MONTROSE, TEXAS: A 43-year-old woman has been arrested on a murder charge nearly 2 years after her landlord’s decomposed body was found in the backyard of his Montrose, Texas home.
Pamela Ann Merritt was arrested on Friday, August 18 after investigators claimed in May 2023 that she murdered 78-year-old Colin Kerdachi on or about February 15, 2021.
Kerdachi’s remains were found in a tri-plex at 605 West Gray Street on December 6, 2021, after Houston police officers visited the residence several times.
How were Colin Kerdachi’s remains found?
Deputies first visited the home on February 20, 2021, when Kerdachi’s loved ones reported him missing, saying that they did not hear from him following a storm, according to Law&Crime.
Then, three days later, police went back to the house to investigate a burglary, suspiciously carried out by a man, who lived on the ground floor and rented from Kerdachi, who lived on the top floor of the triplex.
The unidentified man told deputies that when he returned from a lengthy vacation trip, he found Merritt inside the house. Officers then took Merritt to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, the affidavit said
On October 2, 2021, police were once more called to the residence for a suspicious event where a different tenant reported finding large pools of blood in a third-floor bathroom
The renter further told the police that she discovered a knife in the mailbox and a bloody trash can in a third-floor crawl area.
The tenant was the same person, who found Kerdachi’s remains under the staircase in December 2021. “I saw the ribs poking out and that’s what made me think, ‘Is that a body? What is that?'” the woman told KTRK.
What are the charges against Pamela Ann Merritt?
A day after discovering Kerdachi’s remains, Houston police officers took Merritt in for an interview. Throughout the interrogation, Merritt reportedly refused to believe Kerdachi was dead and claimed that the remains were of a dead dog.
“She also claimed that she believes [Kerdachi] faked his death to commit fraud and is probably alive in Africa,” the affidavit said.
Merritt became the prime suspect in Kerdachi’s murder after a detective interrogated the man who called the cops about the February 2021 burglary.
The man informed investigators that when he asked Merritt about Kerdachi’s whereabouts she allegedly told him that she killed him.
Detectives also spoke with a man who said he was hanging out with a man who was hanging out with Merritt days before Kerdachi’s body was found and also heard her say she killed her landlord and that the body was under the stairs.
An arrest warrant was issued May 30 for Merritt on the murder charge and she was taken into custody on Friday.
Investigators also arrested another man identified as Michael Brown, who they believe helped Merritt in decomposing Kerdachi’s body. Brown is facing tampering with evidence charge, according to police.
