When Rafael “Ralphiee” Colon was a teenager, his older sister Melanie agreed to dye his hair blond for him. She used a Rite Aid bag to cover his hair as the color developed, but the shade didn’t quite turn out as expected.
“Literally, she took the Rite Aid bag off my hair to check to see if it was getting blond and the Rite Aid logo was imprinted from the bag and onto my actual hair. And it said ‘Rite Aid,’” Ralphiee said, laughing.
“I was so mad and we started arguing. When you lose somebody, you miss the arguments, the fights, everything. She just said, ‘You’ll get over it.’ That was the funniest moment I ever had with her.”
It was normal for Melanie to help her brothers and take care of them as best she could. She was the first born to Louis Colon and Zoraida Miranda, and she stepped in to care for Ralphiee and her other brothers, Louis and Carlos, when her parents became addicted to heroin.
In fact, Melanie missed her entire second grade year to stay home and care for her brothers. Somehow, when the next school year arrived, she was placed in third grade.
“Melanie was a mom to me. She was my sister, but she was my mom,” Ralphiee said. “My parents weren’t bad parents at all — we always had a roof over our heads. But Mel was there to just take care of everything.”
The role of maternal caretaker came naturally to her. Raphiee, who was born five years after her, remembers men hollering at her when she was a teenager, “and she’d be like, ‘I’m with my sons!’”
When Melanie became a mother herself at 18 to her son Joshua, she transformed from a rowdy high schooler to a mature woman who was ready to take on the challenge of caring for her own child.
“Having a son just made her eyes open more. Like, this is real. This is mine. My brothers are my parents’ kids. This child is my child,” Ralphiee said. “It matured her a lot. She loved being a mom. It was her favorite job in the world.”
Melanie was bisexual, and when she came out to her family, her father cried. But the entire family was ultimately accepting and supportive. And when Ralphiee came out himself, it made their bond even stronger. Her main concern was that he stay safe, and she’d made it clear that if anyone tried to hurt him, they’d have to answer to her.
Music was important to Melanie — she played Nicki Minaj’s 2012 album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded” on repeat and especially loved the song “Starships.” She hung out at gay clubs, and friend taught her how to DJ. She picked it up quickly and before long, she had the dance floor under her command.
“Out of nowhere, you walk in the club and Melanie is in the DJ booth,” Ralphiee said. “I’m like, ‘How do you know how to do that?’ Let me tell you, she had that club jumping.”
“She loved singing, she loved dancing, and her favorite thing to do was twerk,” he added with a laugh. “She taught me how to twerk.”
She became a fixture in the LGBTQ community and was known as the “gay Barbie” and “DJ Kiss.”
But Melanie had dreams that went beyond entertainment. She hadn’t finished high school, so she started looking into how to get her GED. Then she wanted to go to nursing school, get situated at a nice hospital, and just help people.
The last time Ralphiee saw Melanie was May 8, 2012. They were sitting outside their family’s Kensington home, talking about her upcoming 23rd birthday, which was the following week, May 17. She wanted to dress up as Marilyn Monroe for her party, with her blond hair short and curled.
Melanie had to go to Rite Aid to get something for her son and she got a ride from a friend, Reynaldo Torres. She told Ralphiee they’d eat when she got home, and they exchanged I love yous.
But Melanie never came home. Four days later, on May 12, 2012, the day before Mother’s Day, Melanie’s body was found in Juniata Park. She had been shot six times. Reynaldo, who remained missing, was initially a suspect, but his remains were found the following year. Both murders are unsolved.
Their mother, Zoraida Miranda, died of a heart attack just days before the one-year anniversary of Melanie’s disappearance.
Since her death, Ralphiee has become the keeper of his sister’s memory. He has been consistently active on social media and beyond, trying to spread the word about his sister and get justice. A few years ago he even spoke on the main stage at Outfest about Melanie.
“I go so hard for her because she was dumped in the park like trash, and my sister was not trash,” he said. “She left me a platform to speak for her and show people you can be your loved one’s voice. I will never stop for my sister.”
Turning 23 a few years ago was difficult for Ralphiee because it meant he was now older than Melanie ever was. But that just makes his committment to get her case solved even stronger.
“As I get older, it’s even harder because I get to live even more years that she didn’t,” he said. “But I know that’s why I’m still here. She’s keeping me here to live the years she didn’t get to live, so I’m grateful for that. I’m living for her every day. Every day I live for her.”
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Melanie’s murder. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
