A 52-year-old US man has been accused of stabbing his fiancee to death a day after he publically proposed to her in a video shared on social media. According to The Independent, the man, identified as Jose Melo, has been charged with first-degree murder after his 31-year-old fiance, Naket Jadix Trinidad Maldonado, was found dead at a home in New Jersey last week. He has also been charged with 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.
According to The Independent, Jose Melo, professionally known as DJ Melo, was a registered sex offender. He was previously arrested in 2010 when he allegedly threatened a woman with a box cutter and sexually assaulted her.
A day before allegedly stabbing his fiancee, the 52-year-old shared a video on his Facebook page that showed him getting down on his knee and proposing to Ms Maldonado. In the clip, the 31-year-old is visibly shocked. She covers her mouth with her hand before taking the ring and hugging and kissing Melo. In the caption on the Facebook video of the proposal, Melo wrote: “I love you baby.”
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Following the incident, Ms Maldonado’s family created a GoFundMe page where they described her as a mother-of-two. Ms Maldonado’s aunt said that the 31-year-old 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,” she wrote, adding, “I am also doing all I can to ensure her young daughters are safe and have the things they need.”
In an update, Ms Maldonado’s aunt also thanked the public for their support. She also said that the victim’s daughters are being taken care of and that permanent arrangements are being worked out.
The page had raised almost $27,721 of a $35,000 target as of Tuesday.
