Michael Alig
Michael Alig (April 29, 1966 – December 24, 2020) was a musician and drug addict responsible for the murder of Angel Melendez.
On 17 March 1996, Melendez confronted Alig for not paying him for heroin. This lead to a fight which ended when Alig's roommate Robert Riggs knocked Melendez out with a hammer. Alig then smothered Melendez and poured cleaning fluid down his throat, and Riggs duct-taped his mouth shut. After a couple of days, Alig dismembered Melendez's corpse with a knife and dumped his remains into the Hudson River.
In the weeks following Melendez's disappearance, Alig told "anyone that would listen" that he killed and dismembered Melendez. Most people did not believe him, but journalist Michael Musto published an article in the Village Voice reporting on Alig's alleged involvement in the killing. Despite this, Alig was not arrested, as the police wanted him as a witness in a drugs investigation into his club.
This changed in September 1996, when several children found a box containing Melendez's torso in the Hudson River, confirming Alig's story. Alig went on the run and moved into his boyfriend Brian's apartment in New Jersey. However, he and Riggs were soon tracked down and arrested. As part of a plea deal, Alig and Riggs pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison in 1997. Alig was later paroled in 2014.
On December 24, 2020, Alig's ex-boyfriend found him unresponsive at his Manhattan home, having collapsed after suffering a heroin overdose. Alig was pronounced dead at the scene.