*According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, Maleesa Mooney, a Black model found dead in her apartment last month in downtown Los Angeles, died of “homicidal violence.”
We reported previously via KTLA.com that the body of the 31-year-old woman was found inside her unit at Skye at Bunker Hill luxury apartments on the 200 block of South Figueroa Street. Police initially launched an investigation to determine if there was a connection between Mooney’s death and that of model Nichole Coats, 32, who was also found dead inside her LA apartment.
On Sept. 12, Mooney’s body was found at her residence when police conducted a welfare check after she went missing in the days prior. According to Urban Hollywood 411, the preliminary autopsy report listed her manner of death as a homicide.
“The people at the mortuary don’t even want us to see her because they said it’s traumatic. The guy at the mortuary started crying for us,” Jourdin Pauline, the victim’s sister, told NewsNation.
“Both of her ankles were broken, her hands, her legs,” she said. “It’s very gruesome details. She was definitely in a struggle. It wasn’t something that quickly happened.”
Mooney died in the area just days after 32-year-old Nichole Coats, was found dead inside her apartment on Grand Avenue on Sept. 10.
When Coats last spoke with friends, she told them she was planning to go out on a date on Sept. 8. She didn’t respond to calls or texts in the following days, so her family visited her apartment complex and made a grisly discovery.
“I couldn’t recognize her,” May Stevens, Coats’ aunt, told reporters about the bloody scene, according to Love B. Scott. “I believe it was murder, I really do. One of her legs was up in the air in a kicking position. That’s not somebody who just laid in their bed and died.”
Investigators said the deaths of these two women are not related.
According to the coroner’s office, Coats’ cause of death was deferred pending further investigation, Urban Hollywood 411 reports.
No arrests have been announced in either case.
Many questions remain about the murder of model Maleesa Mooney in Los Angeles. Her sister, Jourdin Pauline, tells @TVAshleigh that Mooney had damage to her entire body “from her head to her toes.”
More #Banfield: https://t.co/d8Zt9unvWk pic.twitter.com/rPK731S3Xc
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 4, 2023
READ MORE: LAPD Says Deaths of 2 Models in DTLA Appear Unrelated | Video
