Friends remember young couple killed in motorcycle crash south of London
The London Free Press
Fabio Melo plants flowers at a roadside memorial for friends Kayla DeMelo, 23, and Kyle Melo, 25, two Londoners killed on Friday night when the motorcycle they were riding crashed into a pickup truck, at the intersection of Ferguson Line and Wellington Road south of London, Ont. on Sunday August 30, 2015. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London Free Press)
A double date at the beach took a tragic turn for a young London couple, capping a deadly summer for motorcyclists on Southwestern Ontario roads.
"He had a big heart — they both did," Sammy Reali, a longtime friend of the couple, said at a roadside memorial Sunday, just south of London where Kyle Melo and his girlfriend Kayla DeMelo died in a late-night crash Friday that also killed a St. Thomas man driving a pickup truck.
"They were meant for each other," said Nelson Dias, another friend who turned up at the impromptu memorial, metres from the collision site at Ferguson Line and Wellington Road.
This year's motorcycle death toll on OPP-patrolled roads stands at 29, 11 of which took place in Southwestern Ontario. Twenty-five drivers and four passengers have lost their lives, including six this month alone in the London region.
Melo, 25, and DeMelo, 23, were returning to London, driving north on Wellington Road, after spending the evening in Port Stanley with friends.
Melo was riding his green Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle, bought days earlier, with DeMelo riding on the back. Another couple, also on a motorcycle, were riding about 15 metres ahead of the pair on Wellington, police say, when the pickup, going west on Ferguson Line in Southwold Township, pulled into the path of the two motorcycles.
Kyle Melo, 25, and Kayla DeMelo, 23, were killed when their motorcycle collided with a pickup truck south of London Friday. (Facebook photo)
Ferguson Line is controlled by a stop sign.
The first motorcycle swerved around the truck, while Melo slammed into the driver's side of the vehicle.
The force of the collision was so severe, it knocked the pickup onto its passenger side.
Melo, DeMelo and the pickup driver, Robert Frederick, 55, of St. Thomas, all died at the scene.
A London man driving home from St. Thomas Friday night remembers seeing what looked like an explosion up ahead.
The man, who only wanted to be identified as Matt, was one of the first people on the crash scene.
"It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life," said the man, adding he couldn't sleep the next night.
Saturday, more than 100 friends and family members gathered at the site for a candlelight vigil for Melo and DeMelo.
Melo worked in the kitchen at the Days Inn hotel, a job he'd held since he age 15, and was known as a prankster and die-hard Montreal Canadians fan.
He'd attended Catholic Central high school in London, where he was on the wrestling team.
DeMelo, a skilled cook, had a knack with children and dreamed of starting her own family one day. The South Collegiate Institute graduate loved the colour purple and wanted to buy a purple Jeep.
"Kayla was a beautiful young soul. She was very friendly, always happy, had a big smile that lit up the room," said her cousin Nicole DeMelo.
"We come from a large family and she had a heart of gold. She loved taking pictures with everyone."
The couple, who'd dated for about a year, shared a love of basketball, weekends at the St. Thomas Raceway Park and Tim Hortons coffee. Melo took his triple-triple. DeMelo liked two creams and three sugars.
A Tims coffee cup was placed among the flowers at candles at the crash site.
Police were still investigating the collision.
There have been six deaths involving motorcyclists in Southwestern Ontario this month.
Last Sunday, Zachary MacLean, 21, was killed after his motorcycle collided with a traffic sign south of Goderich. Three people were killed in two separate collisions in Huron County on Aug. 2, both involving ­couples riding together.
— With files by Free Press reporter Jane Sims
dale.carruthers@sunmedia.ca
Twitter.com/DaleatLFPress
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