Jury convicts man in Everett murder staged as suicide

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 22, 2026

EVERETT – How Lindsay Geary died inside her apartment on Madison Street in Everett may never be known for sure.

First responders found the 37-year-old on the bathroom floor with a rope nearby on the night of Nov. 16, 2024. Her boyfriend, Nestor Hernandez Melgar, made the call to 911 saying the woman had hanged herself, court records said.

The couple had a tumultuous relationship, including an active domestic violence no-contact order that lead officers to arrest Hernandez Melgar at the scene, according to court documents.

Prosecutors quickly charged Hernandez Melgar with first-degree murder and several additional felonies, alleging he killed Geary with the rope found near her body, court records said. A final report from the medical examiner’s office more than six months later listed Geary’s manner of death as “undetermined.”

On Monday, following a four-week trial, a jury reached its verdict.

Hernandez Melgar, now 29, was found guilty on all charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and violation of a court order, each charge included a special domestic violence aggravator.

Geary’s loved ones shed tears of relief and held hands as each guilty verdict was read.

From the outset of the trial, prosecutors alleged Hernandez Melgar staged Geary’s death to appear as if she had killed herself. They pointed to the 7-and-a-half-foot rope found at the scene as too long to be used in a suicide and noted that Hernandez Melgar called Geary’s mom and his own mother before calling 911.

“The intention was never to summon law enforcement, it was never to bring cops to look at the house,” Toni Montgomery, a deputy prosecuting attorney with the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office said during closing arguments on June 17. “The scene only had to look as good as it needed to to fool family, which is why mom was called, not the authorities, not police or paramedics.”

In addition to the delay in calling for help, prosecutors alleged Hernandez Melgar took more than a minute and a half to open the door for police responding to the report of suicide.

“I submit to you that the defendant did not try to help her,” Montgomery told the jury. “He did not try to help her because he knew she was already dead, and he knew she was already dead because he’s the one who killed her.”

Public defenders representing Hernandez Melgar said the man was in shock when he woke up to find Geary dead. They argued that police jumped to the conclusion that the death was a homicide, despite evidence that pointed elsewhere.

“This case is about two tragedies,” Catherine Bentley with the Snohomish County Public Defenders Office said during opening arguments on June 1. “First, that Lindsay Geary in an intoxicated, overly medicated state lost her battle with depression and hung herself. Second, that an innocent man lost the love of his life and now he sits here wrongfully accused of her murder.”

The defense said that Geary had been struggling with suicidal ideation and had been seeking mental health support for anxiety. They used text messages in the months before Geary’s death to show she was struggling.

“I keep having thoughts of hanging, I’m feeling very depressed,” according to one message Geary allegedly sent seven weeks before her death.

Data from Geary’s phone showed multiple searches about how a person could kill themselves on the night of her death. Prosecutors said Hernandez Melgar also had access to the woman’s phone and could have done the search himself.

“You do not have to assume just because it was Lindsay’s phone that it was Lindsay conducting the suicide research,” Montgomery said. “We know there were two people in the home, both had access to the phone.”

Prosecutors relied on testimony from Geary’s family who said she was as happy when they saw her earlier in the day and was making plans for upcoming holiday and birthday celebrations.

“There is nothing to suggest that this woman was preparing to take her life,” Montgomery said.

A draft text found on Geary’s phone from the day of her death described a dream where she fantasized about the relief of death and some experts testified it could’ve been a suicide note. Investigators didn’t find the message until more than a year after her death and who wrote it or when can’t be known for sure.

“It seems like the cherry on top, right? If I am planning a murder and I’m going to make it look like a suicide, let’s make sure everybody hears about this note, but remember this draft message note, it wasn’t discovered until Dec. 27, 2025,” public defender Allison Hunter said during closing arguments on June 17, contending that Hernandez Melgar was not responsible for the message.

Hernandez Melgar chose not to testify in his own defense and the public defenders representing him rested without presenting any evidence of their own.

The couple’s relationship was also a centerpiece of the case. Prosecutors described it as volatile, with police being called for domestic disputes at the home on multiple occasions.

A no-contact order against Hernandez Melgar was issued just two months before Geary died, according to court records, but the couple reportedly continued to see each other.

Everett police were called just eight days before Geary’s death when Hernandez Melgar allegedly tried to break into the apartment, court documents said. Still, the couple remained in contact and Hernandez Melgar allegedly continued living at the residence.

“Having a no-contact order and us admitting to a no-contact order violation is not saying Nestor killed Lindsay,” Hunter said. “It doesn’t equate to murder and being present at an apartment when someones dies and hangs themself does not equate to murder.”

The defense alleged the investigation and evidence pointing to Hernandez Melgar was inconclusive.

Everett police detectives did not respond to the apartment on the night of Geary’s death, according to court testimony.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office needed seven months to produce a report on the death. It included evidence that Geary’s blood-alcohol content was .228 when she died, court records said.

Geary’s cause of death was deemed asphyxia due to ligature compression, but the manner of death was listed as “undetermined,” not homicide or suicide.

“When Lindsay’s body was processed, Nestor’s DNA was not found on any part of Linday’s neck,” Bentley said during opening arguments. “He was excluded forensically from her entire neck. His DNA is not under her fingernails.”

The public defenders said the evidence of suicide created reasonable doubt to find Hernandez Melgar not guilty, but proseuctors contended the circumstantial evidence provided enough to convict.

“The defendant killed Ms. Geary, she did not kill herself, find him guilty,” Montgomery said.

Hernandez Melgar is set to be sentenced on July 22.

Ian Davis-Leonard: 425-339-3097; ian.davis-leonard@heraldnet.com