Possible motive emerges in murder of elderly Fort Lauderdale couple after man’s arrest
The man jailed in connection to the perplexing murder of an elderly couple in Fort Lauderdale may have killed them due to financial woes, according to a heavily redacted arrest affidavit.
Police believe 30-year-old Maurice Newson shot to death Claudette Melvin, 85, and Major Melvin, 89, for monetary gain. The document, obtained by the Miami Herald on Thursday, detailed Newson’s strained finances after he was fired from Spirit Airlines for “workplace violence.”
The Melvins were gunned down on March 22 in their home on the 600 block of Southwest 30th Terrace. They had lived in the Melrose Manors neighborhood for more than 50 years — and were married for nearly six decades, raising 11 children and 28 grandchildren.
READ MORE: Man charged in Fort Lauderdale elderly couple’s double murder. He was a family friend
On Tuesday, Newson — who had been dating the couple’s granddaughter — was jailed on a slew of charges, including first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. His arrest came months after being on police’s radar in connection to the killing.
In May, he was cuffed after being accused of stealing the Melvins’ red Ford Fusion and selling it to a tow truck driver for $200. That arrest warrant, however, was penned by a homicide detective and delved into developments in the probe, including conflicting statements made by one of the Melvins’ granddaughters.
Motivated by money?
Struggling to make rent payments, Newson turned to crime to make money, detectives allege in the arrest affidavit.
Eight days before the Melvins were murdered, a man entered K&S Food Store, 592 SW 27th Ave, and demanded all the money in the register. He shot at the ceiling, and the clerk, fearing for his life, turned over $750.
The man ran off, crossing through backyards. At one point, a German Shepard confronted him, and he shot the dog’s paw. Newson, the affidavit says, lived near that home.
A police dog tracked the scent of the fleeing man from where he was last spotted by the dog’s owner to the door of where Newson had been living, according to the document. The shell casings from the robbery and the shooting of the dog were also a match to those found in the Melvins’ home after the murders.
Weeks before the killing on March 4, Newson searched the Melvins address, investigators say. The Melvins’ killer was described as someone “familiar with the routines of the home” as he didn’t search for valuables.
In fact, the only thing missing was the couple’s red Ford Fusion and the car keys, which were hung with a dozen others.
That car was sold to a tow truck driver, who identified Newson as the seller on April 26. According to a previous arrest warrant, Newson told the tow truck driver that he had recently bought the car but was tired of putting money into it.
Investigators determined that the number the seller used during the exchange was a TextNow number, which was linked to Newson, according to the warrant.
Detectives followed the car’s trail and visited the Tri-Rail parking lot in Fort Lauderdale, where the tow truck driver met up to purchase the vehicle, the document states. A worker said a red Ford Fusion was backed into a parking spot around 7:30 a.m. on March 22.
Is granddaughter being investigated?
Another person’s name, however, is peppered all over police documents: the couple’s granddaughter, who had been living with them and had dated Newson.
In mid-April, she called the insurance company to file a claim for the stolen Ford Fusion and stated that the car had been stolen on April 5 instead of on March 22, the day of the murders. According to the affidavit, she also put Claudette down as the primary contact person even though her grandmother was already dead.
When insurance representatives requested to speak with Claudette, the Melvins’ granddaughter said Claudette “was too old and did not have an email address” so she instead provided her own contact information, the affidavit states.
She mentioned that the police case for the car theft was related to a murder but never said Claudette and Melvin were killed, the document details. She also asked what would happen if her grandmother was unable to cash the check.
READ MORE: $200, a red car and an arrest? Questions loom in murders of elderly Broward couple
Shortly after the murders, investigators questioned her, confronting her with paperwork that was uncovered in her room — including a list of property expenses, such as pest control and renovations, a warrant revealed. She told detectives that she didn’t own a property, but confirmed that the expenses were for her grandparents’ house as she was “going to be the one in line to receive the home.”
She said she wrote the document at the start of the year “to have a goal,” according to the warrant.
In May, she sat through a polygraph test, which found she was “untruthful on the question of being involved in the death of her grandparents Claudette and Major Melvin.” In another interview, she “changed her answers on [questions] she was previously asked” and denied being next to inherit the house, according to police.
This report may be updated as more information becomes available
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 1:36 PM.
