A man with a history of mental health issues who prosecutors say donned a gray wig and a brown delivery driver disguise before gunning down a Weston school nurse in 2020 is back in court for a competency evaluation.

ROBERT BONANG (Photo courtesy Braintree Police Department)

Robert Bonang, 65, of Marshfield, was initially arraigned on June 18 2020 in Quincy District Court on charges of murder, carrying a gun without a firearm identification card and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a home in connection with the killing of Laurie Melchionda, the director of health services at Weston Public Schools, in the entryway of her Braintree home the day before.

By that August, a Norfolk County grand jury indicted him on charges of murder, two counts of possession of a large-capacity firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition without a license. He was arraigned on the indicted charges in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Sept. 10, 2020. At both arraignments, a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Since then, Bonang has been held and undergone a series of competency evaluations but has yet to be tried for the alleged murder of Melchionda.

Bonang is scheduled to meet with a psychologist this morning in court at 10 a.m. with a hearing on the findings to be held later in the day.

Mental health history

It’s been exactly a year since Bonang last appeared in court — which was yet another in a long line of competency evaluations. That hearing found that Bonang “remains incompetent.” Forensic psychologist Hilary Novak reported to court for an evaluation, according to court records, but the defendant “declines to be interviewed” by her.

Bonang has been held variously at Bridgewater State Hospital — a medium-security psychiatric hospital — or the county jail since his arrest. A clinician first recommended a commitment to Bridgewater in November 2021, which was allowed, and the hospital requested an extension when the evaluation period elapsed. He would be sent back for another period later but opposed further extensions and, despite requests for extensions from the hospital, judges have found in favor of his oppositions.

Bonang had lived across Howie Street from Melchionda in a house with his parents for many years before moving away following his parents’ deaths, the Herald previously reported. Braintree Police had been there 17 times from September 1999 through August 2017, including once in response to a 2014 mental health call and another time in response to a complaint from the defendant about receiving annoying phone calls.

Beloved school nurse

Laurie Melchionda (Weston Public School.)

Melchionda, who was 59 when she was gunned down in the home she shared with her husband and three children, had worked for 30 years as a nurse before being hired on as the director of health services at Weston Public Schools in 2018.

“In her two years at Weston, she made a tremendous impact in supporting the health and well-being of all of our students, working closely with her nursing staff, educators, families, service providers, and town leaders,” Midge Connolly, then-superintendent of the district, wrote in a post for the school community. Connolly added that Melchionda “was instrumental in guiding and supporting the school and the town” through the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The murder

It was in that pandemic context, Prosecutor Greg Connor said at Bonang’s arraignment, that Bonang not only put on a gray wig and a brown delivery outfit but also the then-ubiquitous surgical masks and walked to Melchionda’s house with a rifle with a 24-round clip hidden in a box and shot her on her own doorstep.

“Melchionda’s legs were still inside the residence and her upper torso and head were outside the house,” according to the prosecution’s statement of the case.

A babysitter was walking with two children at around 10:45 that morning down Howie Road when she said she saw Bonang, who she said made her feel “uneasy” and that he looked like a “fake UPS guy” in his brown jacket and pants, moving toward Melchionda’s house from Acorn Circle, according to the court document.

“The witness stated the male party began ‘frantically’ ringing the front doorbell,” the statement adds. “She stated she heard screaming and then observed the male party shooting the female that answered the door from a gun that appeared to be inside the box she was holding.”

Melchionda was rushed to South Shore Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m., according to prosecutors. Her accused killer, Bonang, remained at the scene and was cooperative.

Police found a brown box, a .22-caliber handgun and a rifle with a 24-round clip and a hand radio tuned into the local police frequency at the scene. At Bonang’s home at 9 Castle Green, Unit 1, in Marshfield, police say they found a number of items related to the case including notebooks full of notes on his alleged victim and her family.

This is a developing story.