In the days following the November 3 murder of 31-year-old Chad Fleming in Taunton, Massachusetts, the case seemed a hopeless riddle. A "friend," Nelson Melo, had dropped a bloodied and beaten Fleming at a hospital -- after Fleming had already been dead for several hours. Melo told conflicting stories about what happened, but he was initially charged with "witness intimidation," not murder.
A week later, Aaron Morin was charged in the murder, but there were still unsettling questions about whether Melo and others were at the scene. Now it appears that local police have patched together a more complete picture of what transpired that fateful night.
In this Taunton Gazette article, police say Fleming's brother told them that Fleming dealt drugs with Morin and Melo. Their investigation turned up evidence that Morin had set up Fleming for a robbery at the apartment of 23-year-old Michael Stenstrom.
Fleming died of strangulation and also sustained serious head injuries. Stenstrom is the most recent to be charged. Last week, he confessed to disposing of bloody ski masks, bloody towels, and a zip-tie that were used in Fleming's murder.
