Sandra Melgar had been married to her husband for 32 years before she allegedly murdered him for an insurance money grab. She is pictured in court in 2012

A Texas woman was found guilty of murdering her husband in 2012 after she staged a home invasion and stabbed her spouse to death.

Sandra Melgar was found guilty on Wednesday of murdering her husband Jaimie Melgar, 52, in 2012 after she staged a home invasion and stabbed her spouse to death in Harris County, Texas.
Sandra Melgar, 57, now faces life in prison for the December 23, 2012, stabbing death of her husband. She will not be eligible for parole. Prosecutors said she was motivated by Jaimie’s $500,000 insurance policy.
On Wednesday, Sandra Melgar cried hysterically in court when the judge read the verdict.

The emotional case was centered on the prosecution’s claims that Melgar stabbed her husband 31 times before she tied herself up in a bedroom closet to stage a home invasion.
Prosecutor Colleen Barnett argued that the crime scene did not match Melgar’s story of a home invasion, and that she was motivated by a $500,000 life insurance policy, according to Chron.com.
But defense attorney Mac Secrest laid bare the problems with a lead investigator on the case, who was later fired for backdating a search warrant in a different murder case.
Melgar had been married to her husband for 32 years when the murder occurred.
Jaimie Melgar was found two days before Christmas tied up and stabbed to death in a closet by neighbors.
Meanwhile, his wife was discovered tied up in a separate closet claiming she blacked out and had no idea what happened.
At the time Sgt Robert Spurgeon said: ‘Mrs Melgar says that they were in the bathroom together.’

‘At some time, she blacked out and next thing she remembers is waking up in the closet tied up,’ Spurgeon added.
She later blamed robbers, but no items were missing from the home, according to reports.
Neighbors said they doubted her tale and, more than a year and a half later, a grand jury agreed when she was indicted in 2014.
Melgar had been free on bail since her arrest, but moments after the verdict she was hauled off to the Harris County Jail.
When she appears in court on Thursday for sentencing, she faces five years to life in prison.