Pamela Ann Merritt was arrested more than two years after her landlord was reported missing (Pictures: Houston Police Department/ABC 13)
A woman allegedly killed her landlord, hid his body and rented out his home and collected rent from other tenants.
Pamela Ann Merritt, 43, has been arrested more than two years after occupants of a home reported the landlord Colin Kerdachi, 78, missing, according to the Houston Police Department on Tuesday.
Several people who knew Kerdachi told authorities in February 2021 that they had not seen him since a deadly freeze that caused a widespread power outage, KHOU reported.
One tenant told cops that he found a strange woman in his unit and that she would not leave. The tenant said the woman, Merritt, said she killed Kerdachi and that she was then taken to a psychiatric hospital.
Pamela Ann Merritt claimed that remains cops found in the home were of a ‘dead dog’ and not her landlord (Picture: Houston Police Department)
But in October 2021, Merritt was back at the home, and another tenant said she had been paying rent to Merritt and her boyfriend, Michael Brown. The tenant said she found a bloody knife in a mailbox as well as blood stains on a mattress in the bathroom on the third floor. The tenant said that Merritt claimed Kerdachi fell on a sharp object and that she took him to a hospital, where he later died.
Merritt and Brown began painting on the house when the tenant decided to call cops, according to court records.
In December 2021, the same tenant called cops after discovering skeletal remains in the backyard.
Cops who responded to the home at 605 West Clay Street found remains ‘in an advanced stage of decomposition’, stated the police department.
Pamela Ann Merritt has been charged in the murder of her landlord Colin Kerdachi (Picture: Houston Police Department)
Merritt allegedly told investigators that she thought Kerdachi faked his death and had gone to Africa, and that the remains were of a ‘dead dog’, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the New York Post.
Autopsy results from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences revealed that the remains belonged to Kerdachi.
Police filed charges against Merritt in May but were not able to locate her for five months.
Merritt was arrested without incident on Friday and booked into the Harris County jail. She has been charged with murder and her bond is set at $500,000. Brown was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence.
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A woman allegedly claimed her landlord faked his death and went to Africa as she collected rent from other tenants.