Just days away from starting a new job closer to home, a Gardena man was found dead of an apparent stabbing as he was making the early morning trek to a bus stop en route to his North Hollywood job, officials said.
The body of Robert Mello, a 49-year-old husband and father of two sons, was found in the 14900 block of South Vermont Avenue after 5 a.m. Thursday morning by numerous passers-by. Initially, Gardena police suspected Mello to be the victim of a hit-and-run incident. But later determined he was stabbed to death, GPD Lt. Steve Prendergast told the Daily Breeze.
Just days away from starting a new job closer to home, a Gardena man was found dead of an apparent stabbing as he was making the early morning trek to a bus stop en route to his North Hollywood job, officials said.
The body of Robert Mello, a 49-year-old husband and father of two sons, was found in the 14900 block of South Vermont Avenue after 5 a.m. Thursday morning by numerous passers-by. Initially, Gardena police suspected Mello to be the victim of a hit-and-run incident. But later determined he was stabbed to death, GPD Lt. Steve Prendergast told the Daily Breeze.
Mello worked at BMW in North Hollywood and routinely walked a mile from his home just before dawn to catch the bus at Rosecrans, near the 110 Freeway. He then took the Metro Silver Line to the Red Line, an hour-long commute to his job. Before he could get to his bus destination Thursday morning, he encountered a lone suspect just a few doors north of the Gardena Valley News office on Vermont Avenue.
Gardena studied video surveillance tape of the area on Thursday.
A person of interest in the video footage was noticed riding his bike near the crime scene around 8 a.m. Friday, police said. Detective Octavio Saldana, the lead detective in the investigation was working in the Vermont area when he saw a man on bike that matched the description of a person in the surveillance video.
Saldana contacted Gardena officers to detain the bike rider at Gardena Boulevard.
Larry Wainscott, 23, a transient last known to live in Hawaiian Gardens, was stopped, questioned and booked on suspicion of murder, Prendergast told the Breeze. Police as of last weekend, did not release information on what Wainscott told investigators, his motives, nor whether they recovered a weapon in his possession.
Mello’s fellow workers in North Hollywood texted him on Thursday when he didn’t report for his shift. A family member called them with the news of his death.
Mello was described as a “hard working” and “loving” father, who was close to two sons, who are just under age 18, his wife Erika Mello told the Breeze on Friday. The couple had been married 16 years.
He was to finish his job at Century West BMW in North Hollywood last Friday. Mello was to start work at South Bay BMW in Torrance this Monday.
