A mother who lost her son two years ago
claims that her ex-husband murdered him after the 14-year-old came
out gay to his dad.
Wendell Melton, who was arrested in
2017 and has been on house arrest since last year, appeared last week
in a Nevada courtroom as his case heads to trial. He's admitted that
he shot his son in the course of an argument but insists it was an
accident.
Veronica Melton said that her
ex-husband was homophobic and believes he murdered her son, Giovanni
Melton, after he came out gay to him.
“My ex-husband was always trying to
find out if my son was gay, but my son would never tell him,” she
told Las
Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV.
Two months before he died, Giovanni
came out to his mom. She believes her son also came out to his
father.
“He couldn't deal with it because,
when I was married to him, he would make very disparaging remarks
against people that were gay, and to me I know that he was
homophobic,” she said.
Veronica Melton added that she died the
day that her son died. “I died that day. My heart was broken,”
she said.
Speaking with NBC affiliate KSNV in
2017, Sonja Jones, Giovanni's former foster mother, said that Wendell
Melton had threatened his son with a gun in a separate incident after
he caught him with his boyfriend. She said that he “hated” the
fact that his son was gay.
“I'm sure that inside of his mind, he
would rather have a dead son than a gay son,” Jones
said at the time.