For murder?
NY sex offender gets 23 years in dancer's death
By Jim Fitzgerald - Associated PressGOSHEN, N.Y. (AP) — A New York sex offender was sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in prison for suffocating an aspiring dancer from Texas and dumping her body 85 miles away.
Michael Mele of Wallkill pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter in the death of Laura Garza. The 25-year-old Garza disappeared in 2008 after Mele picked her up in a Manhattan nightclub.
The victim's brother and mother wept in Orange County Court as they told the judge how Garza's death had affected the family.
