A Castle Rock woman has died after being severely beaten by her boyfriend, who killed himself after the attack.
Michelle M. Stella, 42, died Oct. 10 as a result of the Sept. 17 domestic violence incident, according to a release from officials in Gothenburg, Neb., where it happened.
Gothenburg Chief of Police R.L. Olson said in a statement that Stella and her 8-year-old son were traveling with her boyfriend, Jason Eugene Melledy, 39, of Peyton.
Stella's family said they were in the area to attend the wedding of Stella's close friends, in which Stella was a bridesmaid.
The three were on U.S. 30, which parallels Interstate 80 in that area. Gothenburg is between North Platte and Kearney.
Just before midnight and just east of Gothenburg, Melledy stopped the 2008 Nissan Armada SUV and pulled Stella out, police said. He beat her face and head with his fists. While being assaulted, she instructed her son to run away. The boy hid in a nearby ditch until flagging down police.
Officers found Stella lying in the westbound lane with severe head and facial injuries.
Melledy got back in the SUV and intentionally drove it off the road, where it rolled several times into a ditch. Melledy was injured in the crash but walked away from the scene.
He committed suicide in a residential area of Gothenburg, police said.
Stella was released from Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney on Sept. 24 and returned to Colorado to rehabilitate among her family.
But on Oct. 7 she was hospitalized again to have emergency surgery after a brain aneurysm.
Stella died Oct. 10 due to the injuries she received in the assault.
Stella's family members had met Melledy and saw no alarming signs in their relationship, said Cindy Rizzo, who is Stella's only sibling.
"I'm still in disbelief," Rizzo said Friday from her home in Connecticut. "I can't believe my sister was murdered."
A funeral for Stella will be held in Beacon, N.Y., her hometown.
Rizzo said Stella's son has been staying with his father in Castle Rock since the incident.
"Everything she ever did was for my nephew. Her life was for that little boy," Rizzo said. "I just hope that he's going to be OK I just want everything to be ok for him."
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