Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 10:58:41 -0400
http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_26130879/woman-tied-shoreview-homicide-still-mystery?source=rss
Woman tied to Shoreview homicide still a mystery
By Sarah Horner
shorner_at_pioneerpress.com
Posted: 07/11/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated: 07/11/2014 05:06:13 PM CDT
Investigators continue to hope a grainy image of a woman in a striped tank
top will help crack open a homicide case now almost a year old.
The woman reportedly used Hagos Tsegay Melake's bank card shortly after the
26-year-old was found dead Aug. 29 in a Shoreview parking lot with a
gunshot wound to the head. She could have critical information about his
death, according to Sgt. John Eastham with the Ramsey County sheriff's
office.
Security footage shows her holding Melake's card in her shirt about 4:15
a.m. before using the plastic to withdraw money from an ATM at West
Broadway and Emerson in Minneapolis.
The South St. Paul man was last seen about 1:30 a.m. leaving a Hunan Garden
Restaurant in downtown St. Paul with two other people.
A woman uses Hagos Tsegay Melake's bank card at a Minneapolis ATM on August
29, 2013, the same day he was killed. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County
sheriff's office)
Investigators believe the suspects picked the woman up near West Broadway
and drove her to the ATM.
Pictures of her were circulated shortly after Melake's death in hopes of
discovering her identity. They were again this week, this time attached to
a message offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who provides information about
the mystery woman that leads to an arrest of the suspects, Eastham said.
The woman is not considered a suspect.
"We really want to find (her)," Eastham said. "It's a little bit
frustrating to have such a good picture of someone and not be able to
identify the witness."
Melake's younger sister, 19-year-old Wainy Melake, said the mystery
shrouding her brother's death has made the tragedy of his loss even heavier
to bear for her and her father.
"It's the agony of waiting... We have no answers," Melake said. "That is
probably the most frustrating part."
One of the more painful parts, she said, is accepting the way her brother's
body was carelessly abandoned in a Shoreview parking lot "like a piece of
trash," she said.
"My father and I mainly depend on each other to get through it," she said.
Melake, born in Eritrea, was attending Inver Hills Community College to
become a computer engineer. His family emigrated from Eritrea in 1993.
Described as a "family person," Melake loved to out to dinner with his dad
and sister, Wainy Melake said, noting her brother particularly loved
buffets.
"He was just an all around good person, nothing but smiles," Wainy Melake
said. "He really brought our family together."
Wainy Melake is hoping to find a way to commemorate the one-year
anniversary of Melake's death next month, possibly with the release of a
Chinese lantern.
Anyone with information about the woman is asked to call Crime Stoppers at
800-222-TIPS (8477).
Reports can be made anonymously. Callers are asked to cite the Hagos Melake
Minnesota Murder.
Sarah Horner can be reached at 651-228-5539. Follow her at
twitter.com/hornsarah.
(image/jpeg attachment: Melakefamily.jpg)