Nassau Bay man woke up, asked for his gun then shot his girlfriend in the head, sentenced to 25 years

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A man charged with the murder of his girlfriend in 2020 was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, officials say.

51-year-old Roger Wayne Douglas fatally shot his girlfriend Tanya Melton, 47, at his apartment in the 2000 block of San Sebastian Court on Aug. 1, 2020, officials say. Douglas was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty.

"This incident of intimate partner violence escalating to murder absolutely did not have to happen," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "This woman was a mother, a grandmother, and a big part of her community who had so much life ahead, and it was all taken away by a jealous partner with a gun."

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According to witnesses, including Melton's adult daughter, the couple dated for about a year, and Douglas was violent towards Melton. Reports say they broke up about four months before the shooting but were still friendly.

Tanya Melton (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office)

On the night of the shooting, officials say Melton and two friends went to Douglas's apartment complex to go swimming and have drinks with him.

Douglas reportedly went up to his apartment and passed out. Melton and a male mutual friend went into his bedroom to wake him up.

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Officials say when Douglas woke up, he asked, "Where is my gun?" He picked up a pistol off the floor next to the bed and shot Melton in the head, reports say.

The friend tried to wrestle the gun away from Douglas and then ran out of the apartment to call the police.

Roger Wayne Douglas (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office)

Nassau Bay police say when they arrived, they found Melton dead from a single gunshot wound with Douglas sitting next to her.

Emergency personnel asked what happened and Douglas reportedly told them, "I killed her."

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Harris County Sheriff's Office detectives say Douglas later told them he and Melton had been arguing about her "cheating" and that's when he shot her.

Assistant District Attorney Anthony Osso prosecuted the case and said Douglas and Melton had known each other since they were young and started dating after her marriage ended.

"Roger was a very controlling and jealous individual, and this built up over several months," Osso said. "This was not sudden passion or an accident because of too much alcohol, and now he’ll spend a significant portion of the rest of his life in prison.