When Michael Mele, 23, was named a “person of interest” in disappearance of 25-year-old woman Laura Garza, many neighbors and former classmates expressed shock - even though he was a registered sex offender.

Born in the Bronx, Mele moved upstate with his family to Newburgh when he was in grade school. He attended Meadow Hill Elementary School, and Heritage Junior High. His father, William Mele, was a respected deputy chief with the MTA police; and his elder brother Joe went to military school and is a Catholic youth minister.

Friends and acquaintances, who have known Mele as a youngster, describe him as an average kid who traded baseball cards, joined the local swim club, and played a little basketball. However, by high school, Mele seemed to be acting out. While one friend said he would brag about shoplifting, another said he regularly taunted a classmate for having a dead father.

Mele was also suspected for several assault cases at the Danbury Fair Mall in Connecticut in 2003. But, Danbury police did not have enough evidence to arrest him.

Later, Mele began hiding in mall parking lots and ambushing unsuspecting young women. In 2005, a 36-year-old woman, and in 2006 an 18-year-old girl reported that a man had approached them aggressively and masturbated. Mele was finally arrested in 2007 for attacking a woman at a New York mall; but did not get jail time.

On December 2 this year, he was free to drive from his condo in Wallkill to Manhattan, and violate his probation by partying at the Chelsea club Marquee. That is where he picked up Garza, a Texas-born aspiring dancer, who hasn’t been seen since and is feared murdered.

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