HOUSTON – Once believed to be a grieving widow after 32 years of marriage, prosecutors said 54-year-old Sandra Melgar is the person responsible for her husband's death.
"I guess we're all just probably happy that there's some closure to the story," said neighbor John Savickis. "It's been a while."
Two days before Christmas 2012 -- just days after the couple celebrated their anniversary -- relatives found Sandra Melgar tied up in a closet in their northwest Harris County home on Kelsey Meadows Court near Gessner and Mauna Loa. They found her husband Jaime -- known to neighbors and friends as Jim or Jimmy -- tied up in another closet. He had been stabbed.
Sandra Melgar told investigators she had blacked out and woke up in the closet, not knowing how she or her husband ended up in either closet. Nineteen months later on July 21 a grand jury decided there was enough evidence to charge Sandra Melgar with her husband's murder.
"You don't know what goes on behind somebody's closed doors," said neighbor Sloan Essman.
Essman is the neighbor who called 911 the night of the murder. He and other neighbors said based on questions they received from investigators, many of them said they never bought Sandra Melgar's story and aren't surprised by the indictment.
"An indictment doesn't say for sure either way," said Melgar. "But it kind of lends more, you know, you think, 'Oh, well at least that's what they think is what happened.'"
"With the story laid out how it was, I guess I can't say that it was overly shocking," said Savickis.
Melgar was arrested on Tuesday. She posted $50,000 bond and was released. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Aug.14.