John Jefferson
Background: Major and Claudette Melvin (GoFundMe). Insets top to bottom: Jalisa Hill, Maurice Newson (Broward County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida woman is accused of paying her ex-boyfriend $1,000 to help her murder her octogenarian grandparents.
Jalisa Hill, 34, pleaded not guilty in Broward County on Friday, local ABC affiliate WPLG reported. Court records show that she is charged with murder. Her ex-boyfriend, Maurice Newson, is also charged with murder, as well as robbery, obstruction, car theft, and dealing in stolen property.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WPLG, Major and Claudette Melvin, a couple in their 80s, were shot to death in their home on March 22. At the time, investigators noted that something was missing: the couple’s car.
“Absent from the scene was [the victims’] 2014 red Ford Fusion bearing Florida tag [redacted] which was typically parked in the carport,” the affidavit said. Investigators also noted that “the only set of keys that were supposed to be hanging in the key holder hook near the kitchen, were also missing.”
Security video from a neighboring residence later revealed that the car was seen leaving the house more than 12 hours before the slayings, at around 4 a.m. on March 22.
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Hill, the Melvins’ granddaughter, lived at the home, along with a relative who is not identified in the affidavit and described as “developmentally challenged.” That relative found the Melvins shot to death at around 8:30 p.m. on March 22; the affidavit describes Claudette Melvin’s body as being found near the dining room table, while Major Melvin was found between a couch and coffee table. At the time, Hill told police that she had left the home on March 21 to go stay with her boyfriend, and learned about her grandparents’ death after getting a call from a relative on March 22 and returning home.
In an interview on April 9, Hill told police that she was “the one in line to receive the home when her grandparents pass [a]way,” the affidavit said. Investigators discovered notes that she had made plans to repair and renovate the home, even though it did not belong to her at the time.
Two days later, Hill filed an insurance claim for her grandparents’ stolen car. According to the affidavit, Hill told the insurance agents that the car was stolen on April 5, even though it had actually been taken on March 22, the same day her grandparents were murdered. Investigators noted that Hill did not disclose her grandparents’ deaths to the insurance agents, and instead told them that her grandmother “was too old” to be the primary contact person for the claim.
“At no point during the claims process, did Jalisa inform All State that her grandparents were deceased,” the affidavit said. “On the contrary, Jalisa asked if the payment check would be addressed to her grandmother and what would happen if her grandmother was unable to cash the check.”
The car itself, meanwhile, had apparently been sold — by Newson, Hill’s ex-boyfriend. The affidavit says that he and Hill had previously been in a long-term relationship, and that since losing his job as a Spirit Airlines ground crew chief for alleged workplace violence in December 2023, he had been struggling financially. According to the affidavit, Newson arranged for the sale of the Ford Fusion for $200 cash to a towing company owner at around 9 p.m. on March 22.
In a subsequent interview with police, Hill’s story started to change, the affidavit said. She said that she was in fact never line to receive her grandparents’ home, despite previously saying she and her mother were to be the “sole heirs” to the house.
She also told police that she hadn’t been in regular contact with Newson, and that she only happened to see him after her grandparents’ murder when he was walking by the home on the way to the bus stop. However, according to the affidavit, Hill had indirectly paid Newson $1,000 in cash via a third party and mobile cash apps on April 27.
A May 16 polygraph “showed deception, and [the investigator] found her to be untruthful to the question of being involved in the death of her grandparents,” the affidavit says.
Hill was arrested on Wednesday. Records show that both she and Newson are still in custody.
Dennis Parker, a son of the Melvins, told local NBC affiliate WTVJ that he struggled to understand Hill’s alleged involvement in his parents’ deaths.
“At the end of the day, Jalisa is my niece and I can’t really see her being involved in anything like that, but the law speaks for itself,” Parker told the station
However, he told WPLG that whoever is responsible for his parents’ death — even if it’s his niece — should face justice.
“I’m going to stand in the gap for my mom and dad, OK?” he told the station. “If you had anything to do with it, like I said, I want you to rot in hell.”
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