Woman arrested in Peru held in 2 Las Vegas-area killings

A woman sought in the fatal stabbings of a retired UNLV professor in 2016 and her husband 11 years earlier has arrived in a Las Vegas-area jail following her arrest and extradition from Peru, authorities said Friday.

Rita Angelina Colon, 44, was booked Thursday into the Henderson Detention Center on a murder charge following her transfer in custody of U.S. marshals, Henderson police said.

As a condition of her extradition, prosecutors in Nevada have agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Colon was arrested in Peru in December 2017 on a murder warrant issued following the death of Leroy Pelton, 77, at his suburban Henderson home.

Pelton taught social work at UNLV. Authorities said he died from multiple stab wounds to the neck.

Colon also faces a murder charge in Nevada state court following her indictment this year in the 2005 slaying of her then-husband, Edwin Colon, 37, in North Las Vegas.

Edwin Colon's death was initially ruled a suicide, despite what police said were signs of a struggle in the kitchen where he died in February 2005. Investigators found broken glass, a bloody hand print on the floor, blood spots on the wall and a bloody knife on a counter.

Rita Colon told police she cut her hand trying to stop her husband from stabbing himself in the neck.

A medical examiner reviewed the case this year and changed Edwin Colon's manner of death to "undetermined."