Man implicated in robbery, murder now charged with new killing

LOS ANGELES » A man who was already charged with the killing of a man whose body was discovered in a 55-gallon drum on a beach in Malibu and a thwarted smash-and-grab robbery in El Monte is set to be arraigned next week on a new murder count stemming from a man’s slaying in Inglewood nearly a year ago.

Joshua Lee Simmons, 37, is due in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom next Friday to be arraigned on the amended criminal complaint, which includes a murder charge involving the Jan. 20, 2023, killing of Anthony Soloc, 50, who was shot in the head in Inglewood.

The amended complaint includes the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with allegations that Simmons personally used an assault weapon and a semi-automatic pistol.

Simmons was charged last October with murder and a handgun use allegation in connection with the death of 32-year-old Javonnta Marshann Murphy, whose body was found last July 31 inside the 55-gallon drum on the 23200 block of Pacific Coast Highway.

A lifeguard spotted the same barrel the next morning and was able to bring it to shore, then opened it and discovered the body inside.

Sheriff’s homicide investigators determined that Murphy was shot, killed and stuffed inside the barrel. He died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to records from the county medical examiner’s office.

Simmons is also charged with three counts of criminal threats involving separate victims on July 27, 2023, and Sept. 2, 2023, along with one count of attempted robbery Sept. 2, 2023, in El Monte.