Wedding Crashers Beat Groom To Death, Police Allege

LOS ANGELES, CA — A groom was found beaten to death just hours after his wedding Sunday in Chino, and police now think two wedding crashers killed him during a scuffle at the wedding reception.

Joe Melgoza, 30, never made it to his honeymoon. The new husband and young father was found suffering from blunt force trauma to the head at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the backyard of a home in the 13200 block of 17th Street, according to the Chino Police Department. The wedding reception had taken place at a relative’s home nearby.

Police were called Sunday night to respond to reports of a fight at a home in the 13300 block of Oaks Avenue. They arrived to find the wedding crowd with two battery victims, suffering minor injuries. But another possible victim, the groom, was missing.

Officers searched the neighborhood and found Melgoza gravely wounded in the backyard of a nearby home.

“Officers began life-saving efforts, and Melgoza was transported to Chino Valley Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries,” according to the Chino Police Department.

Witnesses told police the groom had gotten into a confrontation with the wedding crashers during the reception. According to police, the groom didn’t know the wedding crashers.

The Chino Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau identified the suspects as 28-year-old Rony Aristides Castaneda Ramirez and his 19-year-old brother Josue Daniel Castaneda Ramirez, both of Chino. Police arrested the two men at a home the 5800 block of Chino Avenue the next afternoon.

Instead of celebrating his marriage, Melgoza’s family is mourning his death. Melgoza had a young daughter, and relatives are raising money for his funeral and to help his daughter. Moved by the tragedy, donors gave more than $14,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

"On December 14th my cousin Joe Melgoza was brutally murdered on the evening of his wedding, he was taken from us," his cousin wrote Alice Alvarez wrote on the GoFundMe page. "Joe was a loving son, brother, father, cousin, partner, family member and friend. He always had a way to make you smile. He was there for you at anytime to give a helping hand. He was taken from us in such a tragic and horrific way."

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