Guilty verdict in North Highlands homicide, dismemberment of victim

A Sacramento County Superior Court jury on Tuesday found Darnell Erby guilty of first-degree murder for the 2022 killing of 77-year-old Pamela May, adding a special-circumstance finding that the homicide was committed during a burglary.

Erby was also found guilty of mutilation and five counts of burglary, concluding he was armed with a deadly weapon during each break-in.

Prosecutors said Erby, who had recently befriended May, slipped through a gap in her backyard fence in the early hours of July 15, 2022. Once inside, he used the victim’s own clothing to bind her hands and cover her face before fatally attacking her.

Erby then stole personal property and, according to court records, tried to fraudulently transfer the title of May’s North Highlands home into his name.

Investigators testified that Erby returned to the residence repeatedly over the next several days, dismembering May’s body and stuffing the remains into garbage bags. Detectives, alerted to the killing before he could remove all evidence, discovered the victim during a welfare check.

At sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 15 before Judge Laurel White in Department 33, the court will also weigh allegations that Erby has prior “strike” convictions for residential burglary and that his criminal history shows “numerous or increasingly serious” offenses. If those factors are upheld, Erby, 46, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The hearing is set for 9 a.m. at the Sacramento County Superior Court.