BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — A 66-year-old man was arrested early Saturday after his newlywed wife's remains were found in the backyard of his Boynton Beach home, police said.
Roberto Colon was booked into the main Palm Beach County jail on a charge of first-degree murder.
Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said Friday night that human remains were found at a home on Southeast 28th Court.
Mary Stella Gomez-Mullet, 45, had been missing for several weeks.
Boynton Beach police first announced Gomez-Mullet's disappearance in a Feb. 25 Twitter post.
#MISSINGPerson: Mary Stella Gomez Mullet, 45, missing since Feb. 18; @bbpd actively following up on info about her disappearance. 📱561-732-8116 or @CrimeStoppersPB 800-458-TIPS w/info. You can remain anonymous. pic.twitter.com/V83nGF0NxV
— bbpd (@BBPD) February 25, 2021
According to a probable cause affidavit, Gomez-Mullet was reported missing Feb. 20, after a 911 caller said she hadn't been heard from since the afternoon of Feb. 18, when she was headed to Colon's home.
Colon later told police that he married the missing woman "after meeting her as part of a deal that she would take care of his mother in exchange for U.S. citizenship through the marriage." Colon had accused Gomez-Mullet of defrauding his mother out of several thousand dollars over several months.
According to the affidavit, Colon told police that he had been in an argument with Gomez-Mullet and "terminated (her) from her employment."
After returning from a doctor's office about an hour later, Colon said, Gomez-Mullet was gone and he didn't know where she went.
Three days later on Feb. 23, a bloody purse was located less than a mile from Colon's house. Items in the purse were identified by family members as belonging to Gomez-Mullet.
When police interviewed Colon the next day, he said that Gomez-Mullet had bumped into a wall but denied she suffered any injuries and said he did not hurt her.
Detectives found several red markings, later confirmed to be blood, on the front door to Colon's home. Colon told detectives the blood came from a cut he got doing work on the house.
Later, when told blood was found in a garage/workshop, Colon said he hadn't noticed it, but one of his dogs had died there about five years ago.
He also told police he had buried about six of his dogs in the backyard.
Additional evidence was collected Feb. 26 after the blood was confirmed to be human.
According to the affidavit, Colon told detectives that Gomez-Mullet was "swimming with the fishes" and described her as a "piece of (expletive)."
"Find the body," Colon yelled to detectives. As detectives left, Colon said to them with a smirk, "Well, at least you didn't find a body at my house."
A source told police Wednesday that Colon had threatened to strangle Gomez-Mullet and bury her in his backyard during a January argument. The source went on to say that she had been near Colon while he was on the phone with Gomez-Mullet and mentioned after hanging up with her that he would like to kill Gomez-Mullet and bury her in his backyard.
Police arrested Colon on drug charges Friday stemming from a previous search of the home.
According to the affidavit, before he was taken to the police station, Colon believed nobody was listening when he told a friend, "There's one thing they can't do. They can't put -- what's his name? -- Humpty Dumpty back together again."
During a search of the backyard Friday, investigators found human remains that were positively identified as belonging to Gomez-Mullet.
"Our heartfelt condolences are with Mary's family and loved ones," Boynton Beach Police Chief Michael G. Gregory said in a statement. "We remain dedicated to this ongoing investigation and bringing justice to her family."
Palm Beach County court records show that a marriage certificate for the couple was issued in January, when a ceremony was performed at the courthouse in Delray Beach.
