Slain nurse’s family fi ghts killer’s parole
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
There’s a world in which
Tina Meliota Cortese envisioned
her older sister Barbara
Meliota, who would’ve
been in her 60’s, on the frontlines
of a public health crisis
while being an “amazing, funloving
aunt” to her children.
But Barbara Meliota’s
story ended on May 4, 1982,
at just 24 and fresh out of
Lehman College’s medical
program.
On Aug. 13, family members
of Meliota — a 24-yearold
Montefi ore nurse who
was was sexually assaulted
and beaten to death in 1982
— gave ringing testimonies
asking the New York State Parole
Board to deny the release
of her killer Anthony Doyle,
who completed his 20-year
sentence. The parole hearing
was originally scheduled for
August 2020 until COVID-19
postponed the proceedings,
and forced the hearing to be
held in a virtual setting. A decision
on Doyle’s release may
not be made until the end of
September, according to state
parole offi cials.
Since Doyle became parole
eligible in 2010, the Meliota
family has appealed bi-annually
to the New York State
Parole Board against Doyle’s
release.
Doyle, who was denied
early release and then parole
on two other occasions, is
currently an inmate at Great
Meadow Correctional Facility,
a maximum-security
prison in Comstock, which
is 60 miles north of Albany.
Doyle, who was 22 at the time,
was charged with second-degree
murder and sexual abuse
in the fi rst degree.
Attempts by the Bronx
Times to reach Doyle and his
attorneys were unsuccessful.
Meliota Cortese told the
Bronx Times that she has
taken it upon herself to represent
her sister by holding
her killer accountable for the
ripple effect that indelibly
changed the Meliota family.
“The hearing was really
tough and very emotional,
and we are grateful for so
much support,” Cortese said.
“Every two years we have to
continue to defend our Barbara
who cannot speak for
herself against her attacker.”
Prior to the hearing, the
Meliota family started a petition
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Doyle’s release which garnered
Cortese, what happened to her
sister on May 4, 1982, “should
never happen to any family.”
grief never goes away,” she
said. “He did horrible and terrible
reason other than she was a
convenient target, and I don’t
ever want that to happen to
another family, because that
loss can never be fi lled.”
Doyle, a maintenance worker
at the time, bludgeoned and
sexually assaulted Meloita
on the morning of May 4, before
into the airshaft of the Montefi
ore’s garage.
graphic nature of the crime
— which included the random
of the attack and the use of a
foot-long metal nozzle of a fi re
hose — has haunted her family
the tragedy.
of what he did to my sister
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 2 UG. 27-SEPT. 2, 2021 BTR
that is jarring,” said Meliota
Cortese. “This was planned,
premeditated and my sister
didn’t have a chance. She
went to work that day and lost
her life in a way that wrecked
and traumatized my family.”
Meliota fell fi ve fl oors
through the shaft, died of
blows to the head from the
beating and suffered a fractured
spine in the fall, according
to the chief medical examiner.
NYPD Sgt. Michael Harris,
the detective who headed the
investigation, said the police
thought the killer had planned
the crime and that he may
have removed the light bulbs
in the stairwell, then waited
in the darkness for his victim.
Doyle, a Bronx native with
two prior robbery arrests, in
1979 and in 1980, made a full
confession on videotape to authorities.
Meliota Cortese said that
while she does believe in the
capacity for forgiveness and
redemption, Doyle has not
made an attempt to reconcile
or reach out with the family
since the attack.
Ultimately, while Doyle’s
fate remains up in the air, Meliota
Barbara Meliota had her life taken
on May 4, 1982. A decion on her
killer’s parole is expected in September.
Contributed photo
Cortese said she continues
to honor her sister in the
way she lived, not the way she
died.
“She is much more than
just the last day of her life and
so much more than the man
that killed her,” she said. “She
made us smile, she made us
laugh, I still hold fond memories
of her that will never go
away.”
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In the words of Meliota
“It tore us apart and that
things to my sister for no
According to police reports
and video confession,
dumping the nurse’s body
For Meliota Cortese, the
yet premeditated nature
in the 39 years following
“It’s the sheer brutality
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