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Although at 25 years of age Laura Garza was no stranger to life, she was new to New York City, a place that appeared to hold out the promise of fun and adventure for the young woman who moved to the Big Apple from McAllen, Texas just five months ago. A local New York neighbor, when asked about the missing woman, indicated she just didn't seem to have her guard up like most New Yorkers do, suggesting she might have been too trusting and too naïve for what one club goer called "the predatory spirit found in New York City night clubs." Letting your guard down can prove to be fatal, and that is what police fear for the beautiful woman that left an upscale Manhattan club, one usually populated by the rich, the famous, and the want-to-be's, at 4 AM this past Wednesday with two men, really strangers she had just met. (See The Today Show for 12/8/08.)
Fatal Mistakes
Garza may have made a number of fatal mistakes, including one made by many women who have become victims of sexual predators in similar situations. Garza came to the bar with a friend, but she left her friend to be with a man she had just met, someone she otherwise knew nothing about. As Tom Cruise's character learned in the movie "Top Gun," you never leave your wingman, the person who would have your best interest at heart. This was a lesson also learned the hard way by 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in Aruba and Imette St. Guillen, the 24-year-old criminal justice graduate student who, in early 2006, made a fatal error in judgment; she too trusted the wrong man with equally deadly results.
Physical evidence and the man behind the Mask
The known physical evidence appears to implicate the man that Garza left the bar with, 23-year-old registered sex offender Michael Mele, the son of a former deputy chief of police, in her disappearance and suspected violent death. Garza had no way of knowing that Mele had recently been convicted of at least four (known) sex offenses and assaults on women in open shopping mall parking lots. She didn't know that Mele allegedly ran up to his selected female victims, all which police indicated had something in common, suggesting Mele was a preferential predator, i.e., he knew the type of victims he wanted and he went after them. She didn't know he had terrorized his victims, masturbating in front of them, leaving his semen on the clothing of the frightened women, women that will never get out of their car again without looking around in fear. And Garza likely never suspected that the man she left the bar with that early morning had plead down his sex offense charges to forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child (one of his victims was a 16-year-old girl) for which this son-of-a-cop got six years probation, but not one second in prison. Where was the one strike law when we needed it for this offender who displayed such sexually aggressive behavior toward his victims, with likely more victims yet to be identified?
Statements from others in the bar that night, to include Mele's friend, and review of cellular telephone records and video tapes from the bar show Mele dancing and embracing Garza and then show her leaving the bar with him, something he initially denied to police. Evidence confirms that she left with Mele at 4 AM and got into a car with him and his friend, the latter of whom would eventually leave the two to go to Mele's apartment alone. Mele would soon tell his friend that he was in trouble and that his friend should not talk to police, obviously not the actions of an innocent man.
When Garza was reported as missing, the police quickly went looking for Mele. When they found him he had scratches on his neck, bite marks on his hands, and had allegedly scrubbed out his car and apartment with bleach, this with the assistance of his unknowing girlfriend. He also cut out a large piece of his carpet, indicating that he had accidentally spilled bleach on it, a piece large enough, some say, to wrap around the body of a 5'2", 120 lb. woman like Garza. Witnesses indicate Mele frantically cleaned and vacuumed his car and apartment the morning of Garza's disappearance, eventually disposing of the vacuum cleaner, one that could contain physical evidence related to the missing woman.
In their search for Garza police have found a machete, a woman's shoe and other items of clothing that could be related to the victim, some of which were recovered from a nearby dumpster he was seen going through. Evidence of blood was found in Mele's SUV, one he had parked at his parents' home, and blood was also found by police in his apartment. DNA should quickly tell police if the blood and other physical evidence confirm what investigators already believe, that Mele took Garza to his apartment where he may have assaulted and murdered her, then took her remains to a yet to be discovered body disposal site. Should this be the case, investigators will attempt to determine where his car was the morning of Garza's disappearance and where a man in panic would go to dispose of a body. Divers are in the pond behind his apartment in case he chose a site close by. Although now in police custody for violation of his probation, he is represented by counsel and is not discussing his role in the disappearance and possible death of Garza. I have no doubt that other young girls and women, after seeing Mele's photo and reading about his actions, will come forward to identify him as their previously unidentified assailant. Too late, I fear, for Laura Garza.
Others who trusted too Much
Natalee Holloway is believed to have been the victim of one or more of the three men she left an Aruban bar with the last night she was seen on this earth. Imette St. Guillen told her wingman that she wanted to stay at the bar until its 4 AM closing time. Her nude body was found over 16 hours later, raped, strangled, a sock stuffed in her mouth, her windpipe crushed and her broken form concealed in a cheap bedspread, her emotionless face wrapped with clear packing tape, her hair cut and other injuries just too terrible to discuss. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at the Soho bar she had left, someone whose lies had convinced St. Guillen that he was a federal agent, was seen helping the victim into his van after she left the bar and has been charged with her brutal murder.
Take time out to check him Out
New York City has been the site of almost 480 murders this year, a pace that could surpass last year's total number of 496 murders, noting that there is a homicide somewhere in the United States every 31 minutes. But what could Garza have done not to have become the suspected victim of a sexual predator, someone who apparently changed his MO from targeting women out of doors to going after them inside of bars. Garza, like other women in a similar situation, could have given herself 12-24 hours before she accompanied someone she had just met, no matter how charming and handsome the potential suitor/predator might be. Had she searched Mele's name on the Internet, she would have found a news blurb dated April 4, 2008, indicating that her new friend, Michael Mele, age 22, had been added to the New York State Sex Offender Registry following a sex offense conviction and that he was on six years probation. She could also have asked her wingman to take a cell phone picture of her and Mele. This would insure that he knew that others knew who he was and that he was with the victim, perhaps a think twice action.
The opinion of your friends and family are equally important as are the personal vibes you get from the new person in your life. A reader of this column made a good observation that it is also important to at least make the new person your facebook and myspace friend, this in order to confirm that they are who they say they are, and that a group of people know them. This would also provide you a good look at their online itneractions and groups they join, so if it feels wrong then you can just revert to only online friends or deleting/blocking them if their profiles are offensive. The reader continued that if the guy looks too good, and he's throwing around too much money, you should be careful of your interactions with him. Remember that a predator will attempt to identify a likely victim by isolating her from her friends and encouraging her to go beyond the limits she's set for herself, this like a lion stalking a herd of gazelles, looking for the one he can cut from the herd and attack. (Last, I want to be careful here. This is not "blame the victim," as Laura is surely not responsible for what terrible act may have befallen her. All I am saying is what should a person in her position should consider as she makes such a decision.)
Lies and Murder
Too many people tell too many lies to too many other people. If over 50% of people lie on resumes, what do they say in a bar late at night? Although some married men and women do kill their spouses, think of Scott Peterson or the allegations concerning Drew Peterson or the pastor's wife who shotgunned her allegedly abusive husband to death. We also know that thousands of people hook up for one or two night stands or begin dating without murder as a consequence, but between STD's and sexual predators, it's worth the few extra hours to make a preliminary check on the person with whom you are considering sharing yourself. While those with STD's may not be the subject of a news media article, criminals usually are. In Garza's case, she may simply have accepted a ride home and found herself in a situation from which she could not escape, and the true personality of her new friend, like that of Jekyll and Hyde, then revealed its hidden self. Meanwhile her friends, family and investigators continue to await DNA results and the decision made in a moment late at night on the part of two people, the suspected killer and his trusting victim, may have led to the death of yet another person with so much potential, a life lost due to a little too much trust in one's fellow man.
It was the philosopher and poet George Santayana who said "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it," hence his "Aphorism on Repetitive Consequences." How do you explain a man who has such a sense of personal entitlement that he uses his charm to endear himself to a woman and then demands physical access to her. If rebuffed, he sees this as such an overwhelming narcissistic attack that he vents his anger and rage on his now victim in an attempt to force compliance with his will or as a means to punish "the offender" for her lack of compliance. Once he has vented, he finally see the results of his actions, and then, like millions in history before him, attempts to cover up his evil deed while denying any wrongdoing on his part, a reaction that dates back to the time of Cain and Abel. When will we ever learn?
Update
12/10/08: Mele, who told his friend that he might be in trouble because the girl he was with the night before had been reported missing, this a full 8 hours before Garza was actually reported to be missing, is being held on $300,000 bond. Interestingly enough, he is also being held on a parole violation for not telling his probation officer he had moved from his parents' home to his own apartment, and then there are the three sex-offender therapy sessions that he also missed. Without a doubt, this is a guy who should have attended these classes and paid attention. As investigators, we have interviewed many sex offenders who said they'd do anything asked of them to get out of jail, and re-offend again.
Reports suggests that at least a dozen women, in addition to the four who recently identified Mele as their sexual assailant, have come forward to say that they too were victims of sexual assault by him. With this extensive history of aberrant behavior, police now have at least two other tasks in addition to their search for Mele's latest believed victim, Laura Garza. They need to continue to identify additional living victims and start the grim task of comparing missing person and dead body reports with the activities of this suspect. At his age he probably didn't begin this assaultive behavior within the past year and there is a strong possibility there will be yet other victims. If responsible for Garza's disappearance and murder, is this the first time he killed, or will police find yet other victims? Meanwhile police will use his cell phone records (pings) and credit card receipts to track his recent activity in an attempt to find Garza as well as try to match him up with cases involving other known or suspected victims.
Although innocent until proven guilty, this is a guy who looks, walks and acts as if he's guilty. And shame on the so-called psychic who is telling Garza's family that she's alive, injured and under a bridge. Police, of course, are looking under look all nearby bridges, but it would appear that her chances of being alive are slim. A word to the wise: don't put your faith in psychics who spin such trash to the families of victims who are desperate for any good news. Statistically, no matter what they tell you, they don't work. For the "true believers" out there, please consider my article entitled "Psychic Detectives and the Search for Truth," available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7295650/.
Update: 12/14/08: Police say they have found a bleached section of carpet along Route 17 in Bloomingburg, NY, that appears to be similar to a piece of carpet missing from Michael Mele's apartment in nearby Wallkill. This location is only about 1/4 mile from a location known to be frequented by Mele. Other items of potential evidence were found in the same area. This is now a major search area for police in their search for the missing and presumed dead victim. Meanwhile information continues to be developed concerning Mele's background that suggests he could be capable of such an offense.
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