Police think they've cracked 1999 slaying

DNA evidence and clues from a cell phone helped police solve the drug-related slaying of a Park City man reported missing eight years ago, authorities said Wednesday.

Felipe Armondo Melendez-Rivas was killed and his body buried behind a Milwaukee house. His remains were discovered in 2005 by a Milwaukee police detective, but police didn't zero in on the alleged killers until last month.

On Wednesday, Milwaukee County authorities announced first-degree intentional homicide charges against the two men they say killed Melendez-Rivas and another man.

Charged are Donald L. Cooper, 41, of 6060 N. 38th St., and Michael A. Lock, 36, of 4343 N. 15th St. Both men had been in custody at the Milwaukee County jail in connection with other criminal cases, officials said. If convicted of the murders, Cooper and Lock face life sentences.

Melendez-Rivas' brother, Jose Melendez of Libertyville, said he was relieved.

"At least we can get some comfort and know what happened," he said.

Melendez-Rivas' roommate reported him missing to Park City police Aug. 18, 1999, according to the Milwaukee County criminal complaint. Melendez-Rivas, who was 27 at the time, had borrowed the roommate's car eight days earlier but never returned.

The car was recovered in September 1999 at a motel parking lot near Midway Airport.

Melendez-Rivas remained missing until August 2005, when Milwaukee police found his body and another body under concrete slabs, the criminal complaint said.

Melendez-Rivas' body was bound with rope, duct tape, plastic ties and plastic film and wrapped in a blue tarp and blanket, the report said. The coroner believed Melendez-Rivas suffocated, reports said.

Authorities were able to identify Melendez-Rivas by using DNA evidence, police said.

Melendez-Rivas' cell phone was buried with him, authorities said. Using numbers in the phone's memory, investigators this summer were led to a man who knew Melendez-Rivas and who had introduced him years earlier to Lock, reports said.

Authorities learned Lock and another man had plotted to rob and kill Melendez-Rivas under the guise of a drug deal, reports indicated.

Lock and Cooper killed Melendez-Rivas, authorities said, and with the help of the third man buried his body in a hole dug the previous day.

Milwaukee County authorities say Lock and Cooper killed another man, Eugene Chaney, in 2000 during another drug-related robbery.

Chaney's body was discovered in a shallow grave under a second concrete slab near where Melendez-Rivas' remains were found, authorities said.