MA MA - Debra Marie ‘Debbie’ Melo, 30, Weymouth, 20 Jun 2000

[sad friend]

Short story in the taunton gazette 6/21/08 her brother and wife holding signs with her picture. I find it amazing after all this time and nothing being done. Unless theres an investigation going on behind the scenes. I miss her every day.

 

[murraydwyer]

Still in search of answers
Family keeps missing woman’s memory alive
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Gerry Tuoti, Staff Writer
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jun 21, 2008 @ 09:50 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taunton —


Richard Whalley spent Friday the same way he has spent every June 20, trying to raise awareness of the disappearance of his sister, Debbie Melo.

Eight years to the day after the disappearance of Debbie Melo, the Taunton woman’s family is still waiting for answers.

“It’s been eight long years, and we’re no closer now than we were on day one,” Whalley said.

Whalley and his wife, Robin, spent the day holding signs for Melo on the Weymouth roadside where she was last seen. Friday evening, they moved to the Taunton Green to raise awareness of Melo’s disappearance in her home city.

“This helps a little bit,” he said. “It just keeps us going.”

Melo, a 30-year-old mother of two, disappeared without a trace on June 20, 2000. Her then-husband, Luis Melo — who didn’t report her missing until more than 24 hours later — told police he dropped her off on the side of Route 18 in Weymouth after the troubled couple had an argument.

Within weeks, Luis Melo, who has since remarried, severed contact with the missing woman’s relatives and was never present during any searches or vigils, the woman’s family said.

Whalley, who keeps a shrine to her in his yard, said this time of year is always difficult for him. The shrine, surrounded by flowers, features an illuminated picture of the missing woman.

Robin Whalley said she hopes Melo is still alive, but doesn’t expect that she is.

more at:

 

[lostfaith]

still missing

http://wbztv.com/local/debra.Melo.missing.2.753769.html

 

[pugsley]

still missing

http://wbztv.com/local/debra.Melo.missing.2.753769.html

BUMP!


Debra you are not forgotten.

 

[lilacwine]

I remember when this happened as I was doing an internship at a NH tv station.

I have often thought about Debbie and her family...

saying a prayer for answers.

 

[lilacwine]

She asked for a restraining order years before her disappearance.

He has since beaten at least one woman and threatened worse.

WHY can't LE get this piece of dirt off the streets?

 

[carbuff]

Does she have an entry in any of the missing persons databases?

ETA: found it: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/melo_debra.html

She also has a post in Missing but Not Forgotten: MA-Debbie Melo - 20 - missing since 6/20/2000 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[murraydwyer]

By Lane Lambert
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Jun 18, 2010 @ 07:49 AM
WEYMOUTH —
Debra Melo and her husband Luis Melo were in the middle of an argument on the afternoon of June 20, 2000, when she asked him to stop the car and let her out.

Luis Melo says he pulled onto the side of Route 18, near the old South Weymouth Naval Air Station, and watched the 30-year-old wife and mother walk away.

No one has seen her since.

Ten years later, the Taunton woman’s disappearance remains an open case in Bristol and Norfolk counties. The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office is investigating it as a homicide.

But no fresh leads have turned up since Bristol DA Samuel Sutter revived Melo’s case in 2007. With little more than Luis Melo’s account to go on, Sutter is again urging the public to call his office’s tip line at 866-765-8307

More at
http://www.patriotledger.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1372401132/10-years-later-questions-linger-about-Debra-Melo-s-disappearance

 

[insatiable]

Does anyone know if they checked to see if the woman they found in a Dorchester, Ma. chimney was a match for Debra Melo? Time & description fits.

http://doenetwork.org/cases/535ufma.html

 

[insatiable]

It's too late to edit my above post. I don't think this is a match....I just read on AMW.com that the UID had a 2002 coin in her pocket. This would be after Debra Melo went missing in 2000.

 

[joe]

I live near where she went missing, I drive down that stretch of route 18 several times a week, if not daily. The sad thing is, if she really was let out, someone did see something. It's very highly traveled, even if as I remember it was a Sunday (that was 11 years ago and I would have been 15 or so). Something else, don't know if it's worth mentioning, that area of 18 doesn't have a real sidewalk, or at least as you proceed up the hill to the overpass of the train tracks. There is room to walk on the southbound side, but it is not paved. The northbound side after a certain point I think doesn't have anywhere to walk. You usually don't see people walking along there, except for maybe when a train leaves around rush hour at the station nearby. Again, if it was on a Sunday like I remember, it would have been more unusual.

 

[sad friend]

Are there any parking areas near the train tracks? Possibly with the old style rairoad ties? If so does a chain link fence go by this area? Another ? is there any dumps close by to this area?

 

[joe]

There is a large parking area near the station, tracks are surrounded by chain link fence. The area nearby the station is fairly built up, with gas stations, a miniature golf course and several small strip malls. The train hasn't been here long, it was restored in 1997. I remember LE combed the area, especially near the tracks very carefully. Before you get to the station area, there is a considerable amount of brush, but like I said, I remember they combed through it very carefully. I really wonder whether she was left off in the first place.

 

[joe]

There are no dumps near the area.

 

[carbuff]

I've played quite a few rounds at that miniature golf. I didn't realize that was so close to where she disappeared.

 

[joe]

If you head north on 18 and go over the RR tracks, that's about where I think

 

[search]

Can anyone answer a couple of questions?

Where exactly did she allegedly get out of the vehicle?
A landmark as a reference would be helpful. Such as, if I were heading into Weymouth (x) distance from Papa Ginos to the lights at the shopping plaza near Columbian square. If I were walking toward Abington (x) distance from the lights at the shopping plaza to factory Paint. Follow what I mean?

Southbound or Northbound side of the road?

Was she walking into Weymouth or toward Abington on Rte 18?

Joe - Reading your last post makes me wonder still. I can't seem to find the precise location other tah vague info which won't help me to look through the area. Does anyone have a concrete location I can use as a starting point?

 

[joe]

well, doing a google search, all I could come up with was "south of the formal naval air station." Now, I know each June they hang ribbons on trees on the southbound side, so if you think of 18 heading toward Abington, the hill leading up to the RR overpass, I think it was there.


Reminding me about the Naval Station, in 2000, the base was closed, but not gated, as it is today. I guess it is possible he could have dumped the body there, but I believe they're still are people that live there, so there is still some survielance, and there are people in and out who are looking to develop it. The base closed I think as well in 1997. And you, I'm not sure they searched the base.

 

[sad friend]

She had gotten out of the car in the past when they argued. Nothing unusual. What I wonder is did she get back in to talk things out like other times in the past. Then what? where did he drive? Any dumps close to the area with train tracks running by? Chain link fence maybe surrounding the dump. Lets put it this way. Where is the closest dump?

 

[joe]

Supposedly, he let her out, he drove off and she kept walking. And when he drove back some time later, she wasn't there. I don't know where th Ie closest dump is, my guess is aways away. However, there could have been places on the base, but I don't know the area that well. The train does go by the base a little, but that area is gated off/fenced off. I'm thinking, unless a crazy driver picked her up, she never got out of the car-the whole story is bogus.