Laura Garza's Remains Found: Michael Mele Seen Leaving Club Marquee With Aspiring Dancer Night Of Disappearance
JIM FITZGERALD / 04/26/10 / HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Remains found two weeks ago in Pennsylvania have been identified as those of an aspiring dancer from Texas who disappeared after leaving a New York City night club in 2008 with a registered sex offender, state police said Monday.
A DNA analysis confirmed the identity of 25-year-old Laura Garza of Brooklyn. She had moved to New York from McAllen, Texas, five months before she disappeared.
A group of ATV riders found the remains April 11 in Mount Cobb, Pa., several miles outside of Scranton, said Capt. Wayne Olson.
A watch described as one Garza was wearing when she disappeared was found on the remains, Olson said. Forensic experts will be brought in to examine the skeleton and determine how Garza died, he said.
"We've been in mourning since Friday, when the police told us," said a cousin, Isela Villalobos of McAllen, Texas. "It has been very difficult for the family. Laura's mother was expecting for her daughter to come in the door until that dream was shattered Friday afternoon.
"All we do is think of Laura. We have moments when we cry. We have moments when we laugh," Villalobos said in a phone interview from her restaurant in Mission, Texas. "Nothing has changed in her home in McAllen."
Garza left the bar on Dec. 3, 2008, with registered sex offender Michael Mele. He has been investigated but not charged in the case.
Mele is being held at Midstate state prison in Marcy, N.Y., for an unrelated offense. A board denied him parole in March, citing his "history of sexually deviant behavior."
READ MORE: LAURA GARZA FOUND, WILL MICHAEL MELE BE CHARGED?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/laura-garzas-remains-foun_n_552626.html
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