(Mary Stella Gomez-Mullett)
Roberto Colon, of course, was quoting a famous line from the movie “Godfather” when the man with close-cropped white hair and beard told Boynton Beach Police in Florida that his wife was “swimming with the fishes.”
Pretty ballsy, no?
Wait. Roberto’s not finished.
After the “fishes” line, Roberto, 68, challenged the police to find his 45-year-old wife’s body.
“Find the body, find the body, find the body,” he chanted.
Mary Stella Gomez-Mullett, a pretty, slim, dark-haired immigrant, had been missing since February 20. Her friends feared the worst. One of the friends said she heard Mary screaming, “No, Roberto, no,” during a phone conversation two days earlier, before the line went dead.
The friend called back several times, but Mary Stella never picked up.
That’s why police showed up at Roberto’s home.
Roberto and Mary Stella were newlyweds. They got together, according to what he told police, “after meeting her as part of a deal that she would take care of his mother (who suffered from dementia) in exchange for U.S. citizenship through the marriage.”
Roberto and Mary Stella exchanged wedding vows at the courthouse in Delray Beach in January; just a few weeks they met and signed the quid pro quo deal.
So, this relationship started off a little dicey, to say the least.
And, it did not go well.
Roberto told police that he discovered his new wife had ripped off his mother. He accused Mary Stella of stealing several thousand dollars, so Roberto fired her, sent her packing, then went to see his doctor.
That was the last time, Roberto said, he ever saw his wife.
But rational thought soon went out the window.
After he said Mary Stella was, well, you know, with the fishes and actually challenged investigators to find her body, the CSI team went to work.
Uniformed cops had already discovered what would later be confirmed as human blood splatters on the walls, floor, and ceiling of Roberto’s garage workshop.
He agreed it was blood but said it had not come from his wife.
Roberto admitted that Mary Stella had walked into a garage wall a few days before she vanished but said she wasn’t hurt.
Instead, Roberto claimed his dog had been shaking violently in his cage before the animal died in the garage workshop five months ago, and he’d buried the dog in his backyard.
That must be where the blood came from, Roberto said. Honestly, he told the cops I never even noticed it before today.
Honestly?
Nope.
The dog may have died in the garage and been buried in the yard (along with five or six other dogs), but lab tests confirmed the blood found on the garage floor and walls was from a human.
Investigators also found a blood-soaked purse about three miles from Roberto’s house. Inside the bag were broken, white rosary beads, just like Mary Stella wore in a recent photo that family members had shown detectives.
Also, in the bag, police found what they described as “documents” that showed Mary Stella lived with Roberto’s mother in Hialeah.
Roberto said he only learned Mary Stella was missing after returning home from that doctor’s appointment that followed his decision to boot her out of the house. He had no idea where she could be.
Police thought they could find more evidence in and near Roberto’s home.
Also, one of Mary Stella’s friends said Roberto, in January, had threatened to strangle his wife and bury her in the backyard. So, police started digging up the backyard.
And, guess what they found? You’re right; a human cadaver with fingerprints that matched those of Mary Stella.
A day before police found Mary Stella’s makeshift grave, Roberto was arrested on a marijuana charge. As they were putting him into a squad car, Roberto yelled to a neighbor who’d come out to watch, “there’s one thing they can’t do. They can’t put, what’s his name, Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
He was also heard telling another neighbor, “there’s really nothing they can take from my house…except parts and s—t.” Then Roberto laughed.
This guy just doesn’t know when to shut up, does he?
If Roberto is laughing now, he’s doing it behind bars. The day after he was busted on the marijuana charge, prosecutors filed a new indictment against Roberto Colon — a single count of first-degree murder.
Conviction on that charge would keep Roberto in jail for the rest of his life.
Do you think anyone saw this coming? Of course not. Roberto’s neighbors told a local TV reporter from WPBF he was just a nice, quiet guy.
“Everyone is surprised,” Dieusel Seide said. “It’s something we do not expect to happen in this neighborhood because this part of Boynton Beach is very quiet. Everybody knows everybody.”
As this was written, Dieusel’s friendly neighbor was being held in the Palm Beach County Jail. Police were also continuing their investigation, had yet to release the cause of Mary Stella’s death, and they were also still working on the motive.
“Our heartfelt condolences are with Mary’s family and loved ones,” Police Chief Michael G. Gregory said. “We remain dedicated to this ongoing investigation and bringing justice to her family.”
Seems like an iron-clad case. And it was. March 9, 2022, Robert was convicted of first-degree murder and immediately sentenced to life in prison.
Suspenseful Internet Killer Thriller.
Joy, a reporter dreaming of a big-city newspaper career and her protégée, Amanda, set off on an impassioned crusade to stop an internet serial killer before he strikes again.
One of the online sex-world’s favorite cam girls, Emily Underwood, is missing. Her biggest fans are crushed. They reach out to the police, but the cops don’t care. Just another hooker who picked up the wrong John as far as they are concerned.
So Emily’s fans turn to the St. Isidore Chronicle for help.
Teenage girls and young women have been vanishing from the streets of St. Isidore for years only to wind up dead in the city park’s forest.
Suicides or murders?
The local cops don’t have a clue, so Joy and Amanda push their way into the biggest murder investigation of their lives.
They decide to bust this story wide open, save Emily, and at the same time, launch fabulous careers for themselves.
At least that’s Joy’s plan.
One other woman decides it’s time to turn the gun on this killer. She’s tired of being hunted. She wants to be the hunter. And she wants to make him dead.
Shocking twists, turns, and page-turning suspense from beginning to end won’t let you stop reading this book, as you join the race to catch an internet killer before another woman dies.
Never Again: An Internet Killer Thriller.
Comments