By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE – Laura Garza’s two brothers from Texas aren’t leaving New York until they find out what happened to their sister.

Garza, 25, of Bay Ridge, went missing six months ago after leaving a Manhattan nightclub with sex offender Michael Mele. Her body is believed to somewhere in Upstate New York.

She is presumed dead, but Nicolas and Ivan Garza, days after their sister’s disappearance, came from their McAllen, Texas home to Upstate New York to assist in the search. They are still there, and do not intend to leave without answers.

State police are conducting searches around the Catskills and Hudson Valley. They’ve already searched around Mele’s apartment in Wallkill and other parts of Orange County, but have not reported finding any skeletal remains or evidence of her whereabouts.

Mele, 23, turned himself in after Garza disappeared, and has not been charged with her disappearance. However he is being held in custody for unrelated crimes, including felony charges for possession of stolen credit cards that police found while searching his apartment for Garza, and a felony charge for failing to register a change of address, which is required for sex offenders.

He is scheduled to be in Orange County Court on June 16 for a pretrial hearing regarding those felonies. According to sources, he faces up to two years imprisonment for violating probation, and possibly more for other felonies.

For example, Mele was kept in custody in part with a Paramus, N.J. warrant, for a 2005 incident when he allegedly masturbated while standing directly behind a girl younger than 13 years old and ejaculating on the bench she was sitting on, according to the warrant. However, he has yet to be formerly charged with that crime, as semen on the bench was only matched to Mele’s DNA after Garza disappeared.

Mele has refused to speak with authorities about Garza. In the face of this maddening situation, Nicolas and Ivan can do little but pass out missing-persons fliers in the area, follow developments in the investigation, and pray.

In a lengthy interview with the Times Herald-Record, an Orange County newspaper that has dedicated extensive coverage to the case, Nicolas and Ivan suggested that Garza was drugged by Mele at the Marquee nightclub in Chelsea before she willingly left the club with him.

Videotape from security cameras show Mele talking and dancing with Laura at the nightclub before leaving together.

“She was all over him, and that’s not my sister,� Nicolas told the Record about the security footage. “That’s not how she behaves.�

Nicolas does not directly say that Laura might have been drugged that night, but said that on the video, he saw her with a glass in her hand, and 15 minutes later she was “acting weird� as she danced.

The brothers have made a few trips back to Texas to comfort their grieving mother, but are spending most of their time staying in Orange County supported by “acts of kindness by strangers,� according to Record reporter Oliver Mackson.

Nicolas and Ivan told the Record a little about their family history and Garza’s early life.

Laura was born in 1983 in Monterrey, Mexico. Her mother moved the family to Texas after her father died from a heart attack when Laura was 13 years old.

Having grown up in the border city of McAllen, Laura talked about working in business administration or as a teacher. She worked at a women’s apparel store and was popular with friends, but talked about moving to a new city somewhere else in the country.

In May 2008, after a weeklong trip to New York City, Laura fell in love with the Big Apple and decided she wanted to move there.

Nicolas and Ivan said they weren’t crazy about the idea, but supported their sister’s decision, advising her to check the city out for a year. Laura was also interested in modeling or dancing, which they knew she could pursue in New York City.

Laura moved to New York City shortly thereafter, moving into her Bay Ridge apartment on Shore Road with an acquaintance from Texas. Her brothers said that she fell in love with the city and called them frequently to talk about the places she was going and the people she was meeting.

Laura was excitedly planning to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center with a friend on Dec. 4. But she met Michael Mele on Dec. 3.

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