NJ man accused of killing woman he proposed to a day earlier
Jan 06, 2025
A New Jersey man is accused of fatally stabbing a woman he appeared to have just proposed to in a nightclub.
On Dec. 29, Jose Melo, 52, posted an undated video of him seemingly dropping to one knee and presenting Naket Jadix Trinidad Maldonado with a ring in an Elizabeth, N.J. nightclub.
She reacted with excitement.
“I love you baby Flaka Naky Bella,” he captioned that video, which was corroborated by outlets including Patch.
The following morning, cops responding to a report of a stabbing found the 31-year-old victim’s body in a New Jersey home.
Union County prosecutors charged Melo last week in connection with her death and additional weapons charges.
A woman identifying herself as the victim’s aunt said Maldonado was a mother of two whose family lives in Florida.
“Naky was senselessly taken from us on December 30 in an act of evil,” Yolanda De wrote on a fundraising page. “This horrible act by someone she trusted left her two children without either parent and with very little options for their future.”
That page said the victim’s father wants Maldonado to be memorialized in Florida and buried in Puerto Rico. A service for her in New Jersey is also being planned.