Las Vegas, NV (AP) - A Clark County judge has found a woman accused of killing her husband in 2005 and a former college professor five years ago is incompetent to stand trial.
Rita Colon was ordered Friday to be held at a state-run maximum-security psychiatric facility until doctors determine she is fit to stand trial.The 46-year-old fled to Peru after the death of former University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor Leroy Pelton. He was 77 when he was found dead in his Henderson home of stab wounds.
Colon tried gain access to more than $1 million in Pelton’s retirement fund before suddenly moving to Peru with her mother and young daughter, according to testimony heard by the grand jury
After Colon was charged with Pelton's death, her former brother-in-law called police about her first husband's death and she was charged with killing him too. She has pleaded not guilty.
Edwin Colon’s family never believed he killed himself, Luis Colon previously told the Review-Journal.
The Clark County coroner’s office changed Edwin Colon’s manner of death from suicide to “undetermined,” and in August 2019 Rita Colon was charged with murder in the death of her former husband.
Rita Colon had told investigators that her husband killed himself during an argument. North Las Vegas detectives who re-examined the case in 2019 came to believe it was a homicide.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty as a condition of Rita Colon’s extradition from Peru.