Who Killed Sharron Erickson? Colon, Nebraska Cold Case Solved by DNA

Sharron Erickson was killed by James Marrs, a 25-year-old neighbor who had grown up on the family farm directly behind her home in Colon, Nebraska. On June 30, 2003, Marrs broke into the 66-year-old retired county treasurer’s house, beat and strangled her in her garage, and sexually assaulted her. The case sat cold for nearly a year before DNA evidence identified him. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August 2005 and is serving life without parole at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.¹

What Happened on June 30, 2003

Erickson, a longtime fixture in the village of roughly 100 people, had retired in 1998 after more than 30 years in the Saunders County treasurer’s office. She lived in a converted former grocery store on Main Street, with a standalone garage across the road.²

When she missed her usual phone call and daily rounds, relatives and neighbors went looking. They found her in the garage, still in pajamas, surrounded by pools of blood.¹

The scene was initially confusing. A gun lay near her head, and Saunders County prosecutor and coroner Scott Tingelhoff first wondered aloud whether the death was self-inflicted.³ That theory collapsed fast. The gun had no magazine, there were no gunshot wounds on the body, and blood smears on a nearby door were inconsistent with a suicide. An empty holster sat in her bedroom, suggesting she had grabbed the weapon to confront an intruder.

Everything else pointed to a break-in. The phone line had been cut, a back door pried open, and an alarm near the door was still sounding when investigators arrived.¹ The autopsy identified blunt force trauma and asphyxiation from manual strangulation as the cause of death, and medical examiners confirmed she had been sexually assaulted.²

Why the Case Went Cold

For months, nothing stuck. Investigators looked at a truck driver who had parked near the property and at a local postmaster, and neither lead went anywhere.¹ Without a suspect, the village turned on itself. Don Clark, a friend of Erickson’s, later said “people started pointing fingers at each other,” with neighbors openly accusing one another.³

Marrs had been questioned early on, but his mother gave him an alibi. A closer look at the family farm behind Erickson’s home eventually showed he could have left the property undetected the night of the killing.²

How DNA Identified James Marrs

In early 2004, forensic testing of biological evidence from the victim’s clothing produced a DNA profile that matched Marrs, then a 25-year-old farmhand.¹ The Nebraska State Patrol arrested him on the morning of May 4, 2004, after questioning him in Lincoln.⁴ He was charged with first-degree murder the next day.⁵

The match was not close to the line. Expert analysis later put the probability of an unrelated person sharing the DNA profile found on the victim’s clothing at approximately 1 in 433 quadrillion for Caucasians.⁶

What Marrs Admitted

Confronted with the DNA, Marrs confessed. He told investigators he had been drinking and using cocaine the night of the killing and had broken into Erickson’s home to steal cash. He said he cut her phone line, pried open the back door with a chisel, and climbed a six-foot fence to reach the property. When the alarm sounded and Erickson confronted him with her gun, he attacked her. The struggle moved from inside the house to the garage, and court records noted that he “had to stand on her throat to finally kill her.”⁵

Saunders County Detective Kevin Stukenholtz, who conducted the interrogation, said the details Marrs offered lined up with the physical evidence already in hand. Marrs refused, however, to acknowledge the sexual assault. Stukenholtz said he “almost started to shut down in his confession when I went to that.”¹

Plea, Sentence, and Where He Is Now

In August 2005, Marrs pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder. The district court for Saunders County sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge told him his crime “terrorized your community,” “placed its residents under fear and suspicion,” and “deprived the community of a valuable citizen.”¹ He began serving the sentence in January 2006 and remains at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

Marrs appealed, arguing the sentence was excessive and the judge had shown bias. On November 9, 2006, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed, finding the sentence was authorized by statute and that there was no evidence of judicial bias.⁵

His Attempts to Reopen the DNA Evidence

Marrs has twice tried to get the biological evidence retested. In 2009, represented by counsel, he filed a motion under Nebraska’s DNA Testing Act alleging discrepancies between lab reports from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the State Patrol crime laboratory. State experts testified there were no inconsistencies, Marrs’ attorney called no witnesses, and the district court denied the motion. The Nebraska Court of Appeals summarily dismissed his appeal.⁶

He tried again in 2015, this time representing himself, arguing that newer amplification techniques had become available and that the 2004 report’s language stating he “could not be excluded” had driven his guilty plea. On December 23, 2016, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the denial, holding that he had failed to show any new technology had emerged since the 2009 proceeding and that his claims were otherwise barred. The court also denied his request for appointed counsel.⁶

1
People. Sharron Erickson Murder: Everything to Know
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Oxygen. Sharron Erickson Murdered by Neighbor James Marrs
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Oxygen. Who Killed Sharron Erickson
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KLKN-TV. Suspect Arrested in 2003 Colon, Nebraska Murder
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FindLaw. State v. Marrs
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Nebraska Judicial Branch. State v. Marrs, 295 Neb. 399