True Crime Vault: Til Death Do Us Part

Summary

20/20 Podcast Episode Summary Episode: True Crime Vault: Til Death Do Us Part
Host: ABC News
Release Date: July 29, 2025

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Introduction

In the True Crime Vault: Til Death Do Us Part episode of ABC News' 20/20, host Bob Ruff delves into one of America's most perplexing true crime cases—the brutal murder of Jim Melgar by his wife, Sandy Melgar. This episode explores the intricate details of the crime, the subsequent trial, and the ongoing quest for justice through a crowdsourced investigation spearheaded by Ruff and his dedicated audience.

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Background of the Melgar Family

The story revolves around Jaime Estuardo Melgar, known as Jim Melgar, and his wife Sandy Melgar.

• Jim Melgar: An IT specialist, Jim was admired for his dedication to family and his professional life.
• Sandy Melgar: A nurse battling multiple health issues including lupus, epilepsy, and later, hyperthyroidism. Despite her ailments, Sandy was known for her loving and nurturing nature.

Their daughter, Liz Melgar, fondly recalls her parents' strong bond and the loving environment they fostered:

• Liz Melgar: "I always had a lot of love and attention, and I think I might have taken that for granted as a teenager when, you know, you go through your rebellious years."
• Aunt Marissa Campos: "Sandy and Jim were just very loving towards each other, respectful. You can just tell they always had each other's back."

The Melgars were active members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian sect known for its strict behavioral codes.

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The Crime: April 2012, Houston

On a foggy night in Houston in April 2012, Sandy and Jim Melgar were celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary. The evening began with a dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant, followed by a stop at a local CVS to purchase drink mixers.

After returning home, the couple settled into their jacuzzi for a relaxing evening. Their four dogs began barking, prompting Jim to step out to attend to them, leaving Sandy alone in the tub.

Key Moments Leading to the Tragedy:

• [05:32] Sandy Melgar: Describes their evening: "They got home, they started getting drinks ready. They got into the jacuzzi in their bathroom. They were just, you know, they spent a few hours in there..."

• [06:14] The dogs' incessant barking leads Jim to exit the jacuzzi, while Sandy continues to soak for an additional 5 to 15 minutes.

• [07:06] Upon returning, Jim discovers his wife tied up in the master bathroom closet and finds his own body in the master bedroom closet, brutally stabbed and beaten to death.

Crime Scene Details:

• Violent Injuries: Jim sustained 17 stab wounds, 14 cutting wounds, and 20 blunt force injuries.
• Evidence: A bloody knife was found in the tub, bloodstains on a chair, a loaded gun above Jim's head, and signs of a possible staged home invasion with ransacked drawers and scattered personal belongings.

Notable Quote:

• [10:04] Sandy Melgar: "It's my opinion that the assault and his death occurred in the closet."

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Initial Investigation and Suspect: Sandy Melgar

Despite being the sole witness, Sandy's account raised suspicions among law enforcement due to inconsistencies and lack of motive.

Sandy's Testimony:

• [14:32] Sandy claims to have no recollection of the attack, attributing her memory loss to a seizure caused by her epilepsy.
• [16:11] Sandy Melgar: "I couldn't move because I had a seizure, and so I usually can't move anyway."

Detectives' Skepticism:

Law enforcement was unconvinced by Sandy’s explanation, leading to her becoming the primary suspect.

Notable Quotes:

• [17:19] Sandy Melgar: "What the hell happened? I don't know if I was supposed to say that, but. But that's what I was thinking."

• [17:33] Sandy Melgar: "No. No, I did not. Would you tell me if you did?"

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The Trial

Five years after the murder, Sandy Melgar faced trial in 2017. Prosecutor Colleen Barnett presented a case portraying Sandy as a "black widow" who murdered her husband to escape an impending divorce and avoid social ostracization from the Jehovah's Witnesses community.

Prosecutor's Theory:

• Motive: Sandy sought divorce but feared rejection by her religious community.
• Method: Sandy allegedly tied Jim with a telephone cord during a supposed intimate moment, then attacked him with a kitchen knife.

Defense Arguments:

• Lack of Motive: The Melgars had a seemingly happy marriage with no signs of abuse.
• Alternative Theories: Defense suggested the possibility of a home invasion or external attackers, citing DNA evidence that did not match the Melgar family.

Key Evidence Highlighted:

• Unmatched DNA: Found on dresser handles and doorways, suggesting the presence of additional individuals.
• Blood Evidence: Absence of Jim's blood in the bathroom where Sandy was found, raising questions about the sequence of events.

Notable Quotes:

• [24:27] Sandy Melgar: "It's my opinion that Sandy and my uncle Jim never really got distant."

• [24:10] Sandy Melgar: "They kept the chair there for the Pomeranian to get on the bed. It was always kept in that location. There's no mystery there."

Verdict:

After 11 days of testimony, the jury found Sandy Melgar guilty of murder.

• [31:30] Sandy Melgar: "All of us, we were all just quiet, just holding hands, just hoping for a good outcome."

• [31:49] Sandy Melgar: "I still feel sick to my stomach when I think about it or I hear other people talk about it."

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Post-Verdict and Ongoing Doubts

Despite the conviction, Sandy's family, including her daughter Liz, remained convinced of her innocence. They questioned the validity of the evidence and the possibility of alternative suspects.

Bob Ruff’s Involvement:

Bob Ruff, a renowned true crime podcaster with a significant following, took a keen interest in the case. Believing in Sandy's innocence, Ruff initiated a crowdsourced investigation to re-examine the evidence and uncover overlooked aspects of the case.

Notable Quotes:

• [33:12] Liz Melgar: "I saw the prosecution's case didn't have any meat to it. There were no bones behind why they convicted her."

• [37:56] Sandy Melgar: "I think he's found a lot of evidence that points away from her."

Crowdsourced Investigation Highlights:

1. Crime Scene Photo Analysis: Ruff and his audience meticulously reviewed every photograph, identifying inconsistencies in the placement of furniture and the state of the room.

2. Jacuzzi Blouse: A specific blouse found in the tub was traced back to a designer exclusive to Costco, suggesting that only members could purchase it, potentially identifying additional suspects.

3. Unmatched DNA Evidence: The presence of unknown DNA samples indicated that the crime scene involved more individuals than initially considered.

Notable Quotes:

• [40:02] Sandy Melgar: "It's something that is an absolute game changer for the innocence world. We're just beginning to see how powerful it can be."

• [41:59] Sandy Melgar: "Running a business comes with a lot of what ifs, but luckily there's a simple answer to them."

Impact of the Investigation:

Ruff's approach emphasizes the power of collective scrutiny, where thousands of listeners contribute ideas, research, and analysis, potentially uncovering truths that traditional investigations may have missed.

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Current Status and Hope for Justice

As of the episode's release in 2025, Sandy Melgar remains incarcerated, serving a 27-year sentence. However, the renewed investigation fueled by Ruff and his audience raises questions about the integrity of the original trial and the possibility of wrongful conviction.

Family’s Perspective:

Liz Melgar expressed hope that the crowdsourced investigation could lead to new evidence or insights that might exonerate her mother.

• [39:11] Liz Melgar: "I'm really thankful for all the work that, you know, you and your listeners have put into this. I feel like we're actually moving forward, right?"

Ongoing Efforts:

Bob Ruff continues to analyze the case, focusing on the unresolved aspects and encouraging public participation to uncover the truth.

• [41:59] Sandy Melgar: "I think he's found a lot of evidence that points away from her."

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Conclusion

True Crime Vault: Til Death Do Us Part presents a compelling narrative of a seemingly straightforward case that unravels into a complex web of doubt and uncertainty. Through meticulous recounting of the events, examination of the evidence, and highlighting the power of collective investigation, the episode invites listeners to question the boundaries of justice and the possibility of unseen truths lying beneath the surface of high-profile convictions.

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Notable Quotes:

• Sandy Melgar: "Sometimes people kill other people for reasons that are unknown. I'll never know why Sandra killed her husband. All I know is that she did kill him." [24:15]

• Bob Ruff: "Can I see a scenario where this happened? Can I make this make sense that Sandra Melgar killed her husband? In this case, I couldn't see it, so we jumped in." [33:12]

• Sandy Melgar: "I know how it looks, but I was also tied up." [22:27]

• Bob Ruff: "It's Bob's belief that the authorities were only pursuing evidence that would lead to Sandy's guilt." [37:02]

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This episode not only revisits a tragic event but also underscores the evolving nature of true crime investigations, where public involvement and technological advancements hold the potential to reshape narratives and seek justice beyond conventional methodologies.

Transcript

[Sandy Melgar]

On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone.

[Bob Ruff]

Welcome to the true crime Vault, home.

[Sandy Melgar]

To 2020's most chilling stories.

[Narrator]

Test, test, test. Okay, we are hot. The tale that I'm about to tell you is that of a beautiful love story that ended in tragedy.

[Bob Ruff]

But Bob Ruff has made a career out of America's obsession with violent crime.

[Narrator]

During the struggle, the chair gets knocked over onto its back. The killer comes out with blood all over them. The bloody knife in the water of the tub, to me, that indicates that the killer for some reason believes that this will wash off my DNA, this will wash off my prints.

[Bob Ruff]

His popular podcast, Truth and Justice is a deep dive into the gruesome details of tragic and bloody murder scenes. This former small town fire chief now attracts an audience of a quarter million listeners.

[Narrator]

This really, really seems like a case of actual innocence. Our podcast does a crowdsourced investigation or reinvestigation of potential wrongful conviction cases. A quarter of a million people all put their minds together and all work on these projects together and investigate them as one streaming unit. We can accomplish some amazing things and he gets results.

[Bob Ruff]

Ruff helped get this guy, Ed Aitz, paroled out of a Texas state prison where he'd spent 20 of a 99 year sentence.

[Sandy Melgar]

I think without Bob and the listeners of his Truth and Justice army, Ed to this day would be sitting in prison looking at, celebrating another round of holidays without his family.

[Bob Ruff]

And it didn't take long for Bob Ruff to be deluged with requests for help.

[Narrator]

We get on an average month, probably a couple of dozen cases pitched to us through our case submission email. And then if we announce that we're looking for a new case, that number can climb into the hundreds.

[Bob Ruff]

And out of those hundreds of emails, one story grabbed his attention. It was about a family shattered by one of the most bizarre crimes he'd ever heard of.

[Narrator]

We screened it, started gathering information, started getting ahold of documents and crime scene photos, reaching out to the DA and within two months, we were rolling with episode one.

[Bob Ruff]

It's a case of murder that five years later is still highly controversial. When Bob Roth starts to peel back.

[Narrator]

The layers, Jaime Estuardo Melgar was born on August 10, 1960, in Guatemala. When he was just three years old, he immigrated to the United States. Jaime was known to be very intelligent and quick with a joke, and his charms weren't lost ON Young Sandy McCulloch.

[Bob Ruff]

These high school sweethearts were soon married. Jim finds work as an IT specialist in Sandy as a nurse, and together they join the Jehovah's Witnesses, an austere Christian sect that demands strict rules of behavior. Their daughter Liz is now in her late 20s. What was it like growing up as the only child in the Melgar family?

[Sandy Melgar]

You know, I always had a lot of love and attention, and I think I might have taken that for granted as a teenager when, you know, you go through your rebellious years.

[Bob Ruff]

Liz's cousin Marissa remembers looking up to them as role models when she went to visit.

[Sandy Melgar]

Sandy and Jim were just very loving towards each other, respectful. You can just tell they always had each other's back. They were always helping each other out. I liked watching them together.

[Bob Ruff]

As daughter Liz grew up, she became especially close to her mom, Sandy. What was her personality like in general?

[Sandy Melgar]

She's just very caring and loving and nurturing. She was also a lot of fun. She knew how to joke around, tell a good joke. You know, I just felt like she was the embodiment of a mother, just, you know, the kind of person that you would picture when you think of that word. She was just such a loving person.

[Bob Ruff]

But Sandy is also a very ill person, suffering through hip replacements, hyperthyroidism, lupus, and epilepsy. As a kid, you knew your mom was sick. Did you know she had lupus and epilepsy?

[Sandy Melgar]

She had epilepsy before I was born, and the lupus didn't come until I was about three. I remember that because she had to seek treatment for about six weeks. She had gone paralyzed on one side of her body. She was in a wheelchair. She was having a really hard time.

[Bob Ruff]

More and more, Sandy is leaning on the support of her husband. But Jim's niece Marissa says he never complained. In sickness and in health was a vow they lived by.

[Sandy Melgar]

I don't think that Sandy and my uncle Jim ever really got distant. If anything, I think their, you know, relationship just grew stronger and stronger.

[Bob Ruff]

It's a foggy night in Houston in 2012, and Sandra Melgaard is feeling pretty good on this night. So she and her husband Jim decide to go out for a celebratory dinner. It's their 32nd anniversary.

[Sandy Melgar]

What she's told me was that they were gonna go out to dinner. And they were going to their favorite Mexican place that they go almost every weekend. And they stopped by local CVS just to grab drink mixers on their way back home. They got home, they started getting drinks ready. They got into the jacuzzi in their bathroom. They were just, you know, they spent a few hours in there, you know, just this and that. Chit chat.

[Narrator]

Suddenly the Melgar's four dogs started barking in the backyard. So Jim got out of the tub to bring the pups inside. Sandy continued to soak, the jets roaring as the water massaged her for about five to 15 minutes.

[Sandy Melgar]

I think he took a few minutes. So she decided to get out of the jacuzzi. She went to her closet, sat on her chair that she has in her closet and started putting lotion on.

[Bob Ruff]

That's the last thing that Sandy says she remembers that night. The next afternoon is a planned family get together. Jim's brother Herman and his family show up at about 4:30, a little behind schedule as usual.

[Sandy Melgar]

Here we are running late and he would always make fun of us for that. Here's the Milgar family, always running late.

[Narrator]

Tocamos to camos la puerta.

[Sandy Melgar]

Principal we knocked on the front door and no one came to open it. All we heard were the dogs barking. I was telling my dad this doesn't feel right.

[Bob Ruff]

What Marisha and her family are about to see will haunt them forever.

[Narrator]

17 stab wounds, 14 cutting wounds and 20 blunt force wounds. These wounds would take time to kill.

[Bob Ruff]

Stay with us. Jim and Sandy melk are toasting 32 apparently happy years together. Dinner out followed by a romance in the jacuzzi. But Saturday night becomes Sunday afternoon and their tiny brick home in suburban Houston is about to reveal a grim secret and a puzzling mystery. When no one answers the doorbell, Jim's brother Herman enters the house through an overhead garage door someone had left wide open. He continues through an unlocked interior door and into the house, unlocking the front door. At first there's only the yapping of the four dogs. But then from deep in the dim house comes a feeble reply.

[Sandy Melgar]

At that moment, I heard someone say help.

[Narrator]

Help.

[Sandy Melgar]

It was Sandra's voice. I began to think the worst. My heart dropped. I knew something was wrong. My dad. He immediately just sprang into action.

[Bob Ruff]

Herman follows that cry for help through the house to the master bedroom into the master bath.

[Narrator]

Sandy's cries for help were coming from inside the bathroom. Walk in closet podcaster Bob Ruff. The scene looked like something you'd see in the movies. A chair was propped up against the door, holding it shut from the outside. He grabs the chair, moves it out from under the doorknob, and slides it to the side so he can open the door.

[Sandy Melgar]

And when he opened it, he saw Sandy lying there, tied up. She was lying on the floor with her hands tied behind her, like this. Well, tied. And her legs, too.

[Narrator]

Her arms were behind her back, but her arms were like this. And the bindings were wrapped multiple times around her forearms. Herman tries to untie Sandy's bindings from her arms, and he can't seem to find where the knot's at. Sandy tells him that there's a pair of scissors on the counter near the closet. He grabs the scissors, starts cutting her out of the bindings.

[Bob Ruff]

Sandy seems groggy, but she's alive and apparently unharmed. But her husband Jim, has suffered a far more devastating fate.

[Narrator]

Jim was found nude and beaten and stabbed to death in the master bedroom closet, which is about 30ft away from where she was at.

[Bob Ruff]

His legs are tied with a telephone cord. A rope is loosely tied around his chest.

[Sandy Melgar]

He's got a lot of defensive wounds on both hands, which means he's trying to either disarm the attacker or block the assault.

[Bob Ruff]

Celestina Rossi is a crime scene investigator who helped authorities investigate the case. In her opinion, Jim and his assailant were locked in hand to hand mortal combat right here in his bedroom closet.

[Sandy Melgar]

It's my opinion that the assault and his death occurred in the closet.

[Narrator]

Aside from the 31 cuts and stabs, Jim was badly beaten in the face and head, causing serious damage to his skull, brain, and facial bones.

[Bob Ruff]

It just sounds like a horrifically violent and bloody crime scene.

[Narrator]

This was an ugly murder. This is a murder on a man that was fighting with everything he had, Fighting for his life. He's grabbing a hold of the killer's wrists. He's hitting them. Jim is blocking them and grabbing them, and he's stopping them from ever getting a full penetration into him. And again, all these injuries, none of them are immediately incapacitating. So this just dragged on and on and on.

[Bob Ruff]

When Sandy is freed from the closet and sees Jim's body, the family says she becomes hysterical.

[Sandy Melgar]

Sandy was very upset. She was crying uncontrollably, but my mom was holding her back.

[Bob Ruff]

There is one question hanging over the crime scene.

[Sandy Melgar]

What the hell happened? I'm sorry. I don't know if I was supposed to say that, but. But that's what I was thinking. I was thinking what. What could have happened here? I don't. Who could have done this to them.

[Bob Ruff]

Detectives and crime scene investigators swarm all over the Melgar home taking photos and video, trying to answer that question. Who could have done this? Floating in that Jacuzzi tub where Sandy says she and Jim spent some of the last moments of his life. A ghostly particle of clothing, a white blouse. Also glinting in the bathwater. Very much out of place, a kitchen knife, which authorities believe was used to inflict many of Jim's wounds. How to explain this horrifying mayhem? Was it burglars? A home invasion? Sure looks like it. Drawers pulled out. Jewelry boxes rifled. The contents of Jim's wallet and Sandy's purse dumped on the bed. And in the closet where Jim's body was found, two items of special interest. A locked safe and hidden on a shelf behind hanging clothes. Jim's loaded gun.

[Narrator]

There was a loaded gun in the closet where he was found. It was located where he was found, directly above his head. And you can see bloody transfer marks, like from a bloody hand where he had grabbed the closet rod, the shelf in the shirt sleeve that was right there in front of the gun. And he just never. Sadly, they never quite got to it.

[Bob Ruff]

Podcaster Bob Brough says those items could indicate robbers were trying to get Jim to open the safe or that he was fighting to reach his gun to fend them off.

[Narrator]

Jim Melgar, as is the expression in Texas, went out with his boots on. He did not go down without a fight.

[Bob Ruff]

The gun, the safe, the ransacked rooms. Sandy bound, hand and foot barricaded in a closet. The crime scene seems to be telling a story, but detectives want to hear what the sole witness who somehow survived the brutal attack has to say.

[Narrator]

Sandy had survived. She could at least give him a description of the offenders who had tied her up.

[Sandy Melgar]

Do you know what has happened today? My husband was murdered. How? I don't know.

[Narrator]

And that's where things really began to break bad for Sandy Melgar.

[Bob Ruff]

Stay with us. A thousand miles away from Sandy and Jim Melgar's Houston area home, here in the small town of Bridgman, Michigan, where violent crimes are ironically few and far between. Most mornings you can find true crime podcaster Bob Ruff pumping iron in his basement gym. But later, Ruff can be found giving his gray matter a workout in his backyard studio as he and his producer Mike Bussing puzzle over the subject of their latest part podcast episodes, the Melgar Case.

[Narrator]

We began this season with a story because that's all we had.

[Bob Ruff]

Remember, it was on an afternoon just before Christmas 2012, that 52 year old Jim Melgar was found brutally stabbed to death in the bedroom closet of his suburban Houston home.

[Narrator]

Luckily, Detective Carozal must have thought they at least had an eyewitness. Sandy had survived. She could at least give him a description of the offenders who had tied her up. And that's where things really began to break bad for Sandy Melgar.

[Bob Ruff]

Just hours after her husband's body was discovered, Sandy Melgar finds herself face to face with two detectives.

[Narrator]

Let's start from the morning. When you woke up today, where were you at?

[Sandy Melgar]

Yes, in my closet.

[Bob Ruff]

During her two hour police interview, Sandy seems dazed and distraught. In an unsteady voice, she relays what she says happened that fateful night. The anniversary celebration dinner at a Mexican restaurant. And then the stop at a CBS drugstore to buy some drinks. After arriving at home, Sandy says she and Jim undressed and got into the Jacuzzi for their romantic candlelit interlude.

[Sandy Melgar]

How long were y' all sitting there talking? About two hours. What were y' all talking about? The years we end. About my daughter, about his job. Nothing particular.

[Narrator]

Any disagreement?

[Bob Ruff]

Sometime after midnight, Sandy tells detectives that her husband heard their dogs barking. Got out of the Jacuzzi to let them inside.

[Sandy Melgar]

It was taking a while, so I got out and was gonna get dressed or change in my closet, and I went in there and I started to change. That's all I remember until I woke up.

[Bob Ruff]

As incredible as it may seem, even though her husband was brutally murdered just 30ft away from her, Sandy says she saw nothing and heard nothing. And she blames her mind's blank slate on her epilepsy, saying she must have had a seizure.

[Sandy Melgar]

I couldn't move because I had a seizure, and so I usually can't move anyway. I hurt all over and my head hurts. How often do you have seizures like that? I've been getting them more lately. Not able to drive anymore. How frequent? At least once a month, maybe.

[Bob Ruff]

Sandy's daughter Liz says it wasn't unusual for her mother to experience epileptic seizures. Did you ever see your mother have a seizure?

[Sandy Melgar]

Yeah, I did. Several times.

[Bob Ruff]

What does it look like?

[Sandy Melgar]

It's violent and it's scary, especially if you've never seen one before. When she comes to, you help her in a bed or help her off the floor, wherever she is.

[Bob Ruff]

But the detectives clearly aren't buying Sandy's account of blacking out during the vicious attack.

[Narrator]

Isn't it ironic that you black out.

[Sandy Melgar]

The exact time when he's getting stabbed and bludgeon? I don't have an answer for you Multiple times like that. Dying, screaming for help. Oh, my gosh. Just. You know what? I don't understand that. That's ironic to me.

[Bob Ruff]

Could you see why they thought it might be her?

[Sandy Melgar]

I could see that. I could definitely see that. It does. It sounds crazy if you don't know her situation or even if you're not familiar with what epilepsy looks like. But knowing my parents, knowing my mother and her limitations, it was just crazy.

[Bob Ruff]

The detectives relentlessly turned the screws on Sandy, pressing her on whether there was bad blood between her and her husband.

[Narrator]

Was your husband abusive towards you?

[Sandy Melgar]

No. We got a lot to fine. Ask all my friends. We got a lot. Great. Did you stage that at your house, ma'? Am? Stage it? Yeah. Did you.

[Narrator]

Did you plan this?

[Sandy Melgar]

No. No, I did not. Would you tell me if you did? I would know where to start to stage it. And how am I going to tie myself up like that and not even be able to get out of it?

[Bob Ruff]

But after Sandy refuses to immediately take a lie detector test.

[Sandy Melgar]

I'm so stressed right now, I can't even think straight.

[Bob Ruff]

It appears the cops are no longer looking at her as a grieving spouse. They think she's a black widow. When you see your mother's interrogation tape, what does it make you think?

[Sandy Melgar]

It just makes me think that there were these two police officers who got tunnel vision as soon as they walked into the door, and that their sole purpose was just to find a way to bring charges on my mother. It's not really an interrogation. It's just trying to find out what happened. What do you know? I mean, she was the only one in the house. I don't think it was confrontational at all. I mean, one of the police officers is mimicking my dad, calling her for.

[Narrator]

Help, screaming after screaming after screaming. He's in pain. I need help. Help me, Sandra.

[Sandy Melgar]

Sandra.

[Narrator]

I need help.

[Sandy Melgar]

I didn't hear anything. Stop already. I need help.

[Narrator]

Sandra. I need help. Help me.

[Sandy Melgar]

That's it. That's it. I need a lawyer. I'm not talking anymore because you guys are just trying to torture me here.

[Narrator]

Did you kill your husband?

[Sandy Melgar]

No, I didn't.

[Bob Ruff]

While the interview may be over, she is far from out of the investigators crosshairs.

[Sandy Melgar]

Clearly, the evidence pointed out that she's the one that did it.

[Bob Ruff]

Coming up, did Sandra Sandy Melgar, a petite woman who suffers from lupus and epilepsy and walks with a cane, stab her husband to death and then walk away without a single drop of blood on her? So are you saying that the Homicide detectives and the prosecution have pinned this murder on Sandy Melgar simply because it was the expedient thing to do, a prosecutor tying herself in knots to prove her case. But 2020 continues. This show is supported by Chime.

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[Bob Ruff]

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[Bob Ruff]

Sandy Melgar's family says within a matter of hours she goes from wife to widow to prime suspect in the brutal beating and stabbing of her husband. Their niece, Marissa Campos says the very evening the crime is discovered, it is immediately obvious detectives are laser focused on a single suspect. No manhunt, no mystery in their eyes, she says. Jim Melgar's murderer is standing right in front of them.

[Sandy Melgar]

It's Sandy all Her questions seemed to be pointing towards her. It seemed like they just jumped straight to, how was your relationship? Like, was he abusive? They were pointing the finger at Sandy.

[Bob Ruff]

Do you love your husband?

[Sandy Melgar]

Yes, I love my husband. But you want us to finally kill him. Of course I don't think you do.

[Bob Ruff]

Those detectives interviewing Sandy just can't accept that she could be oblivious as her husband is being murdered in the next room.

[Narrator]

You're in the house, and your husband's in the house, and your husband's dead.

[Sandy Melgar]

Okay, I know that. I know that.

[Narrator]

So.

[Sandy Melgar]

I know how it looks, but I was also tied up.

[Bob Ruff]

But podcaster Bob Ruff says he doesn't see Sandy as a solid suspect.

[Narrator]

I just kept waiting for that moment of there's the lover, there's the affair, there's the $2 million life insurance policy, and it wasn't there.

[Bob Ruff]

Even the authorities, it appears, might agree, at least at first. The detectives interviewing Sandy take a break to wake up a prosecutor in the middle of the night. But no charges, no handcuffs. Sandy is free to go. She moves on, trying to pick up the pieces, enjoying time with her daughter and the growing family her husband, Jim never got to meet. A year and a half after the murder of her father, Liz learns of a major break in the case. A grand jury indictment. Her mother.

[Sandy Melgar]

There was a warrant out for her arrest. So we called the lawyer and we had her turn herself in. I was very surprised. I jumped out of bed. I went to go tell my parents, you know, what's happening. We were all just in shock.

[Bob Ruff]

In spite of the murder charges, Sandy is out on bail for three years. When her trial finally rolls around in 2017, prosecutor Colleen Barnett has a challenge proving that Sandy ended decades of apparently happy marriage with that kitchen knife. But Barnett admits she can't explain why Sandy did it.

[Sandy Melgar]

In Texas, we don't have to prove a motive. And I thought that I was going to be able to prove that she did what she did, but I wouldn't be able to prove motive.

[Narrator]

That raised some red flags for me.

[Sandy Melgar]

As an observer, because there's this woman who doesn't seem like she could be a killer.

[Narrator]

And then there's this prosecutor says she's.

[Sandy Melgar]

The killer, but we don't know why.

[Bob Ruff]

Barnett says a possible motive came to her in the middle of the trial.

[Sandy Melgar]

It wasn't until the Jehovah's Witnesses testified from the defense, and I learned a little bit about the religion that I thought possibly that might have been part of it.

[Bob Ruff]

Defense witnesses said the Melgars appeared to have Had a good marriage. Nevertheless, Barnett conjures a theory. Sandy wants a divorce, but afraid of being shunned by her fellow Jehovah's Witnesses, decides the easier option is murder.

[Sandy Melgar]

I don't know what her motive was. Sometimes people kill other people for reasons that are unknown. I'll never know why Sandra killed her husband. All I know is that she did kill him.

[Bob Ruff]

But if the why in this case is a head scratcher, wait till you hear the how. Barnett argues in court that Sandy lured Jim into letting her tie his legs with the telephone cord, perhaps as some sort of sex game.

[Sandy Melgar]

Then all of a sudden, she pulls out a large kitchen knife and starts stabbing him. His response, I mean, just think about what his response would be. Total surprise. He's just trying to defend himself. And she keeps coming, and she's stabbing him. She stabbed him multiple times. I think probably he just backed up into the closet as opposed to trying to hurt her, because that was his wife.

[Bob Ruff]

As for all that evidence of a home invasion the prosecutor says never happened, the ransacking looks staged. She says drawers still neatly arranged, not dumped.

[Sandy Melgar]

Nothing was taken out of the drawers. One of the drawers that was open had a camera in it. They had bicycles. There were prescription drugs. There were electronic devices that were there. It was a treasure trove of things to be stolen. And nothing was taken that Liz could account for.

[Bob Ruff]

Sandy's defense attorneys, Max Seacrest and his niece Allison, say there are things missing from the house and that ransacking doesn't always look like a Hollywood movie.

[Narrator]

They tried to leave the impression with the jury that for it to be.

[Sandy Melgar]

A home invasion robbery, then you have to come in and you have to literally destroy everything.

[Bob Ruff]

And if there's an open drawer, you.

[Sandy Melgar]

Got to pull it out, you got to turn it upside down, throw it on the ground.

[Bob Ruff]

Then there's the question of blood. Everyone agrees the killer probably would have been bloodied in the death struggle with Jim. But Sandy's hands are clean, and there's no sign anyone washed up in the house.

[Sandy Melgar]

If I'm the killer, I gotta wash myself off. Where do I do that? When you go into the bathrooms or the bathtubs, his blood is not there.

[Narrator]

So if she's the killer, where's his blood?

[Bob Ruff]

Sandy's attorneys also point out the lack of injuries on her hands.

[Sandy Melgar]

She has fingernails. None of them are broken. None of them are chipped.

[Narrator]

So how do you hold a knife? And you repeatedly thrust it and hit somebody.

[Sandy Melgar]

But she never has any injury in.

[Narrator]

Any way to her hand.

[Sandy Melgar]

You know, she's not Bruce Lee or something.

[Bob Ruff]

No blood spread around the house, but there was DNA that doesn't match the Melgar family.

[Sandy Melgar]

There's unknown male DNA on really key pieces of evidence in this house. There's unknown female DNA as well, found on the dresser drawer pulls and on door handles and on bathroom door handles, which again corroborates the fact that there was other people in this house who did this.

[Bob Ruff]

Sandy's attorneys tell the jury she too is a victim knocked out by home invaders or blacked out with one of her epileptic seizures. But the prosecutor shoots holes in the seizure defense.

[Sandy Melgar]

I got the records from her physician. Every single entry that the doctor asks her, have you had a seizure? She says no.

[Bob Ruff]

From the beginning, authorities have questioned Sandy's account of being tied up and locked in a closet, relying on a series of Houdini style demonstrations the very night the crime scene is discovered. Officers are already reenacting for their crime scene camera how they say Sandy could have used a small rug or a pillow shaft to slide the chair into place under the doorknob, locking herself into the closet. Watch again. Rug, chair slide. Presto. Cops say an airtight walk in alibi. But wait, there's more.

[Sandy Melgar]

Then I thought, okay, she's tied herself up with her hands behind her back and her feet. That sounds kind of hard to do. So when I looked at the evidence and saw the tie that she actually used, I was able to replicate that and I saw how easy it is to tie yourself up and make it look legitimate.

[Bob Ruff]

Though it's not as she did for the jury. In open court, prosecutor Colleen Barnett shows us how she believes Sandy tied her own hands behind her back.

[Sandy Melgar]

It's not whether it's really a legitimate tie. It's whether it looks like a legitimate tie.

[Bob Ruff]

Has the prosecutor given the jury enough rope to hang Sandy Melgar? Her attorneys say no way.

[Sandy Melgar]

This idea that something must have happened.

[Narrator]

And she went crazy and subjected him.

[Bob Ruff]

To over 50 blunt force and sharp force injuries is just impossible. Still ahead, why they claim sloppy police work left clues overlooked. There was audible laughter in the courtroom about how shoddy this investigation was and potential suspects unquestioned.

[Sandy Melgar]

There were people thinking, that's as good as you're going to get.

[Bob Ruff]

Stay with us.

[Sandy Melgar]

Us.

[Bob Ruff]

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[Narrator]

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[Sandy Melgar]

Been on hold to make a doctor's appointment for 23 minutes now. The automated voice has told me 47 times that my call is very important to them. I'm starting to think that they don't think my call is important at all.

[Narrator]

With Amazon One Medical 24. 7 Virtual Care, you'll get help fast without having to remain on the line to make an appointment. Amazon One Medical Healthcare just got less painful.

[Bob Ruff]

Five years after Jim Melgar was found fatally stabbed in his bedroom closet, his wife Sandy is put on trial for his murder. After 11 days of testimony, Sandy's case is sent to the jury. Its foreman is Tom Bush. We all talked about how this case.

[Narrator]

Was the last thing you thought about.

[Sandy Melgar]

When you went to bed at night.

[Narrator]

First thing you thought about when you.

[Sandy Melgar]

Woke up in the morning.

[Narrator]

That's the gravity that we weighed this.

[Bob Ruff]

Case with at first. Bush says the jury is split down the middle.

[Narrator]

The scenario espoused by the prosecutor was extremely effective and frankly, I think really the only viable scenario when you look at it, it was definitely a crime of passion.

[Bob Ruff]

And by day two, the jury reaches a verdict.

[Sandy Melgar]

All of us, we were all just quiet, just holding hands, just hoping for a good outcome. We, the jury, find the defendant, Sandra Jean Melgar, guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. It's signed the foreman of the grand jury.

[Bob Ruff]

When you heard that word read in court, guilty.

[Sandy Melgar]

You know, I felt like everything just got really quiet and the room was just kind of spinning and, yeah, I still, I still feel sick to my stomach when I think about it or I hear other people talk about it. The whole courtroom just burst into tears. There were people sobbing uncontrollably. I just couldn't believe it. I remember clearly just looking at the jurors, just staring at them, and I wanted them to look at us and, you know, just kind of so they can see what, you know, the pain that they were causing.

[Bob Ruff]

Brian Rogers of the Houston Chronicle was at the trial nearly every day.

[Sandy Melgar]

Their reaction didn't surprise me because I was surprised, too.

[Narrator]

It didn't come back the way I.

[Bob Ruff]

Thought it would come back.

[Sandy Melgar]

I think it's difficult to know someone for 30 years and have an idea about them and the relationship. I didn't know Sandra and I didn't know the family. I could look at it with an open idea, an open mind about what had happened. And that's what I did.

[Bob Ruff]

Despite the verdict, Sandy's family and even Jim Melgar's family are convinced she's innocent. For help, a family member reaches out to Bob Ruff. What is so outrageous about this story to you?

[Narrator]

I saw the prosecution's case didn't have any meat to it. There were no bones behind why they convicted her. Can I see a scenario where this happened? Can I make this make sense that Sandra Melgar killed her husband? In this case, I couldn't see it, so we. We jumped in.

[Bob Ruff]

Bob Roth is currently pouring through every crime scene photo.

[Narrator]

Chair has to be down onto the ground with the blood dropping onto it that way. Right.

[Bob Ruff]

Every page of testimony. No detail is too small. He believes there are a few ways an intruder could have entered the house that night. Through the open garage door or through the back door, even though it was locked when police arrived.

[Narrator]

Let's remember back to Sandy's police interview. She couldn't confirm that the back door was actually locked. She never used it that day. But Jim had been in and out. The offenders could have entered through the door, causing the dogs to bark. Jim emerged from the master suite to check on the dogs. Jim locks the door behind him and turns around to see an unsump confronting him with some kind of weapon.

[Bob Ruff]

And the bloody chair in the master bedroom. The prosecution says Sandy moved it there to tie her husband up and slash him to death.

[Sandy Melgar]

One of the things that the defense cannot answer is what is the dining room chair doing in the bedroom and especially where it is.

[Narrator]

So the prosecution made a case that Sandy lures Jim into this chair outside the closet and then is going to give a massage and takes a knife and starts the attack right there. And he drives this point home by saying there's no reason for that dining room chair to be there. It doesn't make sense that there's a dining room chair in the bedroom, but it does make sense. The crime scene photos show us this evidence. See that mark right there?

[Bob Ruff]

Yep.

[Narrator]

That's a. That's a carpet mark from that chair where it's normally kept. Right there.

[Bob Ruff]

Indicating that the chair has been there before and for some time.

[Sandy Melgar]

Right.

[Narrator]

So they kept the chair there for the Pomeranian to get on the bed. It was always kept in that location. There's no mystery there.

[Bob Ruff]

At the trial, the jury saw a demonstration of how Sandy could have tied herself up. But there's only one man who saw her bindings. Jim's brother, who found her. He says it Wasn't Sandy's wrist that were bound together, but her upper forearms tied behind her back.

[Narrator]

Her arms were in a way behind her back that no one could possibly, especially with her.

[Bob Ruff]

Have to be Harry Houdini in order to bind your arms that way, right? The evidence, according to the prosecution, shows that that break in at the Melgar home is all an elaborate ruse.

[Sandy Melgar]

The house was not ransacked. There was nothing taken. There was a treasure trove of stuff in the house. It could have been stolen. None of it was stolen. None of that added up in my mind to a burglary.

[Bob Ruff]

Liz Melgaard testified in court that things were stolen, and Bob says the crime scene photos support that.

[Narrator]

To begin with, there's a lot of evidence. There were, in fact, items that were stolen from the house, just to name a few. In the master bedroom, we have a nightstand with an antenna with a cable running to it, but no TV to connect to it. On the other side of the nightstand stand, you see another cord. Looks like an S. Video cord, not connected to anything. The stand's empty. Neither of those two things are documented in the crime scene investigators report.

[Bob Ruff]

So if not Sandra Melgar, then who? At the trial, the defense claimed that other potential suspects were all but ignored. There was one individual who lived a.

[Narrator]

Few blocks away who had been convicted.

[Sandy Melgar]

Of other crimes in the past and had gotten out of jail just a few nights prior.

[Bob Ruff]

Police looked into him.

[Narrator]

They never did establish contact with him. Apparently they went to his house.

[Bob Ruff]

He wasn't home. They left the cart or something. There was audible laughter in the courtroom about how shoddy this investigation was.

[Sandy Melgar]

You know, there were people thinking, that's as good as you're going to get.

[Bob Ruff]

You have what may be the best lead ever on somebody who could have.

[Narrator]

Actually done a home invasion in this.

[Sandy Melgar]

Neighborhood, and you left a business card. The guy that lived down the the street. The only evidence we had against him was that he had gotten out of jail and was standing at the corner looking at the house along with the other neighbors. That's the only case we had against him. That's not a sufficient case that he's the guy.

[Bob Ruff]

It's Bob's belief that the authorities were only pursuing evidence that would lead to Sandy's guilt.

[Narrator]

The investigators were locked in to their theory. Rather than letting the evidence drive the theory from. From moment one, they let the theory drive the evidence.

[Bob Ruff]

Colleen Barnett insists the investigation followed all viable suspects and leads. In the end, Sandy Melgar was sentenced to 27 years in state prison. The question now is, can Bob's reinvestigation do anything to change the ending of her story. What do you think he's found?

[Sandy Melgar]

I think he's found a lot of evidence that points away from her.

[Bob Ruff]

Stay with us.

[Sandy Melgar]

Running a business comes with a lot of what ifs, but luckily there's a simple answer to them. Shopify. It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses including Thrive Cosmetics and Momofuku, and it'll help you with everything you need. From website design and marketing to boosting sales and expanding operations, Shopify can get the job done and make your dream a reality. Turn those what ifs into Sign up for your $1 per month [e-mail] specialoffer I'm Ashley Graham and as a parent I know the back to school transition can be a lot when it comes to wellness. Ollie supports me and my family through it all. Kids multi is big in my house. It supports their immune system and they love to take it. A win win for everyone. Shop these [e-mail] or retailers nationwide. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Liz, how are you doing?

[Bob Ruff]

On this day in Los Angeles, for the first time, true crime podcaster Bob Roth is meeting Liz Melgar, daughter of convicted murder Sandy Melgar.

[Sandy Melgar]

I'm really thankful for all the work that, you know, you and your listeners have put into this. I feel like we're actually moving forward, right?

[Narrator]

And what you just said probably seems obvious to a lot of people.

[Bob Ruff]

Liz is hoping that Ruff's novel approach of crowdsourcing his podcast investigations with his audience will help get her mom out of prison.

[Sandy Melgar]

Jessica from Tennessee from Crystal River, Florida. Marissa. I'm from Seattle. Was Sandy bleeding when she was found at the crime scene?

[Bob Ruff]

Darlene wants to know has she could that items were missing from the home.

[Narrator]

Our concept is 100,000 ordinary people from around the world have such a wide variety of skill sets that we can accomplish anything that maybe some very highly paid experts can't.

[Sandy Melgar]

It's something that is an absolute game changer for the innocence world. We're just beginning to see how powerful it can be.

[Bob Ruff]

Roff and his avid army of listeners leave no potential clue unexamined. Even honing in on the brand of that blouse found at the bottom of the Jacuzzi alongside the murder weapon.

[Narrator]

One of our listeners zooms in on the tag of the shirt, figures out that designer made that specific shirt exclusively for Costco. Which is huge because Costco happens to be one of the only places where you have to have a membership card for any item that you purchase.

[Bob Ruff]

So not only would it tell you whether or not Sandy Melgar bought it, but it might also tell you who did buy, therefore, who might have discarded their shirt into that tub.

[Narrator]

Exactly right.

[Sandy Melgar]

Jewelry is still there.

[Bob Ruff]

Prosecutor Barnett dismisses this kind of amateur sleuthing as irrelevant. She points out that all of the evidence was presented to a jury which ultimately found that Sandy Melgar murdered her husband.

[Sandy Melgar]

It's unusual, for sure, that we have a suspect that's like Sandra, but that doesn't determine whether or not somebody commands a crime or not.

[Bob Ruff]

But as far as Liz Melgar is concerned, her father's killer is still out there. Do you tell your kids about their grandfather?

[Sandy Melgar]

Yeah. He would have loved them very much. And it's such a shame that he couldn't be here.

[Narrator]

But do you think this is possible or plausible?

[Bob Ruff]

Bob Ruff is determined to follow the trail wherever it leads.

[Sandy Melgar]

He's put in a lot of time and a lot of hard work. Just really appreciated for everything he's done because he's given us a new hope.

[Bob Ruff]

How far do you think he'll go?

[Sandy Melgar]

Oh, he'll go all the way. He'll just. He'll keep going until there's nothing else to look at. I know that she did not do this. I'm gonna continue to fight until we can prove that.

[Narrator]

As for now, I'm signing off. I'm Bob Ruff, and this has been Truth and Justice.

[Bob Ruff]

You've been listening to the 2020 True.

[Sandy Melgar]

Crime Vault, and you can find all.

[Bob Ruff]

New broadcast episodes of 2020 Friday nights at 9 on ABC. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milkey, host of ABC's Daily News podcast.

[Narrator]

Start here.

[Bob Ruff]

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