A judge in Norfolk Superior Court determined that a Marshfield man will be held without bail pending his murder trial.
Robert Bonang, 61, was arraigned in-person at Norfolk Superior Court on charges in connection to the death of his former neighbor, 59-year-old Laurie Melchionda.
Melchionda was the Director of Health and Services and Field School Nurse with the Weston Schools.
Bonang responded “not guilty” to charges of Murder, two counts of Possession of a Large Capacity Feeding Device, Carrying a Firearm, and Possession of Ammunition without an FID card.
Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor requested that Bonang be held without bail. He said in June, Bonang allegedly shot Melchionda in front of her home at 64 Howie Road in Braintree. He said a babysitter walking nearby witnessed the incident.
“She saw the defendant walk by in brown attire. She stopped, held the children back, let the defendant cross her path, and walked away,” said Connor. “She characterized him as looking like a ‘fake UPS driver.’ As she walked away, she heard gunshots, turned, and saw the defendant shooting from the box at Ms. Melchionda while she stood at her front door.”
Prosecutors say that a large cardboard box was found at the scene, with a .22 caliber rife protruding through a hole in the box. A .22 handgun was found, and 400 rounds of ammunition were found nearby in a rented vehicle.
Connor says Braintree Police arrived on scene a minute after the gunshots were reported. Bonang was taken into custody without further incident.
Melchionda was taken to South Shore Hospital, where she later died. She was shot at least eight times, according to Connor.
Through police investigation, it was found that Bonang lived his entire life at 65 Howie Road, across the street. After Bonang’s father died, the family sold the home, and he moved to Castle Green in Marshfield in 2015.
Connor said notebooks and CD’s were found at the apartment. In writings attributed to Bonang, he mentions the Melchionda family and believed they were working with his sisters to prevent him from accessing his father’s retirement account.
“According to his writings,” said Connor. “…he was still fixated on the Melchionda family, and believed that they were involved with his financial distress.”
Through investigation, police learned that Bonang had an Idaho driver’s license. In July, police interviewed two people in Idaho who said they sold the handgun and rifle in the case to Bonang.
“Your Honor, Idaho is a cash and carry state. A person can buy a gun in Idaho from a private seller, with cash, and it is not recorded in any database,” said Connor. “In addition, the laws on large capacity devices are not the same in Idaho as they are in Massachusetts.”
Defense attorney Neil Madden says Bonang had no criminal history, and his only ties are to this area. He requested cash bail.
“My client did not leave. He had a car there, he could have fled, he could have ran. He stopped, he was there, he laid prone on the ground. The cops came and he was very cooperative during the entire process,” said Madden. “There is probably a little more going on than exactly what the Commonwealth alleges here. I understand there’s eyewitnesses and all the rest of that. I think if you go deeper into this, there’s going to be a couple other things that might pop up.”
Judge William Sullivan ordered that Bonang be held without bail. A pre-trial conference was set for October 28th at 2 p.m.
