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Tony Villegas, a South Florida man, was accused and found guilty of murdering Melissa Lewis, a top Fort Lauderdale attorney at the now-dissolved Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm in March 2008. He reportedly attacked Lewis in her garage, strangled her to death, and then dumped her body in a canal.
Villegas was accused of blaming Melissa for his marital problems with his wife and the victim's best friend, Debra Coffey, who was also the law firm's COO. He was found guilty of first-degree murder eight years later and was given a mandatory life sentence. Sources state that Tony Villegas is currently serving time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City, Florida.
An upcoming episode of Vanished Into Thin Air on the ID will chronicle the strangulation murder of Melissa Lewis by Anthony Villegas, a case that took years to bring the culprit to justice. The episode, titled Going Places, airs this Monday, November 21, 2022, at 10 pm ET.
Tony Villegas strangled Melissa Lewis in her garage and then dumped her body in a canal
A jury found Tony Villegas guilty of first-degree murder of his ex-wife’s best friend, Melissa Lewis, in March 2008, after deliberating for less than two hours. Villegas was arrested on allegations of strangling the victim, a renowned attorney, to death at her Plantation home. Authorities believed Villegas blamed Lewis for breaking off his marriage to Debra Coffey.
Lewis reportedly left her workplace around 5:00 p.m. on March 5 and went to a Publix grocery store before returning home. When she failed to appear for work the following day, her coworkers called the cops, who discovered evidence of a fight in her open garage.
Melissa's car was missing. The grocery bags were left behind and there was pepper spray all over the garage door. Her car was later tracked to a location not far from her home, but she remained missing. Three to four days later, her body was discovered in a canal. An autopsy revealed that she was manually strangled to death.
How was Tony Villegas connected to Melissa Lewis' murder?
When Tony Villegas' roommate confirmed that he returned home late on the night of the murder and asked him questions about pepper spray and how to get rid of it if sprayed on one's body, it raised suspicions about Tony Villegas' involvement in the murder. Speaking about the conversation with his roommate, lead prosecutor Shari Tate-Jenkins said:
"His roommate said that on the night Melissa Lewis went missing, Tony Villegas came home late that night and had asked if he knew of a way to wash off or get rid of pepper spray on your body. That set off alarm bells."
Authorities claimed that Villegas' cellphone's electronic pings and DNA evidence connected him to the crime scene. The prosecution also stated that he was envious of Lewis' friendship with Villegas' wife at the time of her death. Furthermore, his DNA was found 16 times on the jacket Lewis was wearing the night Villegas was killed, according to reports.
Pointing to Tony Villegas, prosecutor Shari Tate said:
"There’s not one other person on the planet earth that could leave the DNA on this jacket that she was so proud of to have bought and worn that day, other than that man right there."
Villegas was sentenced to life in prison and remains behind bars at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City, Florida.
Vanished Into Thin Air will air on Monday, November 22, with a new episode.
