Fort Lauderdale police arrest man in connection with murder of elderly couple

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. — Five months after an elderly couple were murdered in their Fort Lauderdale home, police made an arrest Tuesday of someone the victims' families know well.

Maurice Anthony Newson, 30, of Davie, was charged March 22 with the murder of Major and Claudette Melvin, a couple in their 80s.

After her death, her red Ford Fusion was stolen from her driveway and immediately became the focus of the investigation. Newson has been linked to this car.

About two weeks after the murders, it was found at a tow yard in Wilton Manors.

According to Newson's arrest warrant in the case, police received a tip about the vehicle on April 4 when a man flagged down a patrol officer in Fort Lauderdale.

That man told the officer that “the red vehicle that was all over the news in connection with the double murder” was parked at 600 W. Oakland Park Blvd., the warrant states.

Investigators identified the man who sold the car to the towing company as Newson. They say he took it the same day the Melvins were killed, passed it off as his own car and sold it for $200.

Records show it was driven from the Melvins' home to the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail station at 5910 NW Ninth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.

He was arrested on May 23 and charged with car theft and receiving stolen goods.

Since then, detectives from Fort Lauderdale have been trying to determine whether Newson was involved in the murders. They arrested him on Tuesday.

At one point, Newson was dating the Melvins' granddaughter, Jalisa Hill. We found her outside her grandparents' house. She didn't have much to say to our camera.

“No comment,” she said.

According to the arrest warrant in the car theft case, family members told police that Newson “had been coming to the house frequently after the murder, 'acting strangely' and asking many questions about what investigators were saying about the investigation.”

Hill voluntarily took a lie detector test and investigators say she “told the truth when asked if she had any involvement in the deaths of her grandparents.”

The Melvins' granddaughter gave conflicting statements about who would inherit the Melvins' home. In one interview, she told police that she and her mother would be the sole heirs. In another interview, she said she was not the heir to the home, the warrant states.

Newson's latest booking photo was not immediately available Tuesday.