A sex offender from New Jersey is facing a murder charge after he killed his fiancée a day after he shared a video of himself publicly proposing to her.
52-year-old Jose Melo, a registered sex offender, k!lled his 31-year-old partner Naket Jadix Trinidad Maldonado roughly 24 hours after sharing a video captioned, “I love you baby Flaka Naky Bella.”
On Monday, December 30, 2024, at approximately 9:12 a.m. local time, Elizabeth Police Officers headed to “a residence on Florida Street in response to a report of a stabbing,” per a news release shared by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, Jan. 2.
“Upon their arrival, they located Naket Jadix Trinidad Maldonado, age 31 of Elizabeth, who was found dead at the scene,” the release, which was also shared on Instagram, added.
Melo, 52, also of Elizabeth, was arrested and charged “with one count of first-degree murd£r, one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and one count of fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon,” the Union County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed.
Melo and the victim were engaged, per Fox 5 New York.
A video posted on Melo’s Facebook page seemingly taken on December 29. appeared to show him proposing in a bar as the song “Cásate Conmigo” by Silvestre Dangond and Nicky Jam played in the background.
“I love you baby,” Melo captioned the video, tagging what appeared to be Trinidad Maldonado’s Facebook profile.
A GoFundMe page set up by the victim’s aunt, Yolanda De, said she had been “senselessly taken from us” in “an act of evil.”
“This horrible act by someone she trusted left her two children without either parent and with very little options for their future,” the description read.
“I am also doing all I can to ensure her young daughters are safe and have the things they need,” the victim’s aunt added, stating that her “heart breaks” as she shared the news.