On Monday, a convicted sex offender who was a longtime suspect in the disappearance and murder of a Brooklyn woman over three years ago finally admitted to smothering her to death. Michael Mele pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 25-year-old Laura Garza after they met at a Manhattan nightclub in 2008. Court evidence now reveals that Mele was a serial sexual voyeur who took dozens of photos of unsuspecting women as his predatory tendencies developed: “None capture the woman’s frontal face...[Mele] perceives women as an assembly of body parts and hair,” the prosecutors said.
Authorities found nearly 70 photos in a Jaguar that Mele reported stolen in November 2008, just a month before he suffocated Garza. All the photos were taken of women “from behind, in parking lots and public places, [who] appear to have no idea their picture is being taken.” The photos also included many incriminating shots of Mele. A video also found in the vehicle appears to show him “masturbating in his car in a public parking lot while looking at women.’’
Mele, the son of a retired MTA Assistant Deputy Police Chief, had previous arrests for flashing women and for public lewdness in various malls around the tri-state area. He was described as a terrible boss and a predator by those who knew him. Police also found an unfinished “autobiography” on his computer which blamed his sexual deviancy on elementary school exposure to the Playboy Channel; he claims this increased his “sexual tolerance” and inspired a need to go to greater lengths to fulfill his desire.
He also wrote in his journal that he was glad he had been busted for sexual offenses because “I could have wound up seriously hurting someone." Just hours before killing Garza, Mele had been warned about his “erratic behavior” by his sex-offender counselors.
Mele confessed that he left Chelsea nightclub Marquee with Garza on the night of her disappearance in December 2008. He claims that she spotted a picture of a girl in his apartment, which prompted a fight: "Laura was in my apartment, and she saw a picture of a girl and female-related items that were my girlfriend's. She was upset...she wanted to leave. I didn't want to drive back then. She got upset...she started to get a little louder. I put my hand over her mouth and partially her nose, and shortly after that, she stopped yelling, stopped moving, and I realized something bad had happened." He says he panicked, put her body in a laundry basket with a blanket over her, and left Garza in a wooded area of Pennsylvania, where she was found about a year later.
In a deal with prosecutors, Mele copped a plea to manslaughter and will be sentenced to 23 years behind bars (and 16 months to four years for evidence tampering). Garza's mother, Elizabeth Esquive, said through a translator that she was distraught with the plea: "She's very upset. She's not happy with the 23 years. They wanted a jury to give him more. She's worried he'll get out before the 23 years."
