him, and they said the rest was history. They married in 1980, and Jim had started working as a computer programmer and Sandra owned a medical billing and coding business. Both were very successful but enjoyed a low-key life. Their friends said the couple shared one daughter, Elizabeth, who went by Liz, and Liz said the three of them were as close as they could be and her parents were best friends and made for each other. The three of them were big travelers and enjoyed things like hiking and fishing, but their love of outdoor activities sadly became a distant memory. Sandra suffered a lot physically with various conditions; she had lupus, epilepsy, hypothyroidism, and she had had hip replacements. Liz said she also saw her mother have violent seizures on many occasions, which was terrifying for the whole family. Jim was desperate to help his wife and spent whole days researching her conditions, trying to find treatments and cures. One of Sandra’s friends said there were times that she didn’t feel safe driving, she was afraid her seizures might come on, so she depended on him for a lot of day-to-day activities.
On December 22nd, 2012, Jim and Sandra were out and about. Not only was Christmas just around the corner, the couple had recently celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary and decided that today was the day to celebrate. They went out for dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant.
At around 9:30 p.m., Jim picked up some drink mixes at CVS.
And sometime after the couple arrived home, they made their drinks and snacks and spent some time in the jacuzzi in their bathroom. They talked about what they wanted to do with their future, whether they would sell their home or not, and whether they would hopefully travel one day. Jim was just 5 months away from retirement and was keen to make lots of plans to fill up his time. They also spoke about the following day; Jim’s family were coming over for a small party to celebrate their anniversary and catch up before Christmas. Sandra recalled that suddenly the couple’s four dogs started barking, so Jim got up to go and see what was going on. After about 15 minutes, he still wasn’t back, but the dogs seemed quieter, so she decided to get out and start getting ready for bed, heading for the closet next to the bathroom.
December 23rd, 2012, 7:00 a.m. One of the Melgars’ neighbors noticed that the couple’s garage door was open, which instantly struck him as odd. It didn’t close all day, and no one went in or came out that anyone could see. At about 4:30 p.m., Jim’s family arrived at the house for dinner. Herman, Jim’s brother, knocked on the door but was met with silence. Jim’s black truck was parked in the driveway. As the garage door was still open, he could see Sandra’s silver car parked inside. He went through the garage and entered the house that way, unlocking the front door for everyone else. Inside, they called out for Sandra and Jim, but it was painfully quiet. Herman said all the blinds were still closed, the house felt stuffy, and there was a strange heaviness to it.
The couple’s dogs then started barking, and Herman’s daughter turned to her dad and said, “Something doesn’t feel right.”
The family tentatively started making their way through the home, calling out as they went. Suddenly, Herman heard Sandra’s muffled voice coming from upstairs. He ran up and through the master bedroom and the bathroom that tagged onto it. Near the jacuzzi was a small walk-in closet. In front of the closet door was a chair, which was propped up under the handle. When he moved the chair and opened the door, he saw Sandra lying on the floor inside the closet, her arms and feet bound by two scarves. Herman tried for a minute to untie her before running to get scissors because the knots were too tight. He then discovered his brother Jim in another closet tagging onto the master bedroom, about 30 ft away from where Sandra was found. He was naked, badly beaten, and had been stabbed many times. Blood covered the walls and furniture. His legs had been tied with a telephone cord, and a rope was loosely wrapped around his chest.
Just before 5:00 p.m., authorities were on scene, but just 2 minutes after they arrived, 52-year-old Jim Melgar was pronounced dead. He had more than 50 injuries in total and was covered in defensive wounds on his hands and arms, including 31 knife wounds. His skull had been bludgeoned, too. An expert said that his defensive wounds showed he had attempted to fight off his attacker rather than run away. Through tears, Sandra told the paramedic that she last remembered it being about 1:00 a.m., and after that, her mind was totally blank. She said she had no idea that 15 hours had passed, but as she had woken up with soiled underwear, she knew it must have been a significant period of time.
As authorities started moving through the home, which was now a major crime scene, they saw that drawers had been pulled open, jewelry boxes had been gone through, and there was a wallet and a purse out and on the bed. Sandra and Jim’s daughter Liz said there were prescription pills missing and a TV from one of the bedrooms. Despite the state of the home and what she said, nothing was listed as missing or stolen in the police reports. Inside the jacuzzi was a white blouse and a kitchen knife they determined to be the murder weapon. Police also found Jim’s loaded gun in the closet where he had been found and the couple’s safe, which was still locked but had blood on the handle. Sandra said that her head was pounding and her body was aching as if she had had a seizure, a feeling she said she knew all too well. She was checked over, but they found no signs of her head being hit. They couldn’t find any significant marks or abrasions to her arms or hands either, something the police found a little odd given how tight the knots were and how long she would have been tied up.
“Murder has a northwest Harris County neighborhood on edge this Christmas Eve. A couple celebrating a wedding anniversary found tied up in separate closets. The husband had been stabbed to death tonight. Investigators have plenty of questions about this, and it happened, as we see on this map, at a home on Kelsey Meadows Court and Village Terrace.”
Zellner has helped exonerate 19 people who were wrongfully convicted and garnered major attention from the Netflix series Making a Murderer when she started working with Steven Avery after he was convicted of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.
“We are ready to hear argument in cause number PD24320, Sandra Jane Melgar versus the State of Texas.”
“Good morning, uh, to the court. I’m George McCall Secrest Jr. from Houston, and along with Allison Secrest, we represent Sandy Melgar on appeal and represented her at trial. The state did not prove Sandra Melgar’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and I contend, based upon a fair and full reading of the record in this case and based upon its unique facts, the evidence is legally insufficient as a matter of law.”
“Yeah, let me ask you a question real quick. So I know the state doesn’t have to prove motive, they speculate about what your client’s motive might have been. But if there’s anything in the record or in the briefs I missed, is there any evidence of any… what… what would the motive to kill may have been?”
“Zero. Let… let me…”
“No, no, not for your client. I mean for someone else to kill him.”
“Oh, uh, I… uh… I… I… we believe it was home invasion, and we… that would be the motive. We believe that, in fact, people entered the home. We think this business about no breaking and entering—the garage door was up, there was an unlockable interior door, and there was, contrary to the Court of Appeals’ opinion, there was evidence that property was missing. Opioids were missing, a television set, jewelry, cash. That… that is the motive, uh, for why someone else did it.”
“Why would they not have killed your client, too?”
“I… I don’t… I… I’d have… I’d have to speculate.”
Another appeal for Sandra was lodged, but this was denied again, with one of the judges saying, “The evidence is legally sufficient to support every essential element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” In late 2022, the Innocence Project of Texas announced that they, too, would be picking up Sandra’s case. She has spoken from prison and tells the same story she always has.
“They got it wrong, that they… uh… they got it completely wrong.”
“Sandra, did you kill your husband?”
“No, I did not kill my husband, no.”
“And you have grandkids.”
“And my grandbabies, yeah, you’re missing out on…”
“I know, I know. That really hurts me, I miss them so much. I mean, I’m just going to keep fighting this until I’m out of here. That’s all I can do.”
It is a really strange, confusing, and sad case which has been divisive right from the beginning. Many believe that Sandra is a killer who masterminded the whole operation and staged the scene to get away with murder, whereas many others believe she is just as much of a victim. The police decided that it was her from the get-go, they created the narrative, and the killer or killers are still out there. With numerous groups, podcasts, and websites campaigning for her release, and with others fighting to keep her in, it’s clear to see just how polarizing this case and conviction has been. Whatever anyone’s thoughts are, there are still so many unanswered questions about that night. Is the real killer behind bars, or has someone been wrongfully convicted? Sandra Melgar will be eligible for parole in 2031. If she is not granted parole, her release date is August 2044. She will be 85 years old.
Jim Melgar was a kind, hardworking, and thoughtful man with a great sense of humor and a big heart. He is missed dearly by everyone, and with so many questions about what happened still lingering, family and friends say it only becomes harder to find closure when that was already so tough to get in the first place.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
