Detectives have found a car belonging to an elderly couple who were murdered at their Fort Lauderdale home, police said Wednesday. A suspect is accused of stealing the vehicle from the couple’s garage.
The red Ford Fusion belonged to Claudette and Major Melvin, both in their 80s, who were shot and killed March 22 at their Southwest 30th Terrace home. They had lived in the house for 50 years.
Police told Local 10 News Wednesday that after discovering the vehicle at a towing yard, they arrested Maurice Anthony Newson, 30, of Davie, on May 23 on charges of motor vehicle theft and receiving stolen property.
According to Mr. Newson’s arrest warrant, police were notified of the vehicle on April 4, when a man stopped a police officer in Fort Lauderdale.
The man told the officer that “the red vehicle seen all over the news regarding the double homicide” was parked at 600 W. Oakland Park Blvd. in Wilton Manors, according to the warrant.
Newson was “responsible for selling the vehicle to the tow truck,” a Fort Lauderdale police spokesman said. Police said he took the vehicle the same day the Melvins were killed, presented it as his own car and sold it for $200.
Records show the car was driven from the Melvins’ home to the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station, located at 5910 NW Ninth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.
According to an arrest warrant, family members told police that Newson “came to the home after the homicide, ‘acting strangely,’ and asking a lot of questions about what detectives were saying about the investigation.”
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