Melissa Platt // 103 // Suspicious death

Transcript

Melissa Sue Mims Platt was born in Houston, Texas on February 3rd, 1977 to her parents, Mirian and Michael Mims. She had two sisters, Maria and Michelle, and they all had an extremely tight bond. Their mother actually dressed the three girls in matching outfits as if they were triplets because they were so close. She also had a brother, named Michael Jr. Melissa was described as being very adventurous, joyful, cheerful, and bubbly. When she was born, she had a severe case of colic and she also had low blood sugar, so she was hospitalized for a month after her birth. When Melissa was 8, her family moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina, but they headed back to Texas just 4 years later.

When she was 15, she worked at a McDonald's and managed the birthday parties for kids. When she was 16, she ended up moving back to Jacksonville and was living with her sister, Maria's family. She had her first daughter, Brianna, in October of 1995 and her second daughter, Chastity was born in 2003. Brianna was born with a hole in her heart and she also had a cleft lip, so Melissa had to travel to Greenville, North Carolina where she stayed at the Ronald McDonald house with her daughter who had to get multiple surgeries. Brianna was actually on oxygen for the first year of her life. In 2001, Melissa got married, but they ended up separating in 2005. Georgia Marie has a Youtube channel and was asked by Melissa's sister, Michelle to cover her story. Michelle says that her sister had a HUGE crush on Jordan Knight from New Kids on The Block when they were growing up. She had a giant Jordan Knight pin that she would wear and then she propped it on her nightstand every night. She had a sense of humor and loved to sing and dance. Melissa and Michelle used to make music videos when they were younger. Melissa had a big smile, loved kids and animals, and she always wanted to be a mother. She had a dry/sarcastic sense of humor, was passionate, empathetic, and independent.

In 2006, Melissa ran into a man named Joey Tindall at an auto parts store. Melissa was working there at the time and they were soon dating. She got his name tattooed on her lower back.

Joey isolated Melissa. She couldn't have a car, a job, or see her family. Melissa told her sister that she was scared and her sister urged her to break up with him and come stay with her. Melissa said that on one occasion, Joey didn't like the way she looked at him, so he kicked her out of the house and forced her out a window and she was locked out all night. She wasn't able to get into the car that night, so she ended up sleeping on the ground.

Joey was someone that already had a history of domestic violence and Melissa herself was having some legal problems and was on probation at this time. Her family said that Joey was a negative influence on her that caused immediate problems.

Joey had a trailer and Melissa moved in with him. She was 31 years old and they were living in Pink Hill, North Carolina. This is an extremely small town where everyone knows each other. They began spending their days drinking alcohol and this was abnormal for Melissa. She was more of a casual drinker and she only drank beer. Now, she was consuming hard liquor and appeared to have an addiction to it. Melissa actually contacted drug treatment centers for help because she was so concerned with her alcohol consumption. Joey didn't want her to go to treatment and threatened to break up with her if she went to rehab. He was manipulating her and forcing her to continue drinking. Unfortunately, Melissa was living far away from her family, so Joey was her whole world and she relied on him. Melissa's family had no idea that things with her and Joey were so toxic, but remember, she was really close to her sisters. She would slip up once in awhile and tell her sisters about the abuse. At one point, Melissa was actually shot and had to go to the hospital, but she told the doctors that she shot herself, but it was obvious that the position of the wound would make it highly unlikely that she shot herself. The wound was in her upper chest. In the youtube video I watched, it looks like her sister is pointing to an area right under the collar bone. You would have to hold the gun in such an awkward position to make that happen.

On October 3rd, 2008, Joey allegedly beat Melissa and she was wrapped in a blanket, lying in the trailer for 6 days, suffering. Meanwhile, Joey went about his everyday life and left her there. During this time, Melissa's family knew something was really wrong. She was also really close with her mom and they talked on the phone all the time. After she had been injured, she stopped answering calls and her mom, Marian Mims was worried. Joey actually started answering the calls for her and made excuses about why Melissa wasn't available to talk. Joey called Melissa's mother on the Friday before she was found in the trailer. He said that Melissa had fallen in the bathroom and she asked if her daughter was OK and he said she was fine. She was like, alright, I want to talk to her and Joey said, oh, she's sleeping right now. Marian told Joey to have Melissa call her when she got up. Marian didn't receive a call back and she kept calling Melissa over and over, but got the answering machine every time. When she called on Monday and Tuesday, the line would ring, but the answering machine was now disconnected. This is what lead her to finally contact the probation officer for a welfare check. Melissa was on probation for writing bad checks. The probation arrived October 9th, 2008 and they couldn't get anyone to answer to the door, but they knew that Melissa had some medical problems, so they called for help.

When the police arrived, they called Joey and talked to him on the phone. He said that Melissa had a drinking problem and she was having trouble walking around the house lately because she fell over a lot. It was believed that Melissa was falling over a lot due to her Pancreatitis symptoms. Melissa had been in and out of bed for weeks since September 29th when she had a very heavy night of drinking. At some point, she got out of bed, went outside, and fell off the front porch which is a 2 foot drop to the cement below. Joey said he found Melissa in the backseat of his car. He also said that on the previous Friday, he found her pinned between the bathtub and the toilet and the water from the bath was overflowing. He said that Melissa had defecated on herself and she fell when she was trying to clean herself off. Joey told the officers that the backdoor of the trailer was unlocked and they could go inside to check on Melissa.

Paramedics arrived on the scene and reported that they had never seen someone in such a horrifying condition and she needed extreme medical attention. In the first responders report, they said they could smell body fluids the moment they stepped into the trailer. Joey had been in and out of the trailer, it would be impossible for him not to notice. She was found in a pool of her own urine and feces, naked from the waist down. Her head and arm were through her shirt, but only on one side, so the other arm was not in the shirt. Bruises covered her from head to toe and she was barely alive at this point. Due to the bleeding in Melissa's brain, she was unresponsive. There was some hope when they found her though because she was breathing and when they spoke loudly to her, she was able to open her eyes. She had fractures, including a broken pubic bone, and her jaw was broken in two spots. Multiple teeth were missing and her eyes were black. Officers asked if anyone had beat her and Melissa said no. She said that she tried to answer the phone and she fell and hit her head, that's how she got the injuries.

Melissa had to be rushed to a hospital in another state for an emergency craniotomy. This is a surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain. A CT scan revealed that Melissa had an intracranial hemorrhage and a bilateral mandible fracture. The paramedics at the scene said Melissa's condition was the worst they had ever seen. She had multiple old and new contusions, a new bruise on the left side of her neck, and older bruises were on her rib cage and upper arms. There were deep, dark bruises on her lower abdomen and pelvis bones, there were old and new bruises on her upper and lower extremities and her toes looked like they had been broken at some point and healed on their own.

Nine days after Melissa arrived at the hospital, she had to get head surgery. A hole was drilled into her skull to reduce the swelling. She actually did wake up after this and was able to speak. She told the authorities at the hospital that she had been in a horrible car accident, but later changed her statement to say she didn't remember and she was clumsy and fell. She was on a lot of painkillers and was obviously having trouble with severe brain injuries, so no one knows if she was just really confused, or trying to cover for someone.

On Halloween, she told her mother and sister what really happened to her. Her mother, Marian was keeping a journal of everything that was happening and wrote down her daughter's confession. Melissa told her that HE (she didn't say a name) pulled her outside by the neck, tore her shirt off, pushed her in the bushes, and hit her in the head with something hard. She also said that she was forced to drink alcohol through a straw. When Melissa was found in the trailer, there was a can with liquor and a straw in it. Melissa's mother and sister asked her if she was referring to her boyfriend Joey and they say that they could see the fear on her face. Melissa was never able to speak again after this.

She was in the ICU for 9 weeks. She developed a staff infection and meningitis. She started having seizures every few minutes and doctors had to put a tube in the left side of her brain to release the pressure and she was soon pronounced brain dead. Her family stayed in the room with her as she was taken off life support and Melissa died on December 17th, 2008. Her cause of death was listed as a closed head injury or traumatic brain injury, consistent with a fall that was contributed to alcoholism. Her death certificate still shows the manner of death as pending.

This may seem like a pretty open and shut case, but Joey maintained his claim that Melissa had fallen through a gap in their bathroom and asked him to give her alcohol because she's an alcoholic. Melissa's family says that this claim is outrageous because the gap in the bathroom that he's talking about, isn't even big enough for a child to fall in. How could an adult woman fit? The doctors that treated Melissa said there's no way that the injuries she had would be from a fall in the bathroom. During the craniotomy, they also found old head injuries.

The fire department was called to Joey's trailer because of a mattress fire. The same mattress that Melissa had been discovered on, was set on fire. According to Melissa's sister, Michelle, Joey also shaved all of his hair off around this time and this is unusual behavior for him. He also attempted to break into his ex-wife's place. These are the things happening while Melissa was in the hospital.

Joey was interviewed three times and he offered to take a polygraph test, but they weren't able to approve this because he has a heart condition. He did a voice stress test that showed deception. He claimed he saw this coming the whole time because Melissa was clumsy and a drunk.

The police say there's nothing they can do because Melissa never came forward to say she was being abused. He said he didn't call 911 because Melissa didn't want him to. He later changed the story and said the police were called there all the time and he didn't think they'd show up.

Melissa's family has never stopped trying to get justice. Joey wasn't convicted for her murder. The district attorney for their state has ignored them and revealed that Melissa's case is currently inactive. Her father has now passed away from lung cancer and the family is requesting that Joey at least be charged for negligence for failing to call 911 when Melissa was clearly suffering from horrible injuries. Her mother, Marian received a call after Melissa died and the caller ID said unknown number. A woman told her that Joey would be protected just like he had been before when he's been in trouble, but told her not to give up.

Authorities are not willing to press any charges and have even claimed that Joey is innocent and displayed perfect behavior and compliance. Two of his ex-wives have claimed that they were also abused though. Joey was married to Kathy Adams and this ended in September of 2001 after he allegedly pointed a gun at her and their two children. Kathy says she was assaulted on many occasions and she took a warrant out against Joey for assault on a female, but the charges were later dismissed. Six months after the divorce, Joey married Jamie in March of 2002. She ended up being granted a domestic violence protective order against Joey. She said he grabbed her by the hair and threw her against the washer and dryer. Then, he grabbed her by the shirt and threw her on the floor. Jamie said that Joey had threatened her with guns, thrown things at her and slammed her down on rocks during their relationship. She had to get emergency care for this and filed for divorce. Both of Joey's ex-wives say they had to tell stories about falling when they got bruises to cover for him, so all of his wives were just really clumsy. It was also discovered that Joey was violent towards his mother when he was growing up and she almost had to go the hospital a few times, but she was too scared, so she never even told the police.

Joey's children were interviewed and they said they had each witnessed him being abusive to their mother and would have to jump in to physically break up the fights. One of the kids, Joseph was staying at the trailer for a brief time when Melissa lived there. He said Joey was very demeaning to her and he witnessed Joey holding his fingers like a gun and pressing his finger gun against her head, pretended to pull the trigger, and laughing. The kid, Joseph was able to confirm that the two were drinking all day every day. He did not see Joey hit Melissa while he was staying there, but he witnessed extreme verbal abuse.

Even though Joey was allegedly upset that Melissa wanted to get help with her drinking, he did send her to detox. His son believed that he was doing this to make himself feel better about the situation and to make himself look good to others, but there was much more going on. Joey told his son that Melissa was cheating on him with a delivery driver, so they were having a lot of arguments. Apparently, Joey called this delivery driver and told him to come get Melissa and he did. He kept her there for 3 months, but then he brought her back to Joey.

Melissa's sister, Michelle, says that when they were at the hospital, she asked the detective on the case why Joey wasn't being arrested for criminal negligence since he didn't seek medical attention. Michelle was told that Joey did take care of Melissa by feeding her and keeping her hydrated. Michelle asked how her sister could have been eating with a broken jaw while she was lying in urine and feces. She was told by the detective that you can eat no problem with a broken jaw. As of April, 2012, the case is officially closed. Melissa's family was calling constantly to get updates and were told to stop calling. Melissa's sister has started the Twitter account JusticeForMelissaPlatt to gain support and funding for a private investigator, to pursue the case further. She posts updates on the Twitter account and has an online store where all money helps to pay for the private investigator.

RESOURCES

Justice for Melissa Gofundme: Fundraiser by Michelle Mims : Justice for Melissa Platt (gofundme.com)
Justice for Melissa Teespring: https://justice-for-melissa-platt.creator-spring.com/
Justice for Melissa FB page: Justice for Melissa Platt | Facebook
Justice for Melissa Twitter: Justice For Melissa Platt (@Justice4MPlatt) / Twitter