Court records describe a March death, months of concealment and a September trip to police that led investigators to Alan Groom’s remains.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado Springs woman accused of second-degree murder walked into a police station with her daughter in September and told officers that her longtime partner had been dead for months, setting off an investigation that ended with police finding 73-year-old Alan Groom’s dismembered remains inside the couple’s home, according to police and court records.

Sheldon “Shelly” Wilson, 62, was arrested after she and her daughter went to the Colorado Springs Police Operations Center on Sept. 19. Wilson allegedly told officers that Groom had died in March and warned them that what they were about to find was serious. Police went to the home in the 4000 block of Tappan Drive, where detectives said they found Groom’s remains concealed in plastic storage containers. Wilson was accused in court records of second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. The allegations have not been proven at trial.

The discovery closed one part of a six-month gap in Groom’s whereabouts but opened a larger question that remained unresolved in the public record: how he died. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office conducted an autopsy Sept. 21 and identified Groom on Sept. 24. Colorado Springs police said they were investigating the death as a homicide, but the coroner was responsible for determining the official cause and manner of death. The sources reviewed for this report did not disclose a final public ruling from the coroner.

According to the arrest affidavit described by several Colorado Springs news organizations, Wilson told detectives that Groom had suffered several strokes and at one point received hospice care. His health later improved enough that he was removed from hospice, she said, but he continued to need substantial help. Court records described Wilson as his caregiver and said Groom used a wheelchair and needed assistance moving in and out of it. Wilson allegedly told investigators that his medical problems had left him too weak to physically harm her.

Wilson’s account to detectives placed a critical point in the case around Groom’s birthday on March 16. She allegedly said she had gone out intending to get a birthday cake but bought small bottles of alcohol instead and drank before returning home. She told police that her memory of the rest of the day was incomplete. The following morning, according to the affidavit, she found Groom unresponsive. Wilson allegedly recalled thinking, “What did I do?” because of her history of drinking and what she described to investigators as earlier episodes in which Groom had been injured.

Rather than immediately calling emergency services or police, Wilson allegedly covered Groom with blankets and went to work. She told investigators that she hoped he might be alive when she returned, according to the affidavit. When she came back and found him still unresponsive, she concluded that he had died. Court records say the body remained inside the home for about a week before being moved. Wilson later told detectives she feared that her daughters would learn about the physical abuse she said had occurred in the relationship.

The affidavit alleges that the concealment continued for months. Wilson told detectives that she dismembered Groom’s remains in May or June, placed them in storage containers and kept those containers inside the home. She also allegedly described monitoring the odor as decomposition progressed and sleeping downstairs because she was having nightmares. Investigators reported finding two plastic totes containing bagged human remains. They also found a mattress outside behind a privacy fence with dark staining that they believed could be blood or other biological material, according to the court records.

Detectives were not learning about conflict at the residence for the first time. Police records cited in the affidavit showed 18 calls for service at the Tappan Drive home since December 2024. Several involved allegations that Wilson had abused Groom. Investigators also cited a report from a family member who said Wilson made more than 40 calls during one day in December in which she allegedly expressed a desire to kill him. Those earlier reports are part of the background described in the affidavit, but they do not by themselves establish how Groom died months later.

Wilson also allegedly gave detectives an account of her own conduct before Groom’s death. She said heavy drinking sometimes left her unable to remember events and that on earlier occasions she would later see Groom with injuries. According to court records, Wilson believed she had done “bad things” to him on at least 10 occasions while intoxicated. Investigators asked whether she believed she had killed Groom during the period she could not remember in March. Wilson allegedly replied, “I’m scared I might have,” while also saying she hoped she had not.

For months after Groom’s death, relatives did not receive a straightforward account of where he was, according to the affidavit. Family members told police that they had heard different explanations, including that Groom was with relatives outside Colorado. Concern eventually led to a welfare check on Sept. 17, two days before Wilson went to police. During that visit, Wilson allegedly gave officers another explanation involving hospice care. She later told detectives that the welfare check made her realize she would no longer be able to keep Groom’s death hidden.

Wilson then told at least one of her daughters what had happened, according to the records, and the daughter accompanied her to the Police Operations Center on Sept. 19. Police said the two women arrived shortly before 3 p.m. Wilson allegedly warned officers, “There’s no words for what you’re fixing to find out.” Officers were dispatched to the house, confirmed that human remains were inside and called homicide detectives to the scene. Wilson, one of the two women who had reported the death, was arrested as the investigation developed.

The case also generated questions about money that were separate from the homicide investigation. Court records cited by news organizations say Wilson told officers after her arrest that she expected she could face additional trouble involving Groom’s Social Security payments, which she allegedly continued receiving after his death. Publicly available reports reviewed for this article did not establish whether prosecutors ultimately filed a separate financial charge, and Wilson’s statement about expecting another charge should not be treated as proof that one was brought.

Police publicly identified Groom several days after the remains were recovered. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office performed the autopsy on Sept. 21 and confirmed his identity on Sept. 24. Colorado Springs police announced the identification the following day and released a photograph supplied by Groom’s family. The department said his death was being investigated as the city’s 11th homicide of 2026 at that point in the year, compared with 25 homicides at the same time in 2025.

The arrest affidavit provides investigators’ account of what Wilson said and what police reported finding, but it does not resolve the central medical question in the case. A murder charge requires prosecutors to prove Wilson caused Groom’s death under the law, while the publicly reported evidence includes Wilson’s statement that she could not remember what happened during the critical period. Her statements about earlier abuse, the prior calls for service and the concealment allegations may be evidence in the prosecution, but they are not substitutes for a judicial finding of guilt.

The prosecution now turns on evidence that can establish what happened before Groom was found dead, not simply on what Wilson allegedly did afterward. Police have classified Groom’s death as a homicide and Wilson remains accused of second-degree murder and evidence-related offenses. The public sources reviewed through Nov. 7 do not disclose a final coroner ruling or a final resolution of the criminal case.

Author note: Last updated Nov. 7, 2026.