Thirty-year-old Murder Case Solved After Dader's Identity Revealed, But Justice Denied

las vegas - The thirty-year-old murder case of young mother Melanie, who was strangled, sees a breakthrough as the dader's identity is finally revealed.

Walkers found her body near Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Las Vegas. The autopsy revealed she had been strangled and possibly hit with a blunt object.

Her grieving family waited decades for answers that never came.

In 2010, members of the collective Vegas Justice League, which investigates cold cases, found new evidence. Clues that investigators had overlooked at the time. Using the latest techniques, a DNA profile of the dader was established. And this year, thirty years later, a breakthrough was made. There was a DNA match because the dader's profile was in the police databases.

'It's comforting to know that my sister's murderer is finally known,' said Walter White, Melonie's brother, at a press conference. 'The consequences of her death really devastated my mother.'

White's other younger brother, Jason White, remembered the day he heard his sister had been murdered.

'I just want to say how grateful we are that the officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department never gave up their investigation. The fact that the case is now solved is also partly due to them.'

'We are also very, very grateful that Vegas Justice League solved my sister's case. We just wish he could have been punished for what he did to my sister.'

Unfortunately, Arthur Joseph Lavery cannot be prosecuted. He passed away three years ago. Lavery lived in Las Vegas at the time of the murder and moved to California in the mid-2000s. He died on February 20, 2021, due to a heart condition and complications from a coronavirus infection.