GOSHEN, N.Y. ? A convicted sex offender accused of killing an aspiring dancer from Texas whom he met at a New York City nightclub three years ago pleaded guilty Monday, the day his trial was to begin.
Michael Mele pleaded guilty to manslaughter and evidence tampering in the killing of 25-year-old Laura Garza. The plea came just before the start of opening statements in his murder trial in Orange County.
Mele confessed he suffocated Garza in his Wallkill apartment. He said she became upset when she learned he had a girlfriend. After he killed her, he said he stuffed her body in a laundry basket, drove to Pennsylvania and dumped it in a wooded area.
Garza had moved to Brooklyn from McAllen, Texas, just five months before she disappeared in December 2008. She had dreams of making it as a dancer.
Mele had several sex-offense convictions in New York, most involving approaching women while fondling himself. He was wanted in New Jersey for similar crimes.
Garza's skeletal remains were found by a group of ATV riders in April 2010 in the woods in Mount Cobb, Pa. Police said a watch that Garza was wearing when she disappeared was found on the remains, and DNA tests confirmed her identity.
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