Woman admits trying to encase husband in concrete in 2003

RENO — Detectives say a Nevada woman accused of fatally stabbing her husband with a carving knife 12 years ago has said that she and another man tried to encase his body in concrete when they buried him in a shallow grave.

Pam Erwin, 57, of Elko was arrested Jan. 5 on murder and conspiracy charges. She made an initial appearance in Humboldt County Justice Court in Winnemucca last week in the death of James Erwin.

Her alleged accomplice, James Alan Melendez, 52, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona was arrested Jan. 11. He remained in the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, Arizona on Monday awaiting extradition to Nevada. He faces charges of being an accessory to murder and conspiracy to conceal or destroy evidence in the commission of a felony.

Pam Erwin waived her right to a preliminary hearing on Thursday and was bound over to district court on charges of second-degree murder and conspiracy to conceal evidence.

Her public defender, Matt Stermitz, said Tuesday he expects her to plead guilty to second-degree murder at her arraignment Feb. 2 — a move that would eliminate the possibility of the death penalty and potentially make her eligible for parole within 10 years. He declined further comment.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Det. Chris Carter said Pam Erwin first acknowledged during questioning four months ago that she killed her husband at their home in Golconda, about 170 miles northeast of Reno. In September 2003, Carter said, she stabbed him "twice in the chest with a kitchen knife described as about 6 to 8 inches, meat-carving type knife with a dark handle."

She also allegedly acknowledged she placed Erwin's body in the bed of a pickup and that Melendez "assisted her in disposing of the body so as to avoid law enforcement involvement in the death," Carter wrote in a probable cause report filed Jan. 7. He said that in an earlier interview Pam Ewin "had also described to me the area where James Erwin's body had been buried and it was that disclosure that directly led to the discovery of James Erwin's remains."

During a subsequent interview in Arizona, Carter said that Melendez confirmed "he was aware that Pamela Ann Erwin had killed her husband ... and that he had helped bury the body."

"Both Pamela Erwin and James Alan Melendez accurately disclosed details of the grave site, including, but not limited to, attempting to encase the body in concrete to make its discovery more difficult," Carter wrote.

James Erwin was 50 when he disappeared. He lived in the Winnemucca area as well as Golconda and worked in the mining industry. His immediate family first reported him missing in December 2003. At the time, Melendez was a roommate living with the Erwins and their daughter, Chelsea Erwin, at their Golconda home, court documents show.

The disappearance was "deemed suspicious" at the time.

Humboldt County officers investigated the case off-and-on since then, then intensified their efforts last year after meeting with family members to discuss possible new leads in the case, Sheriff Mike Allen said.

Officials for the Washoe County Crime Lab in Reno recovered the remains in September near U.S. Interstate 80 southeast of Winnemucca — about 5 miles south of the Golconda home — and used DNA evidence to identify them as belonging to James Ewin, Assistant Humboldt County District Attorney Kevin Pasquale said.