Serial molester Michael Mele admitted Monday he suffocated aspiring dancer Laura Garza after picking her up at a Manhattan nightclub three years ago. The stunning turn of events came just before the start of Mele’s murder trial in Orange County. In a deal with prosecutors, he copped a plea to manslaughter and will be sentenced to 23 years behind bars.Click below to find out more.
The deal angered Garza’s family.
“My daughter will be the same age as my sister when he gets out. That’s not justice,” said the victim’s brother, Ivan.
“He should have got life behind bars.”
In court, Mele — a convicted sex offender — admitted he met Garza, 25, at the nightspot Marquee and took her back to his Wallkill apartment.
By his account, she spotted a picture of his girlfriend in a frame, an argument ensued, and he smothered her.
“I put my hand over her mouth and partially over her nose,” he said.
“I realized something very bad happened.”
“I panicked,” he added. “Instead of calling 911, I decided to dispose of her body by myself.”
Mele said he put the body in a laundry basket and covered it with a blanket. He loaded it in his Infiniti and dumped it in Pennsylvania.
“It happened very quickly,†he said.
