Camden’s Beloved Homeless Woman Was Killed. Her City Mourned Like Family.

After a much-heralded homicide-free winter in Camden—the first in 50 years—a woman the city loved was beaten to death with a baseball bat just as spring arrived.

Lisa Mellet, 51, was killed on March 25 on the streets she called home. Enoch Rembert, 25, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death, with surveillance video showing him repeatedly striking her at 5^th and Erie  around 11:30 PM in North Camden.

The outpouring of grief for Mellet was intense, and included a sidewalk vigil, and two memorial services last month—one on April 1at Assumption Church in Atco and another on April 26at Camden’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

In a city where residents often express resentment for the white people who come to a largely Black and Brown city for methadone and wander the streets, Mellet—herself a Caucasian addict who walked through Camden constantly—was a beloved exception.

Mellet was a local girl, growing up in the Cramer Hill neighborhood, graduating from Camden Catholic High School and Rutgers University with a degree in social work. Her sister, Nadine Engel, described the young Mellet as a “sassy” young woman who lit up a room, while others remembered her fuchsia lipstick and love of fashion.  

After Mellet fell into addiction and homelessness, family members tried to help. Mellet’s niece, Stephanie Winter, recalled spending hours driving around Camden with Mellet’s mother looking for her to get her into treatment. Ultimately, nothing worked.

Still, those in the city who loved her lent a hand regularly to a woman they described as “sweet,” “kind,” and “intelligent.”  

“We here in Camden knew her in her brokenness,” said Sister Helen Cole of Guadalupe Family Services, who had known Mellet for 20 years and organized the memorials. “So many people gave Lisa their time, their positive energy, their prayers, their hope for her.”  

Josie Ocasio met Mellet over two decades ago on a karaoke night at a local bar: amid a crowd of Black and Brown people, Ocasio called Mellet  “a white soul.”  

She never let Mellet’s struggles destroy their friendship, nor did Ocasio’s mother.  When visiting relatives questioned Mellet’s presence in the Ocasio home, where she occasionally bathed, ate or slept, Ocasio said her mother—who also loved Mellet dearly–told them, “If you don’t like it, you get out, because Lisa’s a part of this family!” 

Clayton Gonzalez, Jr., 11, who considered himself a friend of Mellet’s, was among the  attendees at the Camden memorial. “He would call me if he saw she was struggling,” his father, Clayton Gonzalez, said of his son.

Mellet gave birth to three children and arranged for friends to adopt them. A daughter, sixteen-year old Justina Goudy, said at the Atco service, “I know it’s in my best interests having the family I grew up with,” but wishes she had met Mellet in person. “I drove to Camden so many times looking around for her,” she said, “and I came really close a lot of the time.” In a phone call, Goudy said Mellet “told me she loved me and called me her baby…I will forever be grateful.”

Many of those who were touched by Mellet believe she had a positive impact in the city.

Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes, who was a social worker for over 15 years, believes Mellet “paid the ultimate sacrifice as a social worker.” Mellet, he said, “was trying to teach us something, that maybe we could be more humble or more sensitive and ask, what can we do to help those who really need us?”

Sister Helen Cole said of Mellet: “The ways you gave us the opportunity to be generous we will carry with us every day.”

For Ocasio, Mellet “helped me understand that you cannot judge people by the way they walk or the way they look.”

At the memorial at the cathedral, Engel, who had moved out of Camden years ago, said she had not seen Mellet in a long time. In a recent phone call, Mellet—who was not known to complain about her situation–had told her sister, “I’m good.”

Engel thanked the mourners on behalf of her family for the way they treated her sister. 

“Your love and kindness towards our Lisa was a gift,” she said. “to Lisa and to us.  You looked past the addiction and everything that came with that, and you saw her beautiful, vivacious heart. It is no wonder she never thought to leave this city where she was so loved and cared for.”