CNN
—
A Minnesota man on probation for drug offenses is in custody in connection with the gruesome killing of a woman who worked as a model and real estate agent in California, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday.
Maleesa Mooney, 31, was found dead inside her Los Angeles apartment on September 12.
Detectives named Magnus Daniel Humphrey, a 41-year-old resident of Hopkins, Minnesota, as “the suspect responsible for the murder,” the LAPD said in a press release. Police did not say how they connected Humphrey to the killing. His Los Angeles County jail record did not list charges or an attorney as of Thursday morning.
His Los Angeles County jail record did not list charges or an attorney as of Thursday morning.
The Medical Examiner’s report said Mooney’s body – which was discovered in her refrigerator during a police welfare check six days after she was last seen alive– had been bound with phone cords and shoelaces. A piece of clothing was stuffed in the victim’s mouth, the report said. The official cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence.”
The report also said that an unidentified man was seen on surveillance video the day after Mooney was last seen alive, carrying plastic bags into her residence and using Mooney’s key fob to activate the elevator.
California licensing records show Mooney was registered as a real estate agent for nearly two years when she was killed. Her sister, singer Jourdin Pauline, told CNN affiliate KABC that Mooney – who also worked as a model – was the “most amazing girl ever.”
“We’re supposed to grow old together,” Pauline told KABC last September. “That’s not supposed to happen to her.”
Humphrey was convicted on a federal count of possession with intent to distribute heroin in 2016, court records show, and sentenced to six years in prison, plus five years of supervised release.
Humphrey was arrested in Minnesota in December on a probation violation, and US Marshals turned Humphrey over to the custody of Los Angeles County Wednesday.
Humphrey waived extradition in Minnesota and was jailed in Los Angeles without bond Wednesday, jail records show.