The heartache hasn’t stopped for Tonya Mitchell and her family as they mourn her parents' sudden and violent deaths.
“This pain just doesn’t go away, we relive it every day,” said Tonya Mitchell from her home in North Carolina.
Major and Claudette Melvin were shot and killed in their own home on Southwest 30th Terrace in Fort Lauderdale back on March 22. No one has been charged with their murders.
“There’s still the question of why? Why was the reason for this? We just need peace and justice to have some sort of resolution,” said Ericka Mitchell, Tonya’s daughter.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
Fort Lauderdale Police arrested Maurice Newson, 30, in May, and charged him with grand theft auto and dealing in stolen property for allegedly stealing and selling the couple’s red Ford Fusion car. The car was missing from the home the day the Melvins were killed.
What’s worse, Newson was known to the family, having dated one of the couple’s granddaughters.
“It just baffles me, this person knew my parents, to find out he was a friend of my niece is a hard pill to swallow. And an additional hard pill to swallow,” Tonya Mitchell said.
Local
According to Newson’s arrest report, an unnamed granddaughter was questioned by police and “found to be untruthful on the question of being involved in the death of her grandparents.”
“I hope and pray that no family member is involved in this,” Tonya Mitchell said.
As the police investigation wears on, Tonya Mitchell is trying to live life without her mother Claudette, who would’ve turned 86 in May.
“This May, it was a hard one, this was the first birthday we didn’t get to share with her,” she said through tears.
They urge anyone who knows something about the Melvins' deaths to tell police.
“It crushes my heart, I just want people not to forget it. If you see something say something, if you know something, say something,” Tonya Mitchell said.
If you have information you can call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. There is a reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest.
