A Sheridan man accused of bludgeoning his mother to death nearly two years ago pleaded guilty last week after initially maintaining he was not mentally competent enough to be responsible for the crime, court documents say.
Israel Melvin, 24, faced one count of second-degree murder in Sheridan County District Court on claims he bludgeoned his mother to death and left her body under gasoline-soaked blankets last January before Sheridan police found him in a cloud of marijuana smoke in the bathroom of a fast-food restaurant.
In November 2024, Melvin pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness. Several months of mental health evaluations and court interactions with evaluators followed.
On Dec. 10 of this year, Melvin changed course and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after accepting a plea agreement, court documents say.
He appeared via virtual link from the Wyoming State Hospital along with his attorney, Wyoming State Public Defender Brandon Booth, says a proposed order Sheridan County Deputy Attorney Christopher LaRosa penned, recounting the hearing.
Melvin’s trial, scheduled for Jan. 26, is now canceled, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 24 in Sheridan County District Court.
LaRosa filed Melvin’s plea agreement the same day Melvin pleaded guilty.
It says Melvin would agree to plead guilty to second-degree murder, and that both sides of the case agreed to a 22-to-40-year prison sentence.
If Sheridan County District Court Judge Darci A.V. Phillips rejects this agreement, Melvin can withdraw his guilty plea, the document says.
In the case’s current phase, after the change-of-plea hearing but before the sentencing hearing, Wyoming Department of Corrections employees are to craft a “pre-sentence investigation report,” or account of Melvin’s crime, history, attitude and other attributes, for Phillips to consider.
Court Documents Say …
Melvin was already in Sheridan Police custody when police found his mother’s body, the case affidavit says.
He was arrested about 11 a.m. Jan. 7, 2024, after a concerned caller reported him that morning for laying in a road, walking in circles and stumbling around by the Burger Wagon, the document says.
When police arrived, the caller told them to check inside the local Wendy’s restaurant.
Sheridan Police Department Officer Aaron Bass knocked at the bathroom door in the Wendy’s and called out for anyone inside to open up for police, but no one did.
The manager said officers could go into the locked bathroom, and they unlocked the door and went inside.
Apparent marijuana smoke had flooded the bathroom, the affidavit says.
Melvin was within the smoke, talking out loud to himself, reportedly.
On ‘Venom’
The affidavit says Melvin was narrating his own movements out loud, talking about moving his arms as he was detained. He asked if he was “in heaven,” the document relates.
Officers asked him what he took.
He’d taken a lot of “venom,” Melvin reportedly answered.
He “continually writhed and moved around” while officers put him in handcuffs, the affidavit says, adding that police found several rolled joints labeled as Delta 8 or Delta 9, a cannabinoid variation.
Bass asked for emergency medical personnel to come to the scene. They did and found Melvin’s heart rate unusually elevated. He complained that he was hot, the document says.
Medical workers told police to take Melvin to the emergency room.
Bass noticed marks on Melvin’s inner elbow joints that looked like “fresh track marks” from injecting drugs, the officer later wrote.
While at the hospital, Melvin exhibited behavior that Bass took as signs of marijuana use. The affidavit says Melvin has a history of using meth and marijuana together.
On It Goes
The investigation continued.
An evidentiary affidavit filed in the murder case says Melvin got out of jail in December 2023, after being charged with a sex act against a 15-year-old the year before.
His parents, Paul and Leonila Melvin, were trying to save money so they could get him into a group home. Israel caused problems in their home on Gladstone Street, and his mood could change “as quickly as opening a door,” Paul Melvin later told police.
The affidavit says Israel was often upset with his parents because they refused to buy him alcohol.
At about 6:12 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2024, Leonila and Israel got into an argument loud enough to prompt a police response.
Police learned the two had been arguing “a lot recently,” says the affidavit.
One Last Pizza Dinner
Knowing he had to wake up at 4:15 a.m. for work, Paul went to bed early Saturday night, says the document. But Israel called Paul at about 11 that evening to ask for a ride from the Whitney Rink in the M&M's Center.
Paul went to pick Israel up, and his son said he was hungry, so Paul took him out for Domino’s pizza, the affidavit says.
Then they went home together, and there were no problems at that time, according to Paul’s interview.
Why She Won’t Answer
Paul’s wife woke early with him to see him off to work the next day, says the affidavit. They parted ways at 4:35 a.m.
He tried to call her from his work phone at 1:58 that afternoon, but she didn’t answer.
The affidavit says police confirmed Paul’s accounts of his phone calls through the call logs.
He tried her again at 5:33 that evening, and also tried his own personal cellphone, which he left at home because only his work phone has service in the mine, the document says.
Still, no one answered the phone.
At 7:09 p.m., Paul called Sheridan police and told them he was concerned because he hadn’t been able to reach his wife, and when he arrived home he didn’t see her.
‘Kid Did This’
But just before the police arrived a few minutes later, Paul found his wife. She was dead under a heap of gasoline-soaked blankets in the living room, the affidavit says.
He went outside and wept out loud.
Sgt. Shaun Gerleman was the first to arrive and found Paul sobbing.
“F***in’ kid did this,” Paul reportedly said, giving officers consent to enter his home.
The officers found the deceased Leonila face-down on the floor with severe trauma to the back of her head.
A preliminary autopsy report says she died of blunt-force trauma via a blunt object with sharp corners. Her skull was fractured so extensively, the examiner could not tell how many times the object struck her, the affidavit says.
She also had two broken ribs.
With her under the heap of blankets and laundry was a metal stand with a flat base with sharp corners that had human tissue and blood on it, along with other metal fireplace tools, says the document.
The home reportedly smelled of gasoline.
Passport
When police found Israel Melvin in the Wendy’s, he had his mother’s passport on him during his arrest, the affidavit says, adding that the drawer where Leonila kept her passport in her bedroom had been detached from its dresser and placed on the floor.
Two investigators went to talk to Israel at the Sheridan Detention Center after they found his mother dead.
When they said they wanted to talk about what happened between Israel and his mom, Israel asked for a lawyer, the affidavit says.
These Acts
Sheridan Police Department has taken “enforcement action against Israel Melvin for past acts of violence,” says the affidavit.
The document lists the following:
• A Dec. 12, 2023, citation alleging Israel committed unlawful contact against his mother.
• An Aug. 12, 2022, arrest for a sex crime against a 15-year-old victim.
• A June 23, 2020, charge on suspicion of assaulting a 12-year-old victim during a dispute in a public park.
• A May 5, 2019, arrest on suspicion of aggravated battery against his mother. Israel had been swinging a knife toward his mother and threw objects that struck her in the head, says the affidavit.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
