Suspect in 2 killings pleads not guilty in North Las Vegas case

Rita Colon, a suspect in two Las Vegas Valley homicides who was extradited from Peru in late October, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in one of the cases.

The 44-year-old pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with a deadly weapon in the 2005 death of her then-husband, Edwin Colon. She had not been charged in connection with the death until this year, when she was already incarcerated in Peru awaiting extradition in a Henderson murder case.

Edwin Colon’s death initially was ruled a suicide from a stab wound to the neck after he was found dead in the couple’s North Las Vegas home in February 2005. Rita Colon told police her husband of less than a year had stabbed himself after the two had an argument.

Eleven years later, Leroy Pelton also died from a stab wound to the neck. He was found dead in his Henderson home in December 2016. Henderson police have said that Rita Colon, Pelton’s girlfriend and former student, killed the 77-year-old and wanted access to his $1.1 million retirement fund.

Rita Colon fled to Peru after Pelton’s killing, where she was arrested in December 2017.

After urging from Edwin Colon’s brother, the Clark County coroner’s office reviewed Edwin Colon’s cause of death after news of Rita’s arrest was made public in January.

After his cause of death was changed form suicide to “undetermined,” the North Las Vegas Police Department reopened the investigation and recommended the additional murder charge. Rita Colon was indicted in District Court on Sept. 6.

She made her first appearance in court in the Henderson murder case on Nov. 5. Rita Colon was transferred to the Clark County Detention Center on Sept. 6, where she remained Tuesday without bail, jail records show.

As of Tuesday, the two cases are being tried separately. She has not entered a plea in the Henderson case, in which she was also charged with murder with a deadly weapon.

Rita Colon’s attorney Julia Murray declined to comment on the case on Tuesday. Colon is to appear in Henderson court on Dec. 4, and a status check in the District Court case is scheduled for Feb. 5.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.