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Tenant tricked into cleaning crime scene
FOX 26 Reporter Gabby Hart spoke with the tenant about what she found and discovered.
HOUSTON - In July 2021, Tabatha Pope says 43-year-old Pamela Ann Merritt rented out a unit to her that was inside a home located at 605 West Clay Street in Houston.
Pope claims Pamela told her the rent would be lowered if she cleaned the second and third floors of the home. All Pope knew at the time was that the owner of the home 78-year-old Colin Kerdachi, hadn't been seen since February 15, 2021.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Houston crime: Woman arrested after skeletal remains were found on West Clay Street
"Very suspicious, because of the way their stories kept changing saying he was dead, or missing, or went back to Africa," Pope said.
When Pope started cleaning the second floor, she found bins filled with blood hidden in a crawl space.
"It smelled like death," Pope recalled.
When she asked what it was, she claims Merrit told her it was from rotten meat that went bad during the 2021 freeze. So, Pope continued cleaning and disposing of those containers. But when she made it to the third floor where Kerdachi lived prior to his disappearance, she discovered evidence that she couldn't ignore.
"There were blood splatters on the wall. There was blood on the floor, and on his bed, there was a big spot of blood," Pope explained.
She made that discovery on October 2, 2021, and Pope called Houston police. She says officers came out, took pictures, and then left.
"Basically, they said no body, no crime," she said.
However, on December 6, two months later, Pope found a body. The skeletal remains she found under the back stairs of the home were identified as Kerdachi. He'd been stabbed to death, and Pope says Merrit led her right to his remains.
Courtesy of HPD : Pamela Ann Merritt
"I had mentioned that if Collin's body was found it wouldn't be foreclosure, it would go to probate and buy us more time in the house. Two days later, they let slip something about a dog corpse under the stairs, and she asked me if I wanted to see it all peppy, and I was like sure, and she damn nearly skipped to the backyard. She stopped, and her face just went blank, and she said, 'There it is' and turned around and walked away, I knew immediately it was a body," Pope explained.
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Detectives and crime scene units investigated and removed the remains from the yard. No arrests were made.
Pope says Merrit continued to live in the home until the summer of 2022, more than one year after Kerdachi's death.
Merrit wasn't officially charged with murder until May 30, 2023, two years later. On August 18, officers finally took her into custody.
"It's still shocking. But I'm glad I was a part of it, or else she probably would've gotten away with it. Because nobody else seemed to care, at all," Pope said.
Merrit remains behind bars held on a $500,000 bond. She's set to appear back in court on November 1.