SENSATIONAL CRIME

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 203, 10 August 1928, Page 5

SENSATIONAL CRIME

WEALTHY WOMAN MURDERED. RIVALRY FOR YOUNG MAN’S AFFECTIONS. [United Press Association—By CableCopyright.) [United Service.) Las Angeles, August 8. When Frank Meilus, a prominent sportsman and manufacturer, returned from a week-end trip he found his wife’s nude body stabbed and mutilated in a bedroom of their palatial home. On searching the mansion Melius discovered Leo Kelly crouching in a closet. Kelly, who was formally charged with murder was very incoherent as to what had occurred, but developments suggest a curious and amazing crime, involved in a rivalry between several women for this handsome young man’s affections. Kelly, aged 29 years, a meat cutter by trade, apparently often chugged along, it is alleged, in his delivery car, paying calls to wealthy ladies during the absence of their husbands. The police interrogated a number of persons, who stated that they had been at lively parties with Mrs Meilus and Kelly. Three women prominent in club circles and also allegedly interested in Kelly’s attentions, have disappeared from Los Angeles, avoiding publicity ana, perhaps, arrest. The case is occasioning a sensation almost like the Hickman murder. A negro maid who served Kelly and Mrs Melius with breakfast on the morning the murder was committed told the grand jury that her mistress kissed her early morning caller. An expert states to-day that the fingerprints upon the weapons which killed Mrs Melius are not Kelly's.