Inset: Sheldon “Shelly” Wilson (El Paso County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area near where Wilson allegedly dismembered a man and lived with his remains for several months in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Google Maps).
A Colorado woman is behind bars for cutting up a man she was taking care of and storing his body in several containers throughout her home, according to law enforcement in the Centennial State.
Sheldon “Shelly” Wilson, 62, stands accused of second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence, the Colorado Springs Police Department says.
The investigation began when the defendant, of her own volition, walked into police headquarters over the weekend with her daughter to report that her partner was dead, authorities allege.
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Wilson told police the man — whose name was not immediately released by the El Paso County coroner — died in March while she was at work, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Colorado Springs-based ABC affiliate KRDO and CBS affiliate KKTV.
“[Y]ou’re going to find out a lot more real soon, it’s bad,” the woman allegedly told law enforcement at the outset. “[T]here’s no words for what you’re fixing to find out.”
Investigators then traveled to the house on Tappan Drive. Once inside, they found black storage totes and noted the smell of decomposition, according to the charging document.
Wilson allegedly advised police the man was in the totes.
Inside one of the red-lidded totes, decomposing human flesh was immediately visible, along with a human leg protruding from an open black trash bag, investigators said. Inside another tote, a black trash bag was tightly wrapped with duct tape, police said.
Behind a privacy fence in the backyard, investigators found a small single mattress covered in dark stains that appeared to have been caused by what law enforcement termed blood and biological matter, according to the affidavit.
The charging document pieces together a rough timeline of the final months, weeks, and days of the male victim’s life.
Since December 2024, 18 calls for service were made to the residence over allegations that the defendant was abusing her partner, police said.
On Dec. 17, 2025, a family member reported receiving 40 phone calls from Wilson in which she expressed her desire to kill the victim.
The defendant, for her part, recalled getting drunk and waking up to find the man bloody, cut up, or covered in sores from being beaten, according to authorities. The woman allegedly said she could not really recall the exact parameters of the abuse she said she inflicted. Still, Wilson allegedly said she had “done bad things” to the man on at least 10 separate occasions while she was under the influence of alcohol.
All the alleged abuse came to a head on March 17, she said.
Wilson allegedly told investigators that on that day — which was one day after the man’s birthday — she woke up to find the victim unresponsive in bed and thought, “What did I do?”
The night prior, she was drinking and the two were the only people in the house, the woman allegedly told law enforcement.
So, the defendant covered the victim in some blankets, hoped for the best, went to work for the day, and came back home to find that he was still unresponsive, according to the charging document. That’s when she knew the man was dead, the defendant allegedly confessed.
The man’s body, covered in blankets, remained in the living room for about a week, the woman said, according to law enforcement.
The defendant allegedly added that she did not want her daughters to know she was beating up the man. So, after a while, she dismembered his corpse, the affidavit says. Once he was cut into pieces, the man’s remains were spread throughout the house in various storage containers kept upstairs, police said. The woman also allegedly told police she monitored the smell of the decomposing flesh.
The woman said the man had suffered a series of strokes and was ultimately placed in hospice care, according to the affidavit. At some point, she said, he appeared to be getting better and was removed from hospice. In any event, the woman said, the man was never strong enough to hurt her.
Generally, the woman said, the man was happy and had a carefree demeanor, according to the charging document.
On Sept. 17, one of her daughters contacted the police department to request a welfare check because she had not been able to contact the man for quite some time, law enforcement said.
After that, the defendant said, she realized she could no longer hide the truth about what she had done from her daughters.
Wilson is being detained in the El Paso County Jail with no bond.
On her way to her cell, the defendant allegedly told officers she would be facing more charges for using the man’s Social Security.
“Can I just plea guilty, how does that work?” Wilson allegedly said.
The post ‘No words’: Woman said she had ‘done bad things’ to man she dismembered and lived with as the remains decomposed for months, police allege first appeared on Law & Crime.
