In early June of 2017, 46-year-old Shelly Marie Harmon, aka Shelly Norgard, was arrested in Nevada for the 1988 murder of 19-year-old Pamela Pitts of Prescott. She waived extradition proceedings and was transferred to the Camp Verde Detention Center on Tuesday, July 11, 2017.
Norgard was booked for one count of 1st Degree Murder and is being held on a 3-million-dollar cash only bond.
Pamela Pitts was last seen on September 16, 1988, at a party in a forest area outside Prescott known as “Gordo’s Pit” or “Alto Pit”. Her burned body was found there on September 29, 1988. Pitts and Norgard had been roommates for just a few months when the murder occurred. In 1991, Norgard was arrested for the murder of her boyfriend in Prescott, convicted in 1993, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Over the years, detectives suspected Norgard’s involvement in the murder of Pitts and during the past several months, developed additional details linking her to that murder.
A YCSO detective supervisor, assisted by members of the Cold Case Unit, spent hundreds of hours reestablishing a time line of events, reviewing evidence, and conducting updated interviews involving those familiar with the circumstances at the time.
As a result, probable cause was established for a murder warrant identifying Norgard as a suspect in the death of Pitts.
Detectives are withholding specific details pending court proceedings on the matter. The Pitts family has expressed their deep appreciation to the Sheriff’s Office and investigators committed to seeing this case resolved.