Melanie Hart

**Melanie Hart** was a main protagonist in the *Murder* series, appearing in *Murder*, *Murder: Part 2*, and *Murder 4: The Final Murder*. She was one of three survivors of the Buzzing Massacre. After surviving the Columtreal Killings, Melanie returned to Springsgrove and dated Dominic Robinson until the pair was ultimately killed in Arthur's fourth killing spree.

Melanie could be considered "the Final Girl" of the series with Braedon as "the Final Boy," having fought and survived several times. She proved to be a strong and resilient survivor, surviving several attempts on her life including being stabbed. She is tied with Dominic as the eighth/ninth victim of Arthur Clyde's fourth killing spree. She was portrayed by Melanie Putzo.

## Description

Melanie was described as, "physically and mentally strong, trained as a black belt in martial arts. She is a fierce friend who isn't afraid to stand up for those she loves." Over time she became somewhat distant, thinking of the friends she'd lost along the way, especially Annie Ross and Toby Deveaux.

## Appearances

* Murder
* Murder: Part 2
* Murder 4: The Final Murder

## Murder

Following the recent murders of Isabel Harris and Chester Grayson, Melanie decided to have a small party for her friends to distract them and keep their minds off of recent events. Braedon Harris, Cindy Hamilton, Elle Parkes, Audrey Harper, Melanie's best friend - Annie Ross, and boyfriend - Toby Deveaux agreed and joined Melanie's party. Annie had begun acting strange early in the night and when questioned, she revealed that she'd snuck her own abusive boyfriend, Zach McKay, into a spare bedroom and that he'd hit her. Melanie confronted him and when he attempted to hit Annie again, she grabbed his arm and dislocated his shoulder before throwing him out of her house. She spent the rest of the night comforting Annie until the group was exposed to the Buzzing Signal by Audrey, then deciding to ignore the noise and head to bed with Toby.

When Zach's body came crashing through a window in the house, she attempted to console Annie. Eventually, the Killer - Arthur Clyde - set his sights on Melanie, throwing a hook inside the house and attempting to hit her. Toby shoved her out of the way, being hit instead and was pulled out an murdered. Distraught, she attempted to run and escape with the remaining survivors, eventually finding a window to escape through. Annie made it out first and was then attacked and killed by Arthur; having lost both her best friend and boyfriend, Melanie began to have a break down.

When Arthur made his way into the house, she volunteered to be a distraction and attacked him, but eventually decided it was too risky and ran upstairs to hide. Melanie found Cindy hiding upstairs and hid with her until Arthur made his way upstairs and attacked them, Cindy tackling him and flying over a balcony with him.

Melanie survived the attack, emotionally scarred but otherwise unharmed.

## Murder: Part 2

Three years later, Melanie had moved on with her life and was studying at Columtreal University. She had found a new best friend, Cadence Freeman, and befriended Annie's younger sister, Roslyn Ross. Braedon had transferred to Columtreal and the pair began catching up, when Tia Stilley began to question them about the Buzzing Massacre, Cadence pulled Melanie out of the room and away from her.

After the killings began again, she and Roslyn visited Hunter Williams in the hospital; Hunter being the only survivor out of an attack on him, Tia, Sean Marx, and Violet Stevenson. She informed Braedon and Cadence of the killings, wondering if Arthur could be back, especially considering Cindy's recent death. Melanie would next move to the library with Roslyn, deciding to look into the killings as in depth as she could. She learned of a similar murder-spree that had happened 2 years before the Buzzing Massacre and began to find links in the two cases, she also learned of the main suspect - Arthur Clyde - and learned that he'd vanished after the killings ended. Due to a lack of sleep caused by Cindy's death, she fell asleep and began to dream of Annie. She followed Annie, who gave her a cryptic message, saying "the answer is in the survivors" and watched as her former best friend was killed again.

Melanie headed back to the hospital, meeting up with her friends, she informed them of her findings and the reported link between the buzzing signal and the killings. When they decided to leave the hospital, Melanie and Cadence grabbed a taxi to head back to the dorms. While heading home, a body landed on the taxi and caused a crash, killing the driver in the process. After calming a panicked Cadence, Melanie discovered they'd have to climb out the shattered windshield. While she made it out without a problem, Cadence attacked and killed by Arthur after hearing a strange noise. Fearing for her life, she quickly ran away.

Melanie ran into Roslyn, explaining what happened, and the two girls met up with Braedon and Hunter. Soon after that, the group was approached by a police officer who offered to escort them out of town. After questioning him, they agreed and left town, only stopping when some apparent car trouble popped up. Soon it was revealed that the police officer was actually Arthur in disguise and he's killed Hunter. Melanie attempted to stand up to him but was grabbed and stabbed twice in the stomach before being thrown to the ground and left for dead. Thinking she was dead, Braedon and Roslyn retreated.

## Murder 4: The Final Murder

Having survived the attack on Columtreal, Melanie eventually moved back home to Springsgrove and began dating Dominic Robinson, moving into an apartment with him.

Melanie awoke from a nightmare in which Arthur had murdered Dominic and was comforted by him, cuddling with him until they heard a knock at the door. Bethany Reeves - an old classmate, now best friend, of Melanie's from highschool - had come for a visit and seeing her friend distraught, offered to take her shopping to clear her head.

In the city, Melanie and Bethany ran into Braedon and began to catch up with him. They were ambushed by reporter Beck Brennan and her twin sister, Adelaide Brennan. Beck was disrespectful and rude about the killings, causing Melanie to retaliate and punch her in the face. After leaving, Braedon wondered if Roslyn was alright but Melanie admitted that Roslyn wouldn't return any of her calls or texts.

Later at a bar, Melanie and Braedon ran into Roslyn and her friend, Marie Summers. They briefly chatted before a strange man named Aaron Hartley began hitting on them and then attempted to fight with Braedon.

The next day while Melanie and Dominic were making out, Niko Carter let himself into their apartment and effectively ruined the moment. Bethany soon showed up and demanded they turn on the news, a murder had happened the night before and the killer used the victim's blood to paint "I'm back" on the wall. Melanie speculated that Arthur had returned once again.

After Niko and Bethany left, Melanie called Braedon and Roslyn over and informed them that Arthur might be back. Roslyn had brought Beck, who stated that she'd been attacked and her sister murdered by Arthur. Soon after Beck decided to leave and Braedon went to check on Roslyn's friends, Bethany's body came crashing through a window. Arthur broke into the apartment and attacked Dominic, slashing him with a knife, he then managed to stab Melanie and tossed her into a corner of the room, knocking over her electric fireplace and starting a fire. Roslyn retreated and was met outside by Braedon, Marie, and Logan Lawson.

The group watched in horror as the apartment exploded, killing Melanie and Dominic.

## Trivia

* Her middle name was Josephine.
* Her death date was April 4, 2013.
* She had been killed in the original scripts for *Murder* and *Murder: Part 2*.
	+ In Murder, when Cindy and Arthur went flying over the balcony together, while Cindy ran to grab Officer Daniels' gun, Arthur pulled a knife and tossed it into Melanie's back, causing her to fall from the balcony and impale her.
	+ In Murder: Part 2, it was originally left a mystery what happened to her after she was stabbed. Arthur grabbed her, stabbed her twice in the abdomen and twisted the knife before tossing her seemingly lifeless body to the ground. In an alternate ending, her corpse is found not far from where she is stabbed.
	+ This means, including her final death in Murder 4, she has the most death scenes out of any character, excluding Arthur.
* Had she survived, she would probably be a main character in Murder: The TV Series.
* Despite being a "Final Girl" type character, she never once defeated Arthur herself.
* She is ranked #1 by Melanie.