A Minnesota man has been arrested as a suspect in the September murder of Maleesa Mooney, a 31-year-old model and real estate agent in Los Angeles who was pregnant at the time of her death, police announced Wednesday.
Mooney was found dead Sept. 12 in her downtown apartment after her family requested a welfare check, police said. According to the autopsy report, her body was found in her refrigerator at the bloody crime scene. Her arms and legs had been bound, and Mooney had traumatic blunt force injuries to her head, neck, torso, arms, wrists and ankles, according to an autopsy report from the County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. of the Angels.
LAPD detectives identified Magnus Daniel Humphrey, 41, of Hopkins, Minnesota, as his alleged killer. Officials did not share a possible motive Wednesday or discuss evidence that allegedly linked Humphrey to Mooney's brutal death.
Humphrey, who had been on federal probation, was arrested at his home in Minnesota on an unrelated federal warrant, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. It was not immediately clear what day he was arrested. He will soon be transported to Los Angeles to face charges of murder and torture, according to officials and court records.
Humphrey is accused in court records of killing Mooney on Sept. 7, five days before she was found dead.
On Sept. 6, Mooney spoke with his cousin on FaceTime, his family said, and went out with friends in Santa Monica. Her family never heard from her again.
Jourdin Pauline, Mooney's sister, said Mooney's phone and laptop had been stolen from her apartment along with a designer handbag. In October, she told The Times that whoever killed her sister likely knew the phone's password, as someone was sending “vague” text messages to the family. Pauline did not elaborate on the text messages.
Mooney, who was two months pregnant at the time of her death, worked for Nest Seekers, a Beverly Hills real estate agency, for nearly two years, Pauline said. Mooney also modeled part-time.
Times staff writer Summer Lin contributed to this report.
