A 40-year-old New York man, Jonathan Melendez, was convicted of the 2023 murder of his 88-year-old neighbor, Rena Eves. Prosecutors argued in court that Melendez killed Eves after she refused to let him borrow her vehicle.
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As reported by WWNY, Melendez was found guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence on Wednesday, October 1.
“This was a well-investigated case,” Assistant District Attorney Nolan Pitkin said following the conviction. “Through that, they provided us with the tools we needed to get the conviction.”
Melendez will be sentenced on December 8, 2025. He could spend the rest of his life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder charge alone.
Senseless Murder
Eves’s lifeless body was found at her Eimicke Place residence in Watertown on August 27, 2023. He had been beaten to death with a hammer, with Melendez hitting her repeatedly in the head, WWNY reported.
Assistant District Attorney Erik Barron argued in court that Melendez murdered Eves because she refused to lend him her car.
The now-convicted murderer claimed at the time, during a 911 call, that Eves’ car had been stolen, and that he had stumbled on her body. However, the elderly woman’s car key fob was found in his pocket, according to WWNY. The car was later found at another location in Watertown, showing no signs of forced entry.
State Police Investigator Danielle Kendall testified in court that investigators found Eves’s cellphone and ID inside the car. Furthermore, they found a bloodied claw hammer, the murder weapon, in a Walmart bag inside the car’s trunk.
Bizarrely, State Police Chief Investigator Robert Kemerich testified that Melendez was wearing to pair of sweatpants when he was processed. A cleaner pair of sweatpants was covering his bloodstained pair, which was tainted with Eves’s blood.
He, however, said at the time that he got stained with her blood because she cut herself before she died, WWNY reported.
Justice
Melendez’s strange recount of events and behavior didn’t stop there. He said in court that he took hours to call 911 after “finding” Eves dead because he “fell asleep,” the outler reported. Then, the troubled man accused the prosecution, the jduge, and other authorities of hiding evidence, blaming it on the Freemasons.
Despite his testimony, Jonathan Melendez was found guilty on all charges. Now, the grieving family of Rena Eves can rest assured that justice was served.
“As a family, we’re certainly happy to have this come to a close,” Eves’s granddaughter, Sarena Eves, said. “It’s certainly a decision we wanted and anticipated. Just hearing all counts of guilty is really reassuring.”