Body Of Missing Woman Found In SD County, Stuffed In Her Car Trunk

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — An alleged hitman who was convicted in Texas of aggravated assault in a botched murder-for-hire scheme is now the suspect in the killing of a 47-year-old Hemet woman whose body was found stuffed in her car trunk.

Michael Lee Lorence, 46, of Hemet was arrested last week in San Diego County on suspicion of murder in the death of Melanie Beth Conroy.

According to Lt. Michael Mouat of the Hemet Police Department, Conroy was reported missing on the afternoon of July 27 from her residence in the 900 block of Mellisa Drive, just north of Fruitvale Avenue.

Mouat said that within a day of her family filing the missing person report, investigators uncovered "evidence suggesting Melanie's disappearance was not voluntary."

Hemet police homicide detectives took over the investigation, and on the afternoon of July 29, they located the victim's car in the parking lot of a Park & Ride in the city of Vista, according to the lieutenant.

Conroy's body was found in the trunk.

Detectives soon identified Lorence as the alleged perpetrator and learned that he had already been locked up at a correctional facility in San Diego County stemming from an unrelated warrant.

On Aug. 12, Lorence was formally arrested on suspicion of murder, and Hemet police initiated the process of transferring him from the San Diego County facility to Riverside County.

Lorence was booked into Murrieta's Cois Byrd Detention Center at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. His bail is set at $1 million, jail records show.

A possible motive for the alleged killing was not disclosed, and authorities did not specify the relationship, if any, between the victim and Lorence.

Conroy was the mother of three children, according to a GoFundMe page.

Lorence has a criminal record, but the case against him that made headlines was a bizarre murder-for-hire plot in Denton County, Texas, that left a woman with life-altering injuries.

In August 2015, Lorence was convicted by a Texas jury of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the shooting three years earlier of Nancy Howard.

The woman's then-husband, John Franklin Howard, was convicted of attempted capital murder and sentenced to life in prison in the case. Court documents show that prosecutors alleged he wanted his wife dead so that he could be with his mistress.

According to prosecutors, a number of would-be assassins were tapped by Howard to kill his wife. The bumbling plan kept falling apart until Lorence conspired with another hired contractor and drove from California to do the deed, prosecutors alleged.

In opening statements, a prosecutor told a Texas jury that on August 18, 2012, Lorence came up behind Nancy Howard in her garage in Carrollton, put his arm around her neck, put a gun to her head, and demanded her purse. As she spun around, Lorence shot her point-blank in the left temple. The bullet traveled through her skull, down her throat, and lodged in her right shoulder. Texas media outlets reported the victim lost her left eye.

Lorence was subsequently sentenced to 60 years in prison for the shooting — a conviction that was enhanced by two prior felonies. In 2017, however, he successfully appealed his conviction and his case was remanded for a new trial. It's unclear when Lorence was released by Texas officials and an update on any pending trial dates in that state was unavailable.