‘Most depraved case Charlotte has seen.’ Accused killer gets bond after 3 years in jail
James Salerno, one of the accused killers in the murder of a 20-year-old woman with disabilities, had bond set at $250,000 in court Thursday.
Salerno has been in jail for nearly three years without bond on the murder charge. He previously had bond set at $5,000 for a concealing a death charge and $80,000 for a kidnapping charge. These were unchanged, WCNC reported. Mary Collins was reported missing in March 2020.
Collins was found dead, stabbed 133 times, and hidden in a mattress in a NoDA apartment on April 4, 2020, according to previous reporting by The Charlotte Observer. She had been lured to the apartment by Kelly Lavery, 24, and Lavi Pham, 23, who planned in text messages to murder her for refusing a threesome with them, prosecutors said in court last June.
Salerno, 22, later helped to conceal her death, prosecutors and police allege.
In April, Salerno pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping and concealing a death. His parents were in the court room this week and his defense attorney told the judge upon release, Salerno would live with them.
Phone records place Salerno at the scene of Collins’ murder during and after the time frame it occurred, prosecutors said Thursday. Additionally, prosecutors said, his notes app on his phone included lists of items such as bleach and detergent from that time — items the investigation found were used to clean the crime scene.
Salerno’s defense attorney argued there isn’t forensic evidence tying him to the murder itself, and said he didn’t have motive to kill Collins.
Collins’ grandmother who raised her said that before her death, Collins had told her she was uncomfortable around Salerno and that he was mean to her.
Mia Alderman, her grandmother, and the seven friends and family members there on behalf of Collins were furious bond was set. Alderman was shaking in court as prosecutors read the facts of the case, including details of Collins’ injuries.
“They bled her out in a bathtub like an animal in a slaughter house,” Alderman said in court. “What he has done ... is possibly one of the most depraved cases Charlotte has seen.”
Alderman was upset that not only was bond set at $250,000, but that Salerno may be released without extra conditions which are commonly available in murder cases.
“They also gave us no protection, no order to stay away from us or Diehl,” Alderman said after the hearing. “.. No electronic monitoring, nothing.”
Prosecutors said when arguing against bond that if released, Salerno may pose a danger to America Diehl, a fellow defendant who gave statements to police against him and is also out on bond.
Mary Santina Collins
Collins had 22q deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge Syndrome. It’s the second-most common genetic disorder behind Down’s Syndrome, according to the International 22q11.3 Foundation. Her family has said her cognitive abilities were similar to that of a 15-year-old.
The people accused of killing her, her family says, are people Collins believed were her friends.
Collins was last seen in south Charlotte on March 28, 2020 when she got in an Uber paid for by Kelly Lavery, 24, and went to an apartment in NoDA with Lavery and Pham, prosecutors said. .
When Collins stopped answering texts and her grandmother, Mia Alderman, became worried. She said she knew something was wrong. She went to the Yards apartment complex in NoDa two days later hoping to pick her up.
After hours of searching around the complex — and inside the apartment, except for the back room — she says she called 911. Despite telling police Collins was endangered because of her disability, her grandmother says officers told her the family would have to fill out a standard missing persons report, the Observer previously reported.
It took five days for police to find her body wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside of a mattress in the couple’s apartment, according to a timeline by the family.
The next day, police charged Lavery, Pham, and Salerno, with murder and kidnapping, public records show. Pham and Salerno also were charged with concealing a death. Later, America Diehl, 18, was charged with accessory after the fact and concealing a death, CMPD officials say.
Diehl was released on bond in 2021, according to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office’s website.
In June, Lavery took a plea deal and was sentenced to as many as 32 years in prison, the Observer reported. At his last court hearing Pham pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges.
This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 5:42 PM.
