Brute murdered bride who married him for a better life in US – and buried her in his yard
Mary’s deal to get citizenship turned out to be a pact with the devil
Roberto Colon and Mary Stella Gomez-mullet had been married a matter of weeks but their relationship wasn’t all it seemed. The couple had exchanged vows at a ceremony at Delray Beach courthouse in Florida in January 2021. At 66, Colon was much older than Colombian-born Mary, 45, and they made an unlikely couple. Colon was gruff and greying, while Mary had a warm, radiant smile and a sparkle in her eyes.
In fact, rather than sharing a romance, the couple had made an arrangement that was supposed to benefit them both.
Back in Colombia, Mary had been a scientist but her licence didn’t apply when she moved to the US. She wanted a better life and when she met Colon, from Boyton Beach, he offered her a deal.
He had an elderly mother who was suffering from dementia and he said he would marry Mary so she could get US citizenship if she would agree to become his mum’s live-in carer. Mary agreed and they got married just weeks after they met – but the arrangement soon soured.
Mary confided in a friend that Colon had accused her of stealing from his mum. The mother had helped co-sign an agreement on a car for Mary and Colon thought she’d taken advantage of her. Mary told her friend that she was going to return the car to Colon, and other belongings he claimed she’d stolen, then cut ties with him for good.
At around 2pm on 18 February, Mary went to Colon’s home. While pulling onto the driveway, she was on the phone to her friend and they heard her shouting, “No, no, Colon” before the phone went dead. The friend tried to call back but got just the answerphone.
Two days later, Mary’s friend called 911 to report that she hadn’t seen her since then and say she was worried. When the police questioned Colon, he admitted he had married Mary as part of an arrangement but said he didn’t know where she was now.
Bloody handbag near home
Colon told officers he believed Mary had been defrauding his mother over several months and admitted to officers that he’d “terminated” her employment as her carer on the day she was last seen.
He claimed that after telling her, he had gone to the doctor’s and when he returned, Mary had gone. He insisted that he didn’t know where.
Then, on 23 February, a bloody handbag was found less than a mile from Colon’s home. There was a broken rosary chain and paperwork inside and Mary’s loved ones confirmed it was hers. The police went back to Colon with the new evidence and his story started to change.
He claimed his wife had bumped into a wall in his home and dropped her phone, which had caused the battery to fall out. It might have explained why there was blood and why she was out of contact. But Colon insisted Mary hadn’t been seriously hurt and that he hadn’t harmed her.
As the police continued to investigate, they searched Colon’s home and found red markings on the front door. It was tested and determined to be human blood.
Colon said he had cut himself while installing the door a month earlier. Further searches uncovered more blood in the garage, which he also used as a workshop.
Again, Colon shrugged it off, saying he hadn’t seen it before but that it was probably from his injured dog. He said he had buried six of his deceased dogs in his backyard. However, when the blood was all confirmed as being human, Colon’s interrogations were stepped up.
The next time his home was searched, Colon grew aggressive. He called his wife a “piece of s**t” and joked she was “swimming with the fishes”, which is a euphemism for someone being dead – in particular, one for them having been murdered.
He then started to taunt the police. “Find the body,” he yelled at them, as though he was baiting them to find Mary dead. As they left, officers saw him smirking and he was heard saying, “At least you didn’t find a body at my house.”
Were they just words? Had Mary simply fled her toxic situation? Was she now safely in hiding somewhere? Her family in Colombia certainly continued to hope so.
Mary’s body was found to be missing its arms and legs
Decapitated and dismembered
The next time police went back, they arrested Colon for possession of drugs after finding marijuana while searching his home. As he was being taken away, he thought he was out of earshot as he spoke to a friend.
“There’s one thing they can’t do, they can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” he said.
Detectives didn’t know what it meant until they noticed there was disturbed ground in the backyard. When they investigated, they unearthed partial human remains that had been buried there.
Tragically, they were found to belong to Mary.
Her body was missing its head and legs. The “Humpty Dumpty” Colon had so callously referred to had been his wife.
Colon was charged with murder and at the trial this year, the prosecution said he had killed his bride and then used a saw to decapitate and dismember her.
Their arrangement had apparently soured when he had accused Mary of stealing from his mother – something that was never proven. Colon’s lawyer said he had “snapped” during an argument after Mary attacked him first.
“In that moment, he reacted. He inadvertently killed [Gomez]. She snapped at him. He snapped back and, in an instant, the snap of a finger, she was dead,” they said.
Colon told the court he believed Mary had stolen thousands of dollars from his mum. He said he had confronted his new wife and she had hit him with her handbag. Colon said he’d struck back by hitting her over the head with a pipe, which had killed her.
He admitted he had washed her body and sat with it outside. Then, he used a saw to cut off her legs and head.
He described how he had then gone to run errands and had taken Mary’s head and hurled it in a dumpster. It was never found.
The court heard a graphic account of a callous killing. Colon had referred to his garage as an abattoir and in the weeks before Mary’s death, he had even told a witness he was going to strangle his wife and bury her in the backyard.
In March, a jury found Colon, 67, guilty of firstdegree murder and he was immediately sentenced to life in prison.
Mary had married after making a bargain that was intended to secure her a better life – but she had no idea she was making a deal with the devil.