In the pre-dawn hours of October 16, 2017, a tragedy unfolded on a quiet sidewalk in Southwest Detroit that would take years to unravel. A passerby discovered the body of 34-year-old Melinda Salazar, a local mother who was expecting her second child. Her life, and the life of her unborn baby, had been violently taken, leaving a family shattered and a community searching for answers in the darkness. The initial horror of the discovery was only the beginning of a complex investigation into a series of brutal and calculated attacks.
Melinda’s death was not a random act of violence. She was the first known victim of Lawrence Paul Mills III, a man from Garden City, Michigan, who used his vehicle as a deadly weapon. Over the course of several months in 2017, Mills developed a horrific pattern.
Investigators would later determine that he targeted women, engaged in a paid sexual encounter in his car, and then, after they exited the vehicle, he would run them down to take his money back. His chosen weapon was often a golden tan 2006 Chevy Trailblazer.
The investigation into Melinda's murder was painstaking. For more than two years, her case remained unsolved, a painful open wound for her loved ones. But Detroit police were connecting the dots between a series of terrifyingly similar incidents. Less than two months after Melinda was killed, on December 13, 2017, the body of 59-year-old Carrole Ann White was found face-down in the snow in the same Southwest Detroit area. Just days after that, another pregnant woman, aged 29, was brutally beaten and struck multiple times by a car but miraculously managed to escape and call the police.
This survivor's account, along with evidence from other suspected hit-and-runs, helped investigators build a profile of the predator haunting their streets. The trail eventually led them to Lawrence Paul Mills III. He was arrested on April 24, 2020, finally putting a name and face to the fear that had gripped the community. Despite confessing to two of the murders during the investigation, Mills pleaded not guilty in court, forcing the victims' families to endure a full trial.
The legal proceedings brought the full scope of Mills' cruelty to light. The court heard how he used his vehicle with cold-blooded intent, not just to kill but to reclaim the small sums of money he had paid his victims. The loss of Melinda’s unborn child was recognized as a separate and devastating crime. In the end, justice was delivered for Melinda and her baby.
On November 17, 2021, Lawrence Paul Mills III was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Melinda Salazar and Carrole Ann White. He was also found guilty of assault on a pregnant individual intentionally causing a miscarriage for the death of Melinda's unborn child. He was sentenced to serve 28 to 48 years in a Michigan prison. While the verdict ensured Mills could not harm other women, it could never undo the immense pain he caused. The dual tragedy of Melinda's death—the loss of a mother and the future she was carrying—remains a stark and heartbreaking reminder of the human cost of his violent spree.
