Drug Murder: Two CT Felons Charged In Brutal 2012 Slaying, Feds Say

Federal officials have charged two men currently serving prison terms for other crimes with kidnapping and killing a Connecticut man in 2012, authorities said.

Federal investigators said Serafin Velez was killed over a drug trafficking dispute in February 2012. Two men have now been indicted in the fatal Hartford shooting.
Photo Credit: *Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice*

Josh Lanier

04/12/2023 2:30 p.m.

Melkuan Scott, age 32, and Arthur Stanley, age 33, both formerly of Hartford, were indicted in February on charges of kidnapping resulting in death and causing death with a firearm, the US Attorney for Connecticut announced on Tuesday, April 11. They have both pleaded not guilty.

Investigators said Scott and Stanley kidnapped Serafin Velez in Hartford on Feb. 16, 2012, and shot and killed him near 1 Waverly Park, the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice Cold Case Unit said in a Facebook post on the 11th anniversary of the slaying.

Federal prosecutors said the duo "deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation" killed Velez over a drug dispute.

Scott and Stanley face a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Though, federal prosecutors could seek the death penalty.

Any prison sentence would be added to the men's current terms. They've been in federal custody since 2014, the prosecutor said.

Scott is serving a 13-year sentence for a drug trafficking conviction in 2016, and Stanley was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for a fatal shooting in 2011, officials said.

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