The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported that DNA testing has assisted in identifying Melonie White’s alleged killer, thirty years after hikers discovered her dead.
Police claimed during a news conference Monday that two men discovered the 27-year-old woman’s remains near the bottom of a wash while hiking on Lake Mead Boulevard in August 1994, close to the Lake Mead Recreation Area entrance.
According to the authorities, “it was obvious she had been dragged there.” The woman was identified as Melonie White by the Clark County Coroner, who also concluded that she had been murdered.
According to the authorities, she died from blunt force trauma in addition to being strangled.
According to the police, White and her lover had relocated to Las Vegas in the spring of 1994. White’s relatives reported her missing when they were unable to contact her.
Speaking at the press conference, her two brothers, Walter and Jason, stated that their sister had a 33-year-old son. They claimed that White was “at a crossroads” at the time of her passing, having trouble finding a career and a place in the world.
Walter said she loves fashion and was constantly going between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
The case finally went cold because the police were unable to identify a suspect at the time. When a DNA profile was added to CODIS, a nationwide DNA database that enables law enforcement to compare DNA profiles to identify suspects, connect crimes, and locate missing people, the case was reopened in 2010.
Investigators were unable to locate a match, according to authorities.
The DNA profile was given to Othram Labs eleven years later, in 2021, by cold case investigators working with the Vegas Justice League to help identify the offender.
The lab informed authorities on August 26, 2024, that they had identified the alleged culprit as Arthur Lavery, who was born and raised in the Las Vegas region and would have been 38 years old when White was killed. In 2021, Lavery passed away due to COVID-19 problems. According to authorities, he had only ever been charged with violence.
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Police added that although many of White’s acquaintances had seen her the night before she was killed in a part of Las Vegas close to Lavery’s residence, they have not been able to prove a direct connection between the two.
Melonie’s younger brother, Jason White, expressed gratitude to the Vegas Justice League and the police department for their assistance in resolving the case.
“We will always miss Melonie and believe the solving of her murder will help bring a measure of peace to her and all of us,” he stated.
