Police: Lorain teen charged with murder in mother's shooting death (UPDATED)

LORAIN — A Lorain woman is dead and her 16-year-old son was charged with her murder, according to police. Officers responded to the 1500 block of West 24th Street at 6:45 a.m. Sunday for a report of an unresponsive woman. Melinda Green, 45, of Lorain, was found inside the home with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 16-year-old son left the home before officers arrived, according to police. He was found walking on the city's west side later that day and arrested. He has been charged with murder and is being held at the Lorain County Juvenile Detention Home. Green's death came as a tragic shock to her family, her cousin Barbie Washington said on Monday. Washington, of Lorain, is a member of the Lorain Schools Board of Education. She grew up with Green more as a sister than a cousin, she said. "I've been saying she was my first best friend," Washington said, remembering how the pair used to share New Kids on the Block T-shirts and spend hours at Skate World with Green and Washington's other cousin. Green had been through a lot in her four decades, Washington said, including the deaths of her parents, younger brother, husband and daughter. Green's father died when she was 8; her mother died in 2023; she was 22 when her 15-year-old brother died. Her husband, Rodric Green, 44, died in 2020. Her oldest daughter, Sharae Green, 26, died in 2024. Green has two other children; her 16-year-old son is the youngest. Green attended Lorain Schools but left before graduating. "She's had a life full of tragedies and she succumbed to them, but something happened and maybe it's that she found God — she turned her life around and was trying to be a (better) person." Green was not without her faults, Washington said. The pair grew up together but drifted apart as Green fell in with the wrong crowd. They reconnected as adults. Later in her life, Green struggled with addiction and served several years in prison for a 2019 burglary conviction, but when she got out she was determined to turn her life around and get custody of her children back, her cousin said. Most recently, she regularly attended Church on the North Coast with her middle daughter and worked at Dura-Line. She was more than two years sober and recently posted on social media about her excitement for her 16-year-old son's upcoming birthday, Washington said. Washington said she was not close with Green's youngest child, but felt a connection having watched him grow up through pictures and posts on social media. "It's so hard," Washington said. "It's one thing to lose someone from a natural cause, but to have someone taken this way is so tragic." Green's death remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Detective Bureau at (440) 204-2105. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.