24-Hour Fatal Beating Of Wife In Front Of Children Lands Husband Life Sentence: Lancaster DA

By Jillian Pikora From Daily Voice

An Elizabethtown man will spend the rest of his life in prison for brutally beating his wife to death in front of their children, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office announced on Friday, Oct. 24.

Christopher Alexander Mello, 43, pleaded guilty to First-Degree Murder in the death of his wife, 39-year-old Alexandria Reynolds, at their home in the 300 block of West High Street on Sept. 30, 2021, authorities said.

Police were called after Mello’s father reported his son had been “acting crazy” and saying something about his wife being dead. Officers arrived to find Mello with a teenage boy carrying an infant, believed to be his children, according to investigators.

Upstairs, officers discovered Reynolds dead in a bathtub, her body showing signs of severe trauma. Mello later admitted to punching and kicking her during a violent assault that spanned nearly 24 hours, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the case, told the court that Reynolds suffered more than 100 bruises, multiple broken bones—including her nose, jaw, and neck—and internal injuries, including a severed artery in her brain.

“It’s clear that she suffered a great deal,” Haverstick said, adding that the brutality of the attack was “beyond comprehension.”

Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth sentenced Mello to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Though his attorney claimed Mello was remorseful, he declined to speak when given the chance to address the court.

The judge called the murder “a horror” that could never be undone.

As part of his sentence, Mello must pay $4,500 in restitution to Reynolds’ family, the DA’s office said.

Elizabethtown Borough Police Officer Matthew Shuey filed the original charges.