Here is Laura Garza's Charley Project page. I am putting it up so that it will be still available after page is removed from the Charley Project site.
Laura Garza
Garza, circa 2008
Missing Since: December 3, 2008 from Manhattan, New York
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 25 years old
Height and Weight: 5'2, 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Hispanic (Mexican) female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Garza is a Mexican national.
Details of Disappearance
Garza was last seen in the New York City borough of Manhattan on December 3, 2008. She left her home in Bay Ridge in the borough of Brooklyn and went with a coworker to the
Marquee nightclub on 10th Avenue and 27th Street in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea. The coworker left before Garza did. Garza left the
Marquee at 4:00 a.m. with two male companions. She appeared to be with them willingly and didn't appear to be intoxicated, but her friends and family stated they didn't believe she would have left with a stranger. Garza was apparently seen in Newburgh, New York at around sunrise that day. She has never been heard from again.
Authorities quickly identified both of Garza's companions. One of them has cooperated fully with the investigation and hasn't been publicly named, as he is not considered a suspect. He stated he parted ways with Garza at 5:00 a.m. at a
McDonalds restaurant in Newburgh, leaving her with the other man. The other man was Michael Mele, a registered sex offender. He was convicted of four counts of forcible touching in April 2008 and given six years' probation. He was arrested on a probation violation after she vanished. The violation was for drinking alcohol, missing court-ordered sex offender treatment sessions and failing to meet with his probation officer, and is unrelated to Garza's disappearance. After his arrest, DNA testing linked him to a 2005 offense in New Jersey where a man had masturbated on a public bench where a child had been sitting. He was additionally charged in connection with that. Later, he was further charged with possession of stolen property and failure to notify the Department of Criminal Justice that he had changed his address. One credit card and one debit card found his apartment turned out to have been stolen. Several women went to police in the wake of Garza's disappearance and claimed Mele had sexually assaulted them. He was charged with public lewdness, harassment and falsifying business records in connection with one incident.
Garza was seen dancing, flirting and talking with Mele for about 45 minutes before they left the nightclub. Investigators believe he took her back to his apartment in Wallkill, New York, which is near Newburgh. Bloodstains were located in Mele's apartment and large sections of carpet were cut away from his living room, master bedroom, hallway and a closet. Over a week after Garza's disappearance, police found what they believe is Mele's missing carpet alongside Highway 17 near Bloomingburg, New York, eighty miles from Manhattan. It's currently under forensic testing. Neighbors heard Mele running a vacuum cleaner for a long time the day after Garza went missing, and when police arrested him for the probation violation, he had scratches on his back and shoulders and what appeared to be a bite mark on his finger. Mele allegedly told someone Garza had been reported missing about eight hours before the report was actually filed. He has refused to speak to the police about her case. Authorities believe he murdered Garza in his home, but he hasn't been charged in connection with her. He remains in jail awaiting trial for his alleged crimes.
Garza worked at a shoe store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan at the time of her disappearance. She is a 2003 graduate of Mission High School in Mission, Texas. She was born in Mexico and moved to Texas with her family as a teen, living in the border town of McAllen. She left Texas and moved to New York City only five months before her disappearance, sharing an apartment with younger cousin. She planned to pursue a career in dance. It's uncharacteristic of Garza to leave without warning; she kept in daily touch with her family in Texas. Foul play is suspected in her case, which remains unsolved.
