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A “Smooth-Talking” Serial Killer Keeps On Lying, Stays In Prison

Subject of New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson’s True Crime Book SMOOTH TALKER, Murderer Roy Melanson, Denied Parole

Serial killer Roy Melanson

Serial killer Roy Melanson … then and a few years ago

He’s 80 years old, in poor health, confined to a wheelchair, and twice-convicted serial killer Roy Melanson believes he should be paroled to a nursing home to live out his remaining days on Medicaid. Besides, as he told a Colorado parole board on September 6, he didn’t commit the

Michelle Wallace

Michelle Wallace disappeared in 1974 after giving a ride to serial killer Roy Melanson in Gunnison, Colorado

murder that got him sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in a Colorado penitentiary. Nor, he said, are there any detainers from other jurisdictions that would prohibit them from setting him free.

These were just a few of the lies Melanson told the two board members present. Not unexpected for a man who lied and weaseled his way out of trouble for decades while he murdered women from California to Colorado to Louisiana and God knows where else.

Melanson claimed he did not murder Michele Wallace, a young woman who disappeared in August 1974 while returning from a backpacking trip near Crested Butte, Colorado. Melanson, who she’d picked up hitchhiking, was the last person seen with her. He was later in possession of her car and other items, including her camera on which he appeared in the last photo lying on a couch next to an unidentified teenager. But it wasn’t until a Gunnison County sheriff’s deputy began looking into the cold case in the early 1990s that Michele’s remains were located off a remote mountain road and Melanson was brought to trial and convicted.

As he did at his trial and since, Melanson argued to the parole board members that his conviction was illegal because a cause of death could not be determined due to the condition of Wallace’s remains. But he’s made the same arguments to appellate courts and been denied every time. He noted to the parole board members that he has a new appeal before the Colorado Supreme Court.

The photograph of serial killer Roy Melanson and a young girl on the cover of the book, SMOOTH TALKER, was taken from the last photo on the roll from Michele Wallace’s camera.

Melanson, who appeared via teleconference from a prison in Canon City, Colorado, also told the board members that there are no other detainers preventing his release. Apparently, he “forgot” he was also convicted and sentenced to life in 2011 for the 1974 murder of bar owner Anita Andrews in Napa, California. And that he’s been indicted for murder in Louisiana for the 1988 murder of Charlotte Sauerwin, which means he’d been held for Louisiana authorities if Colorado and California ever decide to release him. He’s also suspected of at least one, and possibly more, other murders.

However, the board members were well aware of Melanson’s long history of violence against women that includes rape and murder. When one of the board members brought up the detainers in California and Louisiana, Melanson had no answer except try to change the subject to his alleged Supreme Court appeal. The board members weren’t having it and took only a few minutes to deny Melanson’s appeal.

He’ll be up for parole again in five years. … If he lives that long. The Roy Melanson death is awaited by many.michelle

For the story of Melanson’s depredations, and the incredible investigations that brought him to justice, read SMOOTH TALKER by Steve Jackson.

Filed Under: Blog, SMOOTH TALKER, Steve Jackson Tagged With: Anita Andrews, best true crime books, Charlotte Sauerwin, Cold Case, Colorado, Detective, Detectives, Facebook True Crime, Louisiana, Michele Wallace, Murder, murder book, murderpedia, Napa, necrosearch, NecroSearch International, Non-Fiction, roy allen melanson, roy allen melanson murderpedia, Roy Melanson, roy melanson death, roy melanson facebook, Serial Killer, Serial Killers, true crime book, true crime books, True Crime Discussions, True Crime Original, True Murder, True-crime, truecrime, Writing True Crime
September 15, 2017 By Steve Jackson 8 Comments

Comments

  1. Charmaine van der Westhuizen says

    September 27, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    I am glad you keep him in jail – prevention is better than a cure. He should never get any freedom of any sorts – the lives he stole from others, should be denied him.

    Reply
  2. Walter says

    September 2, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    I’m pretty sure that he has passed away. His son and my ex-wife are half brother & sister. He managed to be untruthful to his son for a very long time about why he was in prison. It was only made known to us the real reason he was in prison when we saw him on a episode of forensic files.

    Reply
    • carl gantt says

      March 2, 2022 at 7:43 pm

      I was raised with Roy.He was a big youngster.My daddy gave me a football for Christmas and Roy took it away from Me and I did nottell because He would have whipped Me.Roy first got in trouble in 1958. He wrote a hot check for a 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk.It would burn rubber for a City block.He had a wonderful family.His Brother Glen died in High School.His Mama and Daddy were some of the nicest people in Vinton,La..After He got in all that trouble they moved to Orangefield,Texas.

      Reply
      • Lisa says

        October 12, 2022 at 10:17 pm

        Yeah well, I don’t know how nice you can really be and raise a serial rapist piece of work like Roy. People always put their best foot forward with other people. Only showing you what they want you to see. You have no idea how they raised their kid behind closed doors. Nobody with good loving parents becomes a vicious misogynistic murderer/rapist… Sorry.

        Reply
  3. J Lucio says

    February 3, 2022 at 10:58 pm

    I’m friends with his 83 y o cousin and he said he was a smooth talker, and a charmer. He never trusted him.

    Reply
  4. Amy says

    July 3, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Hopefully he is roasting in hell

    Reply
  5. Justin William smith says

    December 5, 2022 at 2:46 pm

    I just got done watching TV and there was something on there about him that I didn’t like I hope he burns in hell

    Reply
  6. Harley says

    January 28, 2023 at 9:04 pm

    Believe it or not that’s my grandpa I swear on my life his son my dads name is randy Johnson I don’t know much abt him bc I never met him wish I did tho sorry to all his victims

    Reply

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In this gripping new edition of a true crime masterpiece, Jackson recounts the intriguing pursuit and long-awaited trial of a charismatic, monstrous psychopath. When 21-year-old Cher Elder went missing it became Detective Scott Richardson's mission to find her body and convict the man he knew was responsible before he could kill again.

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On April 14, 1989, in California's idyllic Sonoma Valley, Mexican immigrant Ramón Salcido went on a rampage, killing his wife, her two younger sisters, his mother-in-law, and his wife's suspected lover. Then he slashed the throats of his three young daughters—ages four years, three years, and twenty-two months—and left them for dead in the county dump. A day later, when the children's bodies were finally discovered, three-year-old Carmina was miraculously still alive. In Not Lost Forever, Carmina Salcido recalls with clear-eyed candor, courage, and grace the horrific event and troubled childhood that followed, a remarkable young woman carries readers along on her miraculous journey of survival, discovery, and hope.

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Print Only. NecroSearch International boasts a brain trust of the nation's top scientists, specialists, and behaviorists who use the latest technology and techniques to help solve "unsolvable" crimes, no matter how decayed the corpse, no matter how cleverly the killer has hidden the victim's body. Now, for the first time ever, readers are taken on a fascinating, often-shocking journey into a realm of crime investigation of which few people are aware.

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eBook only. "Welcome To My Mortuary!" Those were the words of William Lee "Cody" Neal, 43, to Angela Fite on July 5, 1998, after luring the pretty 28-year-old to the Denver, Colorado townhouse he'd turned into a den of torture and slaughter. With twisted pleasure, he showed her two dead female bodies on the floor and a third, live one--naked, gagged and bound, and spread-eagled on a mattress.

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A “Smooth-Talking” Serial Killer Keeps On Lying, Stays In Prison