Death of 2nd model downtown is ruled a homicide
Family of a woman found dead in similar case wants answers.
A pregnant model found dead in her downtown L.A. apartment last month died as a result of “homicidal violence,” according to the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Department.
Maleesa Mooney, 31, was found dead Sept. 12 in her apartment in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street, authorities said.
The medical examiner’s online database now says she was the victim of “homicidal violence.”
There were no other details available.
Mooney was two months pregnant at the time of her death, her sister told KTLA. Members of Mooney’s family couldn’t immediately be reached for comment this week.
Another model, 32-yearold Nichole Coats, was found dead Sept. 10 a few blocks away, in her apartment in the 700 block of South Grand Avenue, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Her death is not being investigated as a homicide, according to the LAPD and the Medical Examiner’s Department.
Her cause of death is categorized simply as “deferred” in the medical examiner’s database.
The LAPD said last month that there appeared to be no link between the women’s deaths. Police Department officials could not immediately be reached for comment this week.
LAPD Officer Tony Im previously told The Times that the circumstances of Coats’ death showed nothing “that stood out to us that would make it a homicide,” so they “need the coroner to do an examination of the body to see what caused the death.”
Sharon Coats, the woman’s mother, told The Times on Thursday that she was angry with the LAPD for not investigating her daughter’s death as a homicide.
She said the medical examiner’s office told her that her daughter had been dead for three to five days before her body was discovered. That was impossible, Coats said, because she saw her daughter two days before she was found dead.
“It’s like they don’t care,” she said. “I’m not going to let this be a cold case. I will keep voicing my opinion regarding what happened.”