Who Was Andre Melendez, the NYC “Club Kid” Murdered and Dismembered Over Money?
The gruesome murder of the aspiring actor and filmmaker who was popular in New York City's club scene inspired several works, including the 2003 film Party Monster.
The gruesome murder of a well-known “Club Kid" abbreviated a subculture that briefly electrified New York City’s underground.
Andre “Angel” Melendez was part of the city's “Club Kid” scene, donning outlandish outfits and heavy makeup against the backdrop of electronic dance music. He often sported feathered wings as part of his costume, garnering him recognition in a movement showcasing gender fluidity and bold fashion choices.
“They became the party-goers, event producers, influencers, and tastemakers who defined a generation of cool in New York," Them, an online LGBTQ+ magazine, stated of the scene in a 2019 story. "... No one had seen anything like them before, with their glitter, their wigs, their sky-high platform boots, their piercings, their patent leather, and their powerful command of attention."
Melendez’s 1996 disappearance and murder while he was in his mid-20s also commanded attention, later inspiring a book, songs, and films — including 2003's Party Monster, starring Macaulay Culkin as one of his killers.
The true crime story will now be covered in an upcoming Season 3 episode of Oxygen’s New York Homicide. Learn more about Melendez before the episode airs by reading on.
Who was Andre “Angel” Melendez?
Melendez moved with his family from Colombia to New York as a child, growing up with aspirations to be an actor/filmmaker, according to The Village Voice. He later fell into the Club Kid scene, making a name for himself as an alleged small-time dope dealer, reportedly selling Special K and ecstasy at the party epicenter, The Limelight, a club in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that was owned by Peter Gatien.
Melendez's brother, Johnny Melendez, told the Voice that his sibling “was a quiet boy, very shy,” until becoming enamored by the party lifestyle.
Melendez disappeared on March 17, 1996, and rumors quickly circulated. People claimed that popular Limelight club promoter Michael Alig even bragged to prominent nightclub figures that he helped make Melendez disappear. However, Alig passed the stories off as rumors when asked about them by the press, and many found him unreliable since he was so strung out on drugs, according to the Voice.
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What happened to Andre “Angel” Melendez?
Melendez’s legless body was discovered in April of 1996, a month after he vanished, when it washed up on a Staten Island beach in a box, according to The New York Times. The New York City Medical Examiner's office ruled the death a murder, with the cause of death being asphyxiation by smothering.
To find out who killed Melendez and the reason behind it, tune in to the "Killer Club Kids" episode of New York Homicide Season 3, which will air on Saturday, February 15 at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
