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Florida man fatally beaten in Taunton

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 4, 2009 12:20 PM

By Jack Nicas and Michaela Stanelun, Globe Correspondents

Police are investigating the death of a Florida man whose body was driven to a Taunton hospital last night.

Chad Fleming, 31, of Deerfield, Fla., was beaten Tuesday outside of a Bay Street residence, prosecutors said. He was then driven to Morton Hospital in Taunton at 11:15 p.m. and found to be dead on arrival. Prosecutors did not say who drove Fleming to the hospital.

Nelson Melo, 22, was charged with witness intimidation in connection with the case. Melo, who lives at the address where the slaying took place, will be arraigned this afternoon in Taunton District Court, the Bristol district attorney's office said in a statement.

Fleming’s fiancée, Carrie Mills, said in a phone interview from Fleming's Florida home that she found out about the slaying this morning from family.

“He left yesterday” for Massachusetts, she said. “He said he was just going to see a friend.”

Mills said Fleming planned to meet a friend who had just broken up with his fiancée. The friend’s name was Mel or Nel, she said. She said she believed the man Fleming was visiting was older than 22.

Fleming was an electrical engineer. The couple met two years ago, she said. He used to live in Haverhill with family, she said.

“He was supposed to come back to me for our anniversary,” which is Thursday, Mills said.

Pat Collins, a neighbor of Fleming’s parents, William and Patricia, in Pompano Beach, Fla., said the family used to live in Bristol, R.I., before moving Florida.

Collins said Fleming lived with his parents in a condominium until three or four months ago.

“He was the most unbelievable person you’ve ever met,” Mills said of her late fiancée. “He was loved by everybody.”