Trial is scheduled in Oakland County Circuit Court for a Romulus man charged with second-degree murder and other crimes for the deaths of a Farmington Hills couple in a wrong-way traffic crash last year.
Jury selection is set to start May 13 for the trial of Angel Melendez-Ortiz, 36, accused of driving drunk and causing the deaths of Ryan and Jennifer Ambrosio on Jan. 6, 2024. The Ambrosios were the parents of six young children.
Along with the murder charges, Melendez-Ortiz is charged with two counts each of operating while intoxicated causing death, first-degree fleeing and eluding, reckless driving causing death, and driving while license suspended/revoked. Based on information provided by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office soon after the crash, the two counts of OWI weren’t part of the initial charging document but were subsequently added.
Prosecutors say Melendez-Ortiz was speeding in a stolen pickup truck — driving the wrong way on M-10 with the lights off while being pursued by Michigan State Police — when he crashed into the Ambrosios’ GMC Terrain in Southfield. The Ambrosios were pronounced dead at the scene.
Melendez-Ortiz has another case pending in circuit court for a drug charge out of Farmington Hills in 2020, and is scheduled for trial in March. He also has a case pending in Wayne County Circuit Court for an armed robbery charge out of Romulus.
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