the front man. he hobnobbed with a who s who a big deal names, sports, politics and, business. even future presidents. fund-raisers, scott was your man. once your name gets out there, you truly cannot imagine how many people knock on your door. and the door got knocked on, was melissa. melissa was the one who knew that she would handle it. he knew that she wouldn t let anything fall through the. cracked malicious specialized unemployment law. but volunteered her time for battered women and victims rights. she also worked on building a memorial garden for crime victims. she was also a champion for the underdog. melissa eventually met a lawyer from a different firmed, and married. debra was a bridesmaid. but after five years her best friends marriage had come undone, and ended in a messy divorce. that the voice just devastated her, after malicious divorce, she took on a second
got promoted her to chief operating officer. not bad for someone who never finished college. things were going really well at the resting law firm? yes yes. thank you much fifth 2000, eight just one week after melissa had been made partner. it was a wednesday night. debra tried to call her several times. but got no answer. the next morning the when melissa was a no-show at work, deborah called her friend repeatedly but to no avail. then she got a hold of melissa sister carry. and carrie was like me, oh no, something s wrong. debra told her boss got, well connected attorney that he, was he called the police officer he knew in plantation florida where melissa lived. the officer agreed to meet deborah and carry at melissa s house. when they got there everything seem to be normal inside the home. nothing was tossed, know the only thing that was a mess was in her garage. her car was gone, and that s why all clue to something
melissa lewis. the missing persons case, was now a murder investigation. it s still a who done it, we have no idea. workers discovered lewis s bodies floating in this plantation. canal the news media quickly picked up on the story. my husband told me. he sought ahead of news. my came to my work in told, me and i just spoke to. i couldn t believe it. police called the victims best friend, debra. when they told me that they had found her, body i just collapsed to the ground. your friend melissa was dumped into a drainage canal. this beautiful, wonderful, person who was nothing but kind, when the medical examiner s report was completed it showed she had been strangled. that is such a personal thing to do to somebody. to have to look them in the eyes and do that. and up close, and personal killer, no questions, but those timeless questions of all
spoke to her. do you know if she had anything to do with what you re going through right now with debra? i don t know. and i really don t know. that wouldn t bother you if she? did know the thing is i just want to get away from my wife. i just want to be in peace. with melissa s death? no. but what tony didn t know was that before detective spoke to him, they had obtained a copy of the train route he drove the day after the murder. and guess what? it matched the route traveled by melissa s phone. detectives confronted him with the evidence. her phone after it was stolen, drove to the area of your house and stay there overnight. and came to work with you the next day, and travel north with the train, because the train has gps on, it doesn t? it it was on the train, okay? and less someone else here
with all these messy complications, tony s defense attorney, bruce flusher, thought about two words. reasonable doubt. a lot of people thought that because of the rothstein ponzi scheme, that he had something to do with the murder of melissa lewis. and debra villegas was back in the hot seat herself. being grilled by homicide detectives who bluntly asked her about scott, the ponzi scheme, and militias work. she had her lawyer with her this time. was melissa aware of anything that scott was involved with? and i m going to use a term ponzi scheme. no. and then the question got more direct. was there any discussion between you and got that we have melissa killed? absolutely. not are you aware of any discussion or of conspiracy to hire tony to murder. melissa would alight have killed melissa? i would ve let him move back into my house. that s the biggest forget that i have in all of this. but detectives did learn one new thing about melissa and scott. some dish. she