It was a glimpse of paradise: pristine white sands, a cloudless blue sky and the morning sunshine shimmering on the blissfully calm Caribbean waters.

Turning to his wife, a beautiful, fiercely-intelligent anesthesiologist 23 years his junior, Brian Melito could not help feeling he was the luckiest man in the world.

Brian and 39-year-old Jessica Colker had been married just over a year, were trying for their first child together and Jessica was about to start an ambitious yoga and dance business.

Deeply in love and with a shared passion for travel, they had visited Costa Rica, Belize and Italy's Amalfi Coast, before settling on their latest adventure: the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada.

But Brian and Jessica's dreams will forever remain what-might-have-beens thanks to a brutal, chance encounter with evil.

The two American tourists were enjoying a romantic stroll on one of the islands' most secluded beaches when a convicted rapist and career criminal named Dave Benjamin emerged from the jungle wielding a machete.

The 6ft 2in, powerfully-built man pressed the blade to Jessica's throat, growled 'come with me', and led her deep into the undergrowth. By the time Brian had found his wife's body she had been sexually assaulted, strangled and clubbed to death.

'He took one of most angelic people from this earth,' said Brian, 64, speaking about his wife's murder for the first time in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV.

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Jessica Colker, 39, from Atlanta, Georgia, was murdered while on vacation in Grenada in the Caribbean in January 2016. The anesthesiologist was on holiday with her husband Brian Melito when a tattooed gang member wielded a machete and forced her to come with him. Pictured: The couple on a vacation to Costa Rica

When Brian found his wife's body she had been sexually assaulted, strangled and clubbed to death. She was killed on a remote beach 15 minutes from the hotel where she was staying. The murder scene was just to the right in the mangrove undergrowth

David Benjamin, 29, a tattooed gang member who went by the street name of 'giant', denied his guilt for two years before changing his plea in January; He was sentenced to life in prison

Melito now lives alone in Lambertville, New Jersey, with his rescue dog Dexter. Speaking of his wife's death, the 64-year-old said: 'In one moment pretty much all of my dreams and aspirations disappeared'

'Jessica and I had a relationship that was somewhat magical - the kind of relationship that even some of our best friends who had been married much, much longer were envious of.

'He [the murderer] has no idea that he has caused a lifetime of sorrow and grief for Jessica's mother, her brother and for me. He took something away that can never be replaced, ever.'

Jessica's murder on January 24, 2016, made international headlines and sent shockwaves through Grenada, which depends heavily on tourists, mainly American, and is known as one of the safest destinations in the Caribbean.

David Benjamin, 29, a tattooed gang member with previous convictions for violence and the rape of a teenage girl, was arrested just a day later.

Known by the street name 'Giant', he denied his guilt for two years before dramatically changing his plea on the eve of a murder trial in January.

A judge ordered the 250lb brute to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

'He never once showed anything that looked like sadness, remorse or regret – nothing,' said Brian.

'He's too deranged and dangerous a person to ever be trusted among people.'

A hospitalist doctor and a divorced father-of-three, Brian had been single for the best part of a decade when he first laid eyes on Jessica at a week-long dance workshop in Costa Rica.

'There's this lovely women with piercing green eyes who just walked right up to me and said, ''hi I'm Jess'',' Brian recalled of their February 2013 meeting. 'That was how it began.

'We just developed an amazing friendship from the start. By the end of the workshop it was very difficult to leave each other.'

Jessica's murder on January 24, 2016, made international headlines and sent shockwaves through Grenada, which depends heavily on tourists, mainly American, and is known as one of the safest destinations in the Caribbean

In a 17-day trip to Italy's picturesque Amalfi Coast in the spring of 2014, their engagement became official. They would waste no time, either, setting a wedding date for November 2014

'He took one of most angelic people from this earth,' said Brian, 64, speaking about his wife's murder for the first time in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV

Benjamin had put a knife to Colker's throat and forced her to come with him. Brian followed behind, trying to offer him money. Brian recalled: 'At some point Jess just turned to me and said ''run.'' I hadn't thought of that. Getting more people to help me was probably my only chance'

When Brian found his wife's body she had been sexually assaulted, strangled and clubbed to death. Pictured: The murder scene where Colker was found

However, after Brian alerted police, it was too late for Colker. The widower said: 'I'm just forever regretting actually that that's the course I took. But I followed her instruction and said I'll be back.' Pictured: Shoes Jessica kicked off before going off on a walk

Jessica was working as a physician's assistant anesthetist at a children's hospital in Atlanta while Brian was based in Spring Township, Pennsylvania.

They would take off on spontaneous weekend getaways, Jessica having a knack for finding weird and wonderful places to stay, from a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains to a houseboat moored two miles off Key West, Florida.

Within a few short months Brian was convinced he had met the love of his life.

Soon talk was turning to marriage and the possibility that Brian would consider reversing his vasectomy and having another child with Jessica, her first.

'It meant that I would be graduating a kid from high school in my 80s. I realized that would be a unique situation but she was with me, and I was with her on it, 100 percent,' he said.

'Jessica was one of the most intelligent people I had ever met, possibly the most intelligent.'

On a 17-day trip to Italy's picturesque Amalfi Coast in the spring of 2014, their engagement became official. They would waste no time, either, setting a wedding date for November 1 of that year.

'It just seemed the sort of place that would have an Italian jeweler who would have ''the'' ring,' said Brian.

'And as it turned out they did, it took us quite a bit of asking and looking but we found exactly what we wanted.

'We put together exactly the wedding we dreamed of. It was intimate, it was beautiful.'

It was roughly one year later that Jessica picked out their latest getaway, Grenada, on a 'whim'.

Benjamin had only been freed the previous December after serving seven years for raping a teenage girl. An occasional landscaper and mechanic, he had three teardrops tattooed under his left eye that in gang culture means he has killed or is prepared to kill. Pictured: The murderer at court in November 2017

Investigators piecing together Benjamin's savage crime agreed that Brian would in all likelihood have been murdered had he ignored his wife's command to run. Pictured: The criminal leaving the police station in Grenada in January 2016

On the day of Jessica's murder, a handful of witnesses had seen Benjamin, who lived with his father a 10-minute walk from the La Sagesse beach, carrying a 'cutlass' and heading towards the beach around the time of the slaying. Pictured: The bar Benjamin's father owns

The former British dependency is home to around 107,000 people and is considered one of the safest places in the Caribbean, known for its powder-white beaches and crystal-clear waters.

Their plan was to spend the first few days at the luxurious La Sagesse Hotel in the rural parish of Saint David before touring the island, staying at farms and plantations.

On the afternoon of January 23, 2016, Brian and Jessica arrived in Grenada and checked into their hotel. Jessica enjoyed a refreshing evening swim in the bay before they went to bed, ready for a busy day of hiking and sightseeing.

The next sunrise they would share together was to be their very last.

'We got up that morning ready to start exploring Grenada, we had a nice early morning together and a beautiful breakfast and Mike the hotel owner then showed us an area where we could take a little walk,' Brian said.

'There was a nice beach to see. We gathered a few things and put our swimsuits on and took off.'

The couple passed the beautiful La Sagesse beach before deciding to take a trail leading through dense mangrove to another secluded, crescent-shaped beach, known as Las Pierre.

They wanted to swim and eat their lunch but amid the sound of the Caribbean waves gently lapping the sand, Brian suddenly heard his wife yell his name.

'I turned and she was being held by a man who was extremely large and dressed all in white,' recalled Brian.

'Only his eyes and his hands were showing. He was brandishing a butcher's knife and said come with me.

'I'm standing in a bathing suit and bare feet, I had nothing. We followed him, he was pulling her along into the jungle.'

The happy couple tied the knot in November of 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. Brian said: 'We put together exactly the wedding we dreamed of. It was intimate, it was beautiful'

Melito looking at his wedding album in his Lanbertville, New Jersey home in March. He broke his silence on his wife's murder for the first time in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV

As the pair were lured deeper into the undergrowth Brian reasoned that Jessica was being seized as a hostage and her towering abductor would eventually demand a ransom. Pictured: The murder scene

Brief stay: Brian Melito and Jessica Colker had only planned to stay at La Sagesse hotel for two nights when she was brutally attacked

Death in paradise: Grenada is one of the more southern Caribbean islands and the La Sagesse Hotel is marked on the map in relation to the capital, St George's

Brain continued: 'With each step it got darker and more closed in. My mind was racing, where are we going? It felt like a trap.

'The white outfit really threw me off: who would be dressed like this? Is this a group of bandits? Is it some sort of terrorist outfit that's working in Grenada that I don't know about?

'The whole thing seemed bizarre. And he wouldn't talk to us. I had a little bit of cash with me and he just ignored it.

'I could not get through to him, nor could Jessica. His look was cold as if he was without a soul.'

As the pair were lured deeper into the undergrowth Brian reasoned that Jessica was being seized as a hostage and her towering abductor would eventually demand a ransom.

He looked around in vain for a rock or stick he could use as a weapon but feared their tormentor would kill them both if he failed to strike him down with a single blow.

Eventually, spurred on by Jessica, he would choose a course of action that he says haunts him to this day.

'At some point Jess just turned to me and said ''run''. I guess I hadn't thought of that. I realized just in that moment that, my god he didn't have me, he's got her,' Brian explained.

'Getting more people to help me was probably my only chance. There weren't even rocks or stones, I was watching for anything I can use as a weapon. I had nothing.

'So I took about two seconds to think about what she had said and she usually thinks through things faster than me and comes up with the right answer.

'But this is one answer I wish I had ignored. I'm just forever regretting actually that that's the course I took. But I followed her instruction and said I'll be back.'

Brian said: 'My life is defined by one half when I felt that I was one of the luckiest people in the world and then ever since January 24, 2016 when I've suddenly become one of the unluckiest people in the world.' Pictured: Jessica on her wedding day in 2014

On the day of her death, Brian said they 'got up that morning ready to start exploring Grenada, we had a nice early morning together and a beautiful breakfast and Mike the hotel owner then showed us an area where we could take a little walk.' Pictured: Jessica in New Jersey

A hospitalist doctor and a divorced father-of-three, Brian had been single for the best part of a decade when he first laid eyes on Jessica at a week-long dance workshop in Costa Rica

'There's this lovely women with piercing green eyes who just walked right up to me and said, ''hi I'm Jess'',' Brian recalled of their February 2013 meeting. 'That was how it began. 'We just developed an amazing friendship from the start. By the end of the workshop it was very difficult to leave each other.' Pictured: Brian looking at the couple's wedding album

Brian sprinted back to La Sagesse to alert hotel staff who called the police and raced to Las Pierre to search for Jessica. They arrived to find her lifeless body partially naked and face-down next to a pond.

'It was clear to the first men that had arrived at the scene that this was a really, really brutal crime,' Brian said.

'It was fairly obvious that she had been sexually assaulted. She had been struck in the head hard enough to kill her as well as evidence she had been strangled at the same time.

'Whatever happened it was exceedingly violent and brutal. It was as nasty a crime as you could ever picture.'

The hunt for Jessica's killer was mercifully swift.

A handful of witnesses had seen Benjamin, who lived with his father a 10-minute walk from La Sagesse, carrying a 'cutlass' and heading towards the beach around the time of the slaying.

It soon emerged he had tried to rob another man minutes earlier, a retired British holidaymaker named Andrew Hancock.

Hancock, who was more than 6ft himself and considerably larger than Brian, stood his ground before Benjamin thought better of taking him on and slipped back into the jungle.

A day after the murder Benjamin walked into a police station to turn himself in and Hancock was able to pick him out of a lineup.

In the days that followed, it was revealed Benjamin had only been freed the previous December after serving seven years for raping a teenage girl.

An occasional landscaper and mechanic, he had three teardrops tattooed under his left eye that in gang culture means he has killed or is prepared to kill.

Investigators piecing together Benjamin's savage crime agreed that Brian would in all likelihood have been murdered had he ignored his wife's command to run.

A photo of the Atlanta anesthesiologist dated from 2014 when she took a vacation to Italy with her new husband

Brian now lives alone in an apartment in Lambertville, New Jersey, with his dog Dexter - a rescue picked out by Jessica

They saw Jessica's plea as the 'ultimate act of love', sacrificing herself knowing it was the only way to save her husband.

Benjamin himself has never explained why he took Jessica or why he refused money to release her. He pleaded guilty to non-capital murder at the eleventh hour to try and secure a reduced prison sentence but a judge handed him the most severe 'whole life' term possible.

The death penalty is still on the statute books in Grenada, had authorities pursued the more serious charge of capital murder, but no prisoner has been hanged there since 1978.

Brian traveled back to Grenada and observed Benjamin in court but never saw the slightest flicker of remorse.

'He is a very sad individual,' he told DailyMailTV. 'From what I know about him, he spent a good deal of his life in prison and had spent a good deal of it in prison just before we came upon him.

'At one point the judge made him look through the graphic photos that had been taken at the scene.

'She was looking for any sign of a human reaction or response. He showed absolutely nothing, he was kind of dead inside.'

Brian now lives alone in an apartment in Lambertville, New Jersey, with his dog Dexter - a rescue picked out by Jessica.

Father to daughters Julia, 21, Nina, 27, and a son Greg, 30, Brian has spent the past two years trying to come to terms with the loss of his best friend and perfect marriage, a task he admits is beyond him.

'My life is defined by one half when I felt that I was one of the luckiest people in the world and then ever since January 24, 2016 when I've suddenly become one of the unluckiest people in the world,' he said.

'In one moment pretty much all of my dreams and aspirations disappeared.'



