A sex offender was charged Wednesday with killing an aspiring dancer who vanished two years ago after leaving a New York City nightclub with him.
An indictment issued Wednesday charges Michael Mele with murder, manslaughter and tampering with evidence in the death of Laura Garza of Brooklyn. One of the evidence tampering counts alleges Mele committed an act of "concealment, alteration or destruction'' involving her body.
According to orange County D.A. Francis Phillips, law enforcement officials want "to be sure this case is tried in court." He said that he will seek "substantial bail" for Mele and expects that "May or June at the latest it would go to trial."
Garza vanished in December, 2008, after leaving the Marquee club in Chelsea with the 25-year-old Mele, a sex offender living in Orange County at the time.
Despite intensive searches, the 25-year-old Garza's remains were not found until a group of all-terrain vehicle riders stumbled upon them in April 2010 outside Scranton, Pa.
Mele, always the prime suspect, has been imprisoned on a parole violation for failure to register as a sex offender when he moved. Until now, prosecutors have not had enough evidence to charge Mele in the crime.
Phillips said it is "highly unlikely any of Mele's criminal past will be presented to the jury" hearing about the Garza case. The DA was unwilling to discuss evidence on why the grand jury returned the indictment offering four separate murder charges, ranging from murder to manslaughter. Mele could only be convicted of one of those charges.
Garza knew nothing about Mele's "checkered past," as one cop described it, the night she was seen on security video leaving the nightclub Marquee with him. They were also seen a couple of hours later a few miles from Mele's home in Wallkill.
A search of Melee's apartment found it had been scrubbed clean with bleach, and parts of the carpet had been cut away.
The young woman's family had hoped and pleaded for months that someone would tell them where to find their beloved daughter. But the only man police believed could help them in the case -- Mele -- wasn't talking.
Relatives came to New York from Texas first to help in the search for Laura, then for the tearful vigils as time passed and the likelihood of finding her alive grew dimmer. Garza's mother issued a public plea to Mele's mother to help convince her son to cooperate with authorities.
Today, "We're pleased with the result,'' Garza's cousin Isela Villalobos of McAllen, Texas, said by phone. "It's been two long years. There's a sense of relief that the New York state police department and the district attorney have done their job.''
Video shows mele leaving the Chelsea nightclub with Garza, who had moved from Texas to Brooklyn a short time before her disappearance. Her devastated family brought her body back to Texas for burial.
