WOMAN DISAPERS AFTER LEAVING NIGHT CLUB

// December 6th, 2008 // Hott in the Headlines

don’t talk to strangers

Police told the New York Post she seen leaving the club “willingly” with Mele and another man from upstate New York

POLICE have questioned a registered SEX OFFENDER in the suspicious disappearance of a young woman after a late night out at a trendy Manhattan club.

By John Charles Reedburg

A Lifetime movie is soon to follow this story.

NEW YORK — Police have questioned a registered sex offender in the suspicious disappearance of a young woman after a late night out at a trendy Manhattan club.

LAURA GARZA, 25, of Brooklyn, vanished after leaving the nightclub Marquee at about 4 a.m. on Wednesday in the company of two men.

One of them, MICHAEL MELE, 23, was interviewed by police in Orange County, where he lives, the New York Daily News reported. He voluntarily came in for questioning accompanied by his father and lawyer.

Mele, whose father is a retired Metropolitan Transportation Authority assistant deputy police chief, was on probation after being convicted of forcible touching, the paper said.

A message left at Mele’s home was not immediately returned Saturday.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne said investigators “suspect foul play and are concerned” for Garza’s safety.

The club’s security cameras captured Garza and Mele together. Police told the New York Post she seen leaving the club “willingly” with Mele and another man from upstate New York.

Marquee spokeswoman Virginia Lam said the Chelsea club was working closely with police.

“Marquee has provided the police with valuable information and footage from our video surveillance system,” Lam said in a statement Saturday.

Garza moved from Texas to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn about six months ago and was working at a Manhattan shoe store before she vanished. She is a native of Mexico.

No arrests have been made in the case, police said.