The Case of Sandra Melgar

[Music] hey you and welcome my name is Mike and in this old video we're going to look at the case of Sandra Melgar who was sent away in 2017 this story takes us to Houston where Sandra Melgar was married to Jim Melgar for 32 years and when celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary they went out for dinner had a nice lovely time came home and Sandra can't remember much after that she woke up the next day tied up unlocked in her closet and Jim her husband was well but was this a bizarre cover-up a staged scene or is Sandra truly innocent as many believed her to be this case it's absolutely fascinating I mean there are many things in it which could lead you to believe one thing or the other so let's get into it [Music] jaimé Jim Melgar was born in Guatemala emigrating to the United States when he was tree years old his family settled in Houston where Sandra sandy McCulloch lived Jim and Sandy became high school sweethearts graduating in 1978 and they got married in 1980 Jim ended up as a clackity clackity computer programmer Sandra became a licensed vocational nurse now Sandra had a number of health issues she was riddled with problems including arthritis epilepsy lupus and hip problems she would actually need hip replacements and with all this she ended up quitting her job that's when herself and Jim set up their own business doing a bit of Yale medical billing and coding you know yourself and over the years they would get into real estate owned a few rental homes Jim and Sandy would have a daughter Elizabeth Liz born in 1985 the family also joined the Jehovah's Witnesses which is good for them strict enough group though I understand now people close to Jim and Sandy knew them as a you know a very close couple loving friendly would never fight at all the police though would have a different opinion when we get to what we're gonna get to on the 22nd of December 2012 Jim and Sandy headed out to celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary now their actual wedding anniversary was under 12th of December but sandy she's been ill that day so they pushed it by like a week and a half so for the big anniversary they decided to go to their favorite Mexican restaurant Los Cocos they chair down leaving out of at 9:05 p.m. then the couple headed home on the way they went into a CVS to pick up some mixers coke and sprite and then they arrived home now what happened after that we don't exactly know why surprisingly I wasn't there but whatever happened was pretty disturbing the next day on the 23rd of December at about 4:30 p.m. Herman jim-jim Elgar's brother Herman Anna's family puffed by sandy and Jim's it was you know a few days before Christmas they plan to have a big ol family get-together so Herman rocked up and knocked under four but got no answer which he thought was odd you know they had a pre-planned Christmas thingamajig he then popped around the back no dice now the garage door was open so he then entered the house via the garage door let his family in through the locked front door and then they heard sandy calling for help Sandra Melgar was screaming they rushed into the master bathroom where they handed Cher wedged under the closet doorknob Herman moved the chair and opened up the door and inside they found sandy laying face down on the ground her arms tied up behind her back who what seemed to be a bathrobe belt her ankles bound by a scarf the binds on her were so tight shet be cut loose they couldn't be undone Herman and his wife Maria when they discovered sandy they would later say it was you know it was so absolutely tight there is no way she could have done it by herself we're gonna get to that later once Sandra was free she rushed out to find Jim and she found him in his closet no pulse Jim was stabbed and cut 31 times and had multiple blunt-force trauma injuries as well his legs were tied with a telephone cord and a rope was loosely tied around his chest it looked like he had been fighting with his attacker before they somehow overpowered him and stabbed him to death in the closet inside the closet was Jim's gun but it hadn't been used [Music] at this point Sandra is just hysterical you know as he would be on the murder weapon the knife was found inside the jacuzzi that was inside their home also in the jacuzzi were tells and a blouse the knife had come from the Melgar home paramedics arrived on the scene first and in the midst of bawling over her husband Sandra would tell the paramedics at the left side of her head was sore and her joints they were also stiff and sore she would say it's the feeling she would have after she had a seizure no Sandra Woods was known to have seizures she hadn't had one in a while but she was familiar with you know the aftermath of one the police arrived and you know first impressions was looks like a burglary gone wrong some kind of home invasion I mean drawers were open stuff was left out seemed to have been just a horrible some kind of attack you know the EMS personnel found no bruising or laceration on her head and also then no wounds or marks on Sandra's wrists and ankles though she was apparently tied up her 12 to 14 errors and the ties had to be cut off due to the fact they were so strongly bound Sandra then she wanted to go to hospital but once he arrived at the hospital she changed her mind and she acts yet had to sign a document saying she refused treatment now she didn't refuse treatment it's just the way the document was worded she just she thought she just didn't need any and Sandra was then viewed by the investigators from the get-go they used interrogation techniques the room it was cold I feel the seating straight out of the books from Jump Street she was viewed with suspicion I know how it looks but I was also tied up and there's I couldn't that's just Gina what we're seeing there the physical evidence is there and what you're telling us it's just not adding up Sandra [Music] Sandra then told them what happened the night before or what she remembers at least Sandra told them that a car was tailgating them after leaving CBS but then when they were getting close to home they turned right and the other car turned left because human drive slower to stop getting him I tell don't do that because you know it's dangerous but the guy turns left and we turn right so we thought it was just and so they arrived home that night going into the house via the garage door they usually kept the front door locked now whether the door in the garage was locked behind them the garage door and the interior door we don't know so Sandra and Jim get nakey into the jacuzzi and enjoy a nice few sips they were in there for about two hours talking about well anything and everything their plans for the future as Jim was due to retire in about five months they wanted to sell Sandra's car they wanted to travel they talked about their daughter and they may love while in the jacuzzi now at one point after being in there for about two hours they heard their dogs barking outside ed for for small dogs Jim got out of the jacuzzi to let the dogs in sandy stayed in the jacuzzi for a few more minutes and when Jim wasn't returning she eventually got out herself she went into the bathroom closet caught on some night wear started putting on some lotion and then that's it she blacked out it's taking a while so I got out and was gonna get dressed or change my little Closet in there everything started to change the next thing she remembered she's in the closet she can't move and she was sore all over her head hurt and she eventually fell back to sleep she was in there for about fourteen hours before her brother-in-law founder and so you can see how this is kind of a tricky crime scene and I'll be upfront honest with you there's some things that don't have it up in your story well let's get into some evidence shall we there was no sign of forced entry into the house and they find her story oh she's blacked out frankly unbelievable they questioned the fact that her husband brutally murdered in the same house while Sandra was just unharmed just tied up they were in the jacuzzi they hear the dogs yapping away Jim gets out about maybe 15 minutes later Sandra is like where's Jim she gets out of the jacuzzi two goes into the closet and then blacks out so somebody killed Jim Sandra didn't hear anything and then they somehow snuck up on her too and like what turn the back of the head nobody screaming you hear dogs barking outside but you can't hear something screaming oh no you know how close that that room is to where you were and you can't hear something I scream they were probably right I think they were outside like where when the window the bathroom is bit I didn't hear anything after that Jacuzzi was still going and actually I don't even remember hearing the dogs my husband's the one that says he's got better hearing that night but I heard the dogs whining afterwards if he encountered something that would do what we see there you're gonna hear it you're gonna hear something and if that something is coming into the same room where you're it either to knock you out or even encounter you they're going to hear something I don't care if you've got a tank cranked up in that bathroom with you you're gonna hear something when somebody encounters somebody that stabbing somebody that violently that many times you're gonna hear that Jim was stabbed and cut 31 times and had multiple blunt-force trauma injuries as well he had serious injuries to internal organs damage to his skull brain and facial bones he had a lot of defensive wounds on both his hands too he put up a fight this wouldn't have been something you'd miss because you were daydreaming but one thing is that the jacuzzi was on must have been a hell of a logic Uzi to drown out what must have been an awful racket okay so then if you know if you find that story to be unbelievable what's what's the other option Liz Sandra's daughter you know she didn't live with her parents but you know she obviously rushed to Houston after this happened she would say her mother couldn't hold on to things she dropped things a lot she was stiff she had rheumatoid arthritis at one point in her life she was confined to a wheelchair Sandra could only have done what happened to Jim with great difficulty and away yeah with the health issues she had and just the way she was she had no cuts wounds bruising that would come from you know attacking and overpowering a larger adults she had nothing honor while in contrast Jim had numerous bruises abrasions and catastrophic damage to organs that would indicate a very violent struggle including fractured eye sockets a woman of Sandy's size 5 foot 4 53 years old and with her health issues it would be very unlikely she could overpower her husband without suffering any injuries to herself Sandra would say she hit her head or was hit on the head by the intruder intruder is possibly and that she had an epileptic seizure and that's what caused the blackout which according to her previous neurologist was entirely likely when he do have a major motor seizure everything goes into spasms so it's it's not unusual for a person to ache all over their body and if one has a seizure it's also not uncommon to be accompanied by a loss of memory Jim got out of the jacuzzi because the dogs were barking so they could hear the dogs barking but couldn't hear a struggle 30 feet away and another thing is that they had you know their next-door neighbor leaves Jim and Sandy lived in a one-story house the next door neighbor lived in a two-story house and the next door's neighbor bedroom overlooked overlooked basically their backyard and so they had four dogs Melgar has had four dogs there were small dogs they would Yap and Yap and Yap away into the wee hours of the night the neighbor would [ __ ] and moan about these dogs there were that annoying and the neighborhood also say they didn't hear dogs barking that night at all and they were you know they backed a lot sandy said she thinks Jim was headed into his closet as he kept a gun in there that's where he was found now if she didn't know exactly where he kept his gun but she you know knowing Jim she thought he wouldn't have kept it in a safe so if he was going into his closet to get the gun you know did he not have time to use it or what if he he did have time to use it he just didn't want to use it on whoever was attacking him it's a possibility so there are just so many discrepancies in this case and there are a lot more but to the prosecution this was straightforward I mean take this for example you'll see it's pretty darn easy to tie yourself up unlock yourself in a room with a chair so therefore lads this is pretty clear-cut well I'm convinced she killed her husband and made it look like a burglary and untied herself up exactly as you see there well that's what the two detectives investigating they came to that conclusion pretty quickly and then they essentially just worked backwards from there they would marshal all evidence around that theory that Sandra was responsible and it was a staged scene one of the things which led to this conclusion was Sandra's refusal to take a polygraph saying at the time she was too nervous she was shaking she was cold and she didn't want it used against her what's your what's your explanation though what you're excused for not taking one it's not holding water Sandra I'm just going to be honest with you it's not you know I'm not I'm just being upfront honest with you and that's what I'm that's my job to do that I just don't want to take it and then it's used against me that's not possible yeah which is fair they asked her to take this polygraph you know not long after the event happened you know she would have been shocked she would have been you know this and that but hey only guilty people refuse to take a polygraph right what do you think should happen to the person that would catch that did this to your husband like what do you think his punishment or her punishment should be do you think they should get a second chance maybe they should happen - uh-huh present they normally do they go to prison burglary in and then homicide being construed as a capital murder can be death penalty I think they shoot the death penalty the purpose did you stage that at your house not staged it yeah did you plan this no no I did not would you tell me if you did I wouldn't even know where to start to stage it with it ironic that you could you black out exact time when he's kids down and bludgeon could you hear me yell for help no the jeers screamin I mean he was in pain we know that he suffered a lot I need you to help me I need you to help me I need you to help me on this can you help me I need you to help me Sandra I need help please help me Sandra Sandra help me sandra need help here anything stop already honey helps in hi I need help help me that's it that's it and I need a lawyer I'm not talking anymore because you guys are just trying to torture me here the investigators actually wanted to charge her with the murder right there and then but the district attorney refused citing the lack of evidence it would be a year and a half later that they would go ahead during the summer of 2014 that murder charges were filed against Sandra Melgar well what a development here a woman who once claimed to be the victim of a home invasion that ended up killing her husband is now charged with his murder you may remember this story Christmas Eve of 2012 Sandra Melgar claims somebody broke into her Northwest Harris County home tied her up in the closet and murdered her husband will now authorities say that was all an elaborate lie Mogar says that judge they were in the bathroom together sometimes she blacked out Sandra Melgar told police she and her husband Jaime were attacked inside their home her husband fatally stabbed she tied up for 12 hours you know just seemed like something was really strange with how it all came down with with them being tied up and just one person being killed a year and a half later 54 year-old Sandra Melgar is charged with her husband's murder court documents revealing he was stabbed with a knife you're wondering I mean it was so weird that what happened and how it happened nothing was didn't seem like we heard anything like can you been anything had been stolen or anything like that now curious neighbors want to know what information led investigators to charge mrs. Melgar and why it took so long they have after all been unnerved for over a year thinking a home invasion on their street was the work of ruthless thieves I believe to know that it's not a random you know it's not a home invasion [Music] the case finally went to trial in 2017 and this is when we learned a lot more the defense brought in an expert witness Billy Belk who was a homicide detective with the Houston Police Department for over 22 years and personally investigated well over 500 murder cases he went to the crime scene heard how loud the jacuzzi was went into the closets examined all pieces of evidence based upon his experiences and his analysis of the case he spoke of just how bad the investigation was first of all the EMS personnel you know who arrived at the scene were never questioned Herrmann Mel got and his wife the people who discovered Sandra Melgar and were first on the scene they were never questioned again which you think you might want to ask them a couple of follow-up questions being the first people to discover it but at don't worry no butter be grind in fact many longtime friends of the Mel gars were never interviewed which you think maybe they should have been to get an idea of their marriage the detectives wrote that the doors into the house there were locked you know so therefore no forced entry right so therefore Sandra must have been the one to do it except how did Herman Mel got get into the house then and people regular people visitors the house would say that door was never locked Liz Jim and Sandra's daughter was asked by the police to provide a list as to what was missing from the home if this was a burglary wink-wink she told them a TV was gone and this information was ignored by the police what was also ignored by the cops was a backpack Liz found in the garage it was under the Melgar car the backpack was from inside the home and inside was jewelry and Xbox some videogames and DNA was found on these items woman's DNA not Sandra Mel gaara's DNA the same unknown woman's DNA was found inside the house as well on jewelry boxes in January weeks after the incident Sandra recovered parts of her memory and she remembered a young Hispanic woman during the attack she said she was in her early to mid 20s wearing a dark red or burgundy blouse and she looked angry and she was talking to a person who was tying Sandra up who was behind Sandra now Sandra didn't mention this to the police obviously at the time as you know she didn't remember and over time she would say you know it's possible that she could regain some of her memories over time which which is possible but to the police seems like [ __ ] in the closet where Jim was found there was a safe the handle of that safe was all bloody that handle of the safe was never processed by the crime-scene investigators because when they were asked you know maybe you should have a look at it do some forensic [ __ ] they're like I know sure it would have been Sandra's would have been senator Melgar is your DNA and fingerprints you would have had on it so we never bought heard never bothered to look at it you know case closed already the police also found an unknown man's DNA on the scarf that was used to tie Sandra they also found it on the door handles in the master bedroom backpack in the garage and on just general door knobs around a house that DNA did not fit anyone in the Melgar family but to the police don't worry about it now long after the incident happened a local news station was reporting on the case and a reporter told police that they saw a suspicious person at the crime scene outside the Melgar home whose name was Chad Ryan Sullivan when asked he told the news reporter he lived you know in the local area hence why he was there just rubbernecking the reporter said he was acting strange upon checking him and the police system it turned out he was a thief and had a history of assault and who was also just out of jail on bond two days prior to Jim's death at one point you know the lead investigator paid this Chad a visit you know got to be seen to be you know at least entertaining all possibilities twice in the same day at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to be exact they popped by his home and got no answer from him they then left their business card to be contacted by Chad Sullivan and that was the last time they ever bought her - Troy contacted so yeah that's a lot of information there you know on one hand you have an investigation that seems like tunnel vision there's a lot of things here which would point to sound you're being innocent I mean basically on the other hand you have Sandra not even being capable of doing what happened okay so then what about the primary thing in you know most murder cases motive what was the motive why would Sandra do this if she was even capable of doing it which I don't think she was Sandra had some bruising on her upper arm during the interrogation the detectives said it looked like wrapper and bruising and that's when the detectives told Sandra that in their opinion there are two types of murderers one that would just kill you on the street in cold blood and to the one who is being pushed and murder by being triggered like Troon arguments we were hundreds and hundreds of murders okay and sometimes we we were cold-blooded killers they just on the street that would just kill something for nothing okay and sometimes we weren't murders that you're an argument and something happens okay there's two different types of people you understand because if you're arguing somebody and you lose it your temper and argument happened I think in the middle because I know how this works the only one in the house of course who else would be in the house that I know of no one the police checked neither Jim nor Sandra were having onion airs they went through their phone calls messages emails search history the couple had no financial problems either so why would Sandra possibly wants to murder her husband of over 32 years well the prosecution had a couple of theories ones which they pulled out of her hole the prosecutor argued one of the motives for the murder was that Sandra wanted out other Marge but as a Jehovah's Witness a divorce would leave Sandra shunned the only way to stay part of the community and to leave Jim at the same time was to murder him and then staged the crime to not be found out the other motive yes come on you know you know you know I know you know life insurance policy Jim had a big ol life insurance policy one that was like set up a decade earlier now both of these motives and all motives really are kind of just speculation nope it was a proof I'm not kidding they just pulled it as I said out of their hole the prosecutor also brought up the idea that Sandra lured Jim into letting her tie up his legs with the telephone cords as part of some kind of sex game and then took him by surprise using a large knife to stab him to death the idea of this you know lovely middle-aged religious couple having like a kinkier side is one that was grabbed onto pretty quickly there were some sex toys found under the pillow after bed ones which Sandra would say you know was given to them as a joke the jury question has Sandra's story was changing and they all agreed at the end of the day that her story just didn't make sense they said that the murder scene was too elaborate for an intruder to do it it seemed like maybe the most likely motive would be sexual sexual play sexual game gone wrong even and you know aside from Sandra story being kind of a bit iffy there were a number of things which the prosecution was like look at this this is proof for one the crime scene was staged the drawers were pulled out but not thrown across the room some detectives who worked in the burglary division said that it didn't look like a real burglary scene Sandra's bag and purse were left on top of the bed her credit cards were left inside but then again the TV was gone prescription drugs were gone and gyms billfolds money from Jim's billfold and money from Sandra's purse were gone so there were things stolen the police just didn't care but also you know there was no sign of forced entry yeah there was no forced entry because remember Herman Mel got Jim's brother who discovered the entire scene was able to get into the house who had kick him down a door but then there's documentation showing that Sandra who suffered from seizures they she was getting them under control she hadn't had one for quite some time but then again it's not uncommon for people who have suffered from a concussion to have a seizure even people who have never had a seizure before blood evidence there is blood only in the closet on its immediate vicinity there wasn't any leading out of the closet you know like a like an intruder might bring with them but then you know if this is pointing toward Xander there there was no clothes anywhere that she could have been wearing while killing Jim and she had no injuries to her body the murder weapon the knife that was used to kill Jim muched the other knives found in the kitchen so it seems that the attacker came without a weapon Sandra was not cut had not fled none of her blood was found in the house her DNA was not on Jim nor was Jim's blood found on her or her clothing now one thing though that is important to mention is remember there was a blouse found in the jacuzzi along with some towels and the knife was found there as well well blood spatter was found on that blouse no that blouse it was never checked to see if it was Sandy's the size of it was never checked to match up with what was in her closet but that is something for the prosecution Sandra could have been wearing that blouse put it into water in the jacuzzi along with the knife and the towels to try and wipe away any evidence it's definitely something worth mentioning chemical processing also established that there was no attempt made by Sandra Melgar to clean the sinks clean the shower or clean the jacuzzi no one cleaned up any crime scene sandra was a woman with multiple health issues it's unlikely she could have done it it's also unlikely that if she did do it it would have been so easy she wouldn't even get blood on her during the trial though the prosecutors pointed towards a cloudy fingernail on her hand which they you know felt pointed to her having to use some kind of cleaning supplies you know I mean I guess it could be nail polish remover either but uh who knows because of all this dodgy evidence the police the prosecution and the jury believed that Sandra murdered her husband with a knife and then tied herself up to make it look like some kind of staged robbery in August 2017 Sandra Melgar was found guilty and she was sentenced to 27 years in prison her projected release date is 2040 for the assistant district attorney said of the judge's ruling Sandra Melgar hacked the life out of her husband Jamie and for that she will spend a balance of her life on a cell block she showed no remorse the sentence is just as it though when you're finding somebody guilty isn't it supposed to be beyond a reasonable doubt and I think there's a lot of room for reasonable doubt here but uh oh yeah I forgot that's just in movies real life doesn't work that way in late 2018 famed attorney Kathleen Zellner took on the Sandra Melgar case you might remember her from such cases as Steven Avery or even Ryan Ferguson which we talked about not so long ago in 2019 the truth and just this podcast which had done a series on this case announced a $20,000 reward for the real killer of Jamie Jim Melgar who could still be out there I think is probably more than likely out there xander Melgar recently appealed though this was the night her family and friends including her daughter say they will continue to fight for her innocence they got it wrong that yeah they got it completely wrong you say you blacked out at the moment your husband was being murdered but people watching might think that sounds so convenient yeah it's not a code I have a seizure seizures and I had a lump in my head so I was hit and then I went into seizure more than likely I mean no one was there to actually see it but that's how it felt like when I woke up Sandra did you kill your husband no I did not kill my husband No fascinating case a bizarre would you know within which um on one hand you have somebody entering their home and murdering Jim while Sandra didn't hear anything and then um and then you know a knocking her out and tying her up which is kind of strange but then on the other hand you have Sandra with a lot of evidence to disprove she did it and that she would even be capable of doing it as always please let me know your thoughts on this case in the usual place if you want to learn more about this case please check out the link in the description and thank you so much for watching I really really appreciate it I will see you as always real soon in the next video take care of yourselves my go [Music] you

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,400,553

Rating: 4.8868756 out of 5

Keywords: that chapter, sandra melgar, jaime melgar, sandra melgar interrogation, sandra melgar documentary, sandra melgar scene, sandra melgar interview

Id: yUi796eyqkw

Length: 36min 47sec (2207 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/devilsadjutant]

Just all kinds of strange. I don't think she physical could have done it.

[u/TheFugitive70]

This case is the most glaring case of wrongful conviction I have ever seen. The police conducted an awful investigation and pinned it on a woman who was incapable physically of doing the murder. It’s a travesty, and I can’t believe she isn’t getting an appeal. Hope the Making a Murderer attorney works some magic.