Body of a Brooklyn Woman Who Vanished in 2008 Is Found
By RAY RIVERA
New York Times / Published: April 26, 2010
The authorities have identified skeletal remains found this month in a remote area of Pennsylvania as those of a 25-year-old Brooklyn woman who vanished in December 2008 after leaving a nightclub in Manhattan.
A man riding an all-terrain vehicle spotted the remains on April 11 in a wooded area near Mount Cobb, outside of Scranton.
The New York State crime lab in Albany positively identified the remains as those of Laura Garza and notified her family late last week.
The discovery has renewed focus on the police’s main suspect in the case, a convicted sex offender, Michael Mele, 24. Mr. Mele is serving a sentence of one to three years at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County for violating parole in an unrelated case.
Investigators are searching for anyone who may have seen Mr. Mele in the Scranton area around the time of the disappearance.
A forensic pathologist is expected to examine the remains to try to determine the cause of death, said Capt. Wayne Olson of the New York State Police.
Ms. Garza, an aspiring dancer who was the youngest of three children, was last seen leaving a Chelsea nightclub with Mr. Mele about 4 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2008. They were spotted later that morning in Mr. Mele’s silver Infiniti S.U.V. in Newburgh, N.Y., about 60 miles north of Manhattan, the authorities said.
WHAT'S THE CONNECTION? LAURA GARZA, MICHAEL MELE...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/nyregion/27laura.html
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