Murdered pregnant model Maleesa Mooney in Downtown LA Found Dead in Refrigerator.

Maleesa Mooney, sister of Guyanese pop star Jourdin Pauline, was found dead on Sept. 12,2023 shortly before 4 p.m., by officers responding to a call for a welfare check. She was last seen on Wednesday, September 6th in the elevator of her high rise. The very next day, Thursday, September 7th, a man was seen using her key FOB to access the elevator, and then carrying plastic bags into her apartment.

Mooney’s sister took to social media over the weekend to share her grief and started the hashtag #JUSTICEFORMALEESA to help find the killer.

“I keep waking up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream we will get justice for you my sister I promise you won’t be gone in vain!!! The people you touched and loved will carry on for you and keep your name alive in the most beautiful and loving light,” Pauline wrote on Instagram. “You did not deserve this at all.”

“Never in a million years did I think I’d have to make this post and get justice for my one & only sister my heart is crushed I can’t believe you won’t be here with us anymore you were so loving and so kind to everyone you made sure if you ate everyone around you was too you opened your arms to people who didn’t deserve you as a friend you’re the best thing to happen to almost everyones lives you touched!!! 😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔💔 this is so sick I can’t believe my baby big sister is gone!!!!! The reason I’m me is because of you!!! My first best friend the one who taught me everything I know!!!!! How is this even possible you won’t be here we was supposed to grow old together and have babies and cook off wars (you’re the best chef ever) this feels so surreal I keep waking up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream we will get justice for you my sister I promise you won’t be gone in vain!!! The people you touched and loved will carry on for you and keep your name alive in the most beautiful and loving light. You did not deserve this at all 😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔 your birthday is next month I can’t even breath the same the air feels so weird I needed you Maleesa I love you so so so so much 😭😭 I’m still waiting for a call to tell me this isn’t real Jesus please!!!!!!!!!! #JUSTICEFORMALEESA I can’t stop crying lord pls help me I love you Maleesa I am sooo sorry 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 this hurts so bad.”

LA can be rough around the edges. It’s filled with personality, attitude and grit. It’s a big city filled with small neighborhoods and communities. It’s also Hollywood and celebrities and CRIME and ghosts of the past.

No doubt it’s been host to some of the most gruesome and unusual crimes the world has ever seen: the Manson murders, the Black Dahlia, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler.

Not much fazes us. We’ve seen it all. Until we haven’t.

KTLA has been doing in-depth original reporting on the murder of model Maleesa Mooney in Los Angeles – Mooney, found dead in her downtown Los Angeles high-rise apartment.

The story is right out of a future Dateline episode. Aside from the fact that she was an aspiring model, our first tip that this wasn’t the typical murder came on a Saturday morning at a local L.A. Fitness, in the sauna.

A guy relayed a story to me about a conversation he’d just had with a security guard at a downtown building. The security guard told him they had a model murdered in the building that week and her body was found in the refrigerator. His story was unbelievable yet incredibly believable and wild in the way he told it.

We started working on that tip the very same day. Pregnant model found dead in downtown L.A. died from ‘homicidal violence’

Maleesa Mooney was last seen alive on security video at her apartment complex on September 6th. Her family hadn’t heard from her in days and requested two different welfare checks.

On the second check, LAPD officers entered the apartment and made the discovery. Maleesa Mooney would become case number 2023-12242 in a city where murders happen nearly every day.

Police often keep investigations under wraps, and this has been no exception.

Days of requests. Days without answers. How did Mooney die? Should other tenants be concerned?

We heard from people actually moving out of the building because a fellow tenant was murdered and there was a killer on the run.

KTLA requested the autopsy report hoping it would provide answers. It took weeks to arrive…and it DID provide answers.

Yet even more questions.

The autopsy report arrived late on a Friday afternoon. It was gruesome in detail and told the story of a woman who met an unimaginable fate:

Wrists tied. Ankles tied. Gag in the mouth. Signs of a brutally violent struggle. And right there -in the middle of the autopsy- page 8:

”They found Ms. Mooney’s body wedged inside the refrigerator.”

I was stunned.

This poor woman was savagely attacked and stuffed into the refrigerator in her own apartment. The random tip from the sauna at the L.A. Fitness was spot-on. Slain model’s autopsy was highly unusual, LAPD detective says

Mooney’s cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence”… not a shooting or stabbing or blunt force trauma. It’s something one seasoned detective leading the case told me he has NEVER seen in his entire career.

In the days after the murder, Mooney’s family told us about the bright and thriving young woman. They told us another thing as well: that she was pregnant and expecting her first child.

The autopsy report showed otherwise. Mooney wasn’t pregnant. Police aren’t sure why the family said so.

What we DO know is they were robbed of their loved one in the most brutal of crimes.

Lead Detective David Marcinek of LAPD tells me they have surveillance video from the building, and a lot of it. And, he says, they’ve received numerous tips from the public, although none have led to an arrest thus far.

As for whether they’re closing in on a person of interest, he won’t say. Should the public be concerned? Marcinek tells me there’s reason to believe this is an isolated case.

But he added: There’s a killer on the run, and so there’s always that risk.

I asked Marcinek about the autopsy and the ruling of “homicidal violence” and he said he believes in his opinion that the “totality” of things Mooney experienced led to her death, but he also referred us back to the Medical Examiner for their professional opinion.

The Medical Examiner is not commenting on the case. So we took the files to a forensic pathologist who does private autopsies. His company 1-800-Autopsy has dealt with dozens of high-profile cases in the past.

Vidal Herrera actually thought I must be calling about Matthew Perry. No, we had questions about the murder of Maleesa Mooney – the daughter, sister, and aspiring model.

Herrera has been in this business for years, and yes, he has a 1-800 number to reach his company about autopsies. He knows his stuff.

Herrera walked through the report with me line by line. His conclusions -not official but based on years of expertise- were that Mooney was the victim of a violent struggle, that this was no stranger who did this, that she was actually still alive at least for a while when the killer hid her inside the refrigerator. Gruesome new details released in Orange County woman’s slaying

Herrera pointed out that a sexual assault kit was used by investigators examining Mooney. Those results aren’t listed in the autopsy and our follow-up questions to the coroner referred us back to LAPD for the answers.

Going through the autopsy with Herrera got me to notice things I hadn’t before.

Mooney had just moved into the building in August. In fact, she was still moving things in.

Who is he?

Mooney wasn’t seen that Saturday. She hadn’t been answering calls or texts. Her family was getting worried.

The LAPD knocked on the door that Sunday at the family’s request. There wasn’t any answer at the door, and no sign of anything wrong, so police left. It would be another two days before they checked again at the urging of her family.

This time the building manager accompanied the police and opened the locked door with a key. No sign of Maleesa Mooney. But there WAS something unusual.

“They then observed food that is usually kept in the refrigerator on the kitchen counters.”

So police opened up the fridge and made the shocking discovery.

On Tuesday, September 12th at 4:25 pm, the police sergeant determined she was dead. Detectives notified Maleesa Mooney’s mother the following day.

Mooney’s family tells us she was kind and loving and “opened her arms up to so many friends,” and that she was “the backbone of the family.” Her sister, a well-known singer, Jourdin Pauline, says life without Maleesa isn’t the same – and never will be.

Two months after she was last seen alive, it seems certain LAPD must have information on the man seen using her key FOB and accessing her apartment.

Who is he? How did he know Maleesa Mooney?

Is this mystery man the prime suspect or even a person of interest in her murder? We don’t know.

By the way – just how rare is a ruling of “homicidal violence?” We wanted to know.

The Medical Examiner DID get back to us on that. Out of all the homicides in L.A. County over the last five years, 4,341 were ruled homicides. Only 5 were ruled homicidal violence.

Maleesa Mooney: Department of the Medical Examiner case number 2023-12242.

She was someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend. And her killer remains on the run.

Maleesa Mooney.via NBC Los Angeles

New details in the death of Maleesa Marie Mooney were released Friday.

The late model’s autopsy report, completed by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner and obtained by PEOPLE, listed Mooney’s cause of death as “homicidal violence.”

Mooney, 31, was found dead in her downtown Los Angeles apartment on Sept. 12. She had been beaten and bound before being stuffed into her own refrigerator, according to the autopsy.

Mooney was last seen on video surveillance at her apartment on Sept. 6. Law enforcement officials entered the residence on Sept. 12 after the model’s mother requested a welfare check.

The autopsy also revealed blunt force trauma to parts of her body. Toxicology tests found traces of cocaine and alcohol in her system, according to the autopsy report.

“The blunt force traumatic injuries observed at autopsy are generally not considered acutely life threatening on their own,” the medical examiner wrote in the autopsy report. “However, based on the circumstances of how Ms. Mooney was found, these injuries suggest she was likely involved in violence physical altercation prior to her death.” Therefore, it is “uncertain” what role drugs or alcohol may have played in her death, if any, the report reads.

According to the victim’s sister, Jourdin Pauline, Mooney was two months pregnant.

“She was super excited and I know she really wanted a kid, and it’s something that she has always talked about,” Pauline, 24, told PEOPLE earlier this month. She also said her late sister’s boyfriend was “heartbroken” about the incident.

Before discussing Mooney’s pregnancy, Pauline said their family did not have many details because of the ongoing investigation.

“From what we saw at the coroner and mortuary, my sister was in a struggle and it’s devastating. It’s a very monstrous act. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” Pauline said. “A lot of things just don’t make sense to us.”

She also recalled when her family showed up to Mooney’s apartment after the welfare check.

“It was honestly so chilling,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Different parts of the carpet were ripped up and the refrigerator was gone. Whatever happened that night was very scary and traumatic. I know she was so scared. I just hate to think about it.”

A 41-year-old man has since been charged with murder and torture in the September killing of a model in her downtown Los Angelesapartment, officials said. Maleesa Mooney was found in her high-rise apartment stuffed inside a refrigerator, severely beaten, bound and gagged, authorities said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced charges Thursday against a Minnesota man in the torture and killing of Mooney. Magnus Daniel Humphrey was allegedly staying at her downtown Los Angeles apartment last year.

“Ms. Mooney opened her home to this individual with trust, but was repaid with torture and murder,” said Gascón. “The heinous disregard for Ms. Mooney’s life will not go unpunished.”

Magnus Daniel Humphrey. (Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Mooney was last seen alive Sept. 6 on surveillance video at her apartment complex. Surveillance video from the apartment building shows an unidentified male using her key FOB to use the building’s elevator, then carrying plastic bags to her apartment, police said.

Police went to her apartment on Sept. 12 in response to a call from her mother requesting a welfare check.

When police responded to her apartment in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street, they found Mooney’s body “wedged inside the refrigerator,” with blood on the floor outside of it, according to the autopsy report.

The autopsy report showed that Mooney’s body had evidence of blunt force trauma, including abrasions, lacerations and contusions around her head and neck, body and extremities.

Her wrists and ankles were bound, “and these bindings were tied to each other behind her back with miscellaneous electronic cords and clothing items. Additional clothing items were found around her face and neck. An apparent gag, fashioned out of an article of clothing, was stuffed in her mouth,” according to the report.

The report noted that the blunt force trauma injuries she suffered “are generally not considered acutely life-threatening on their own.”

Based on the circumstances of how Mooney was found, officials said she was likely involved in a violent, physical altercation before her death. The report also noted that suffocation may have played a role in her death.

Mooney’s death was labeled a homicide.

Authorities did not say what led them to Humphrey, or why he was staying at Mooney’s apartment in September. Family members of the victim said they did not know of any connection between Mooney and Humphrey.

A Minnesota man accused of killing a 31-year-old model at her Downtown Los Angeles apartment pleaded not guilty to murder and torture charges in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, following his arrest on Wednesday.

Authorities found Maleesa Mooney bound and gagged inside her refrigerator, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Magnus Daniel Humphrey who was arrested at his home in Minnesota on an unrelated federal warrant on Nov. 3, 2023. He is on federal probation for narcotics charges. The connection between Mooney and Humphrey has not been released.

“Ms. Mooney opened her home to this individual with trust, but was repaid with torture and murder,” District Attorney George Gascón said. “The heinous disregard for Ms. Mooney’s life will not go unpunished.”

The Los Angeles Police Department is requesting the public’s help in identifying any and all persons responsible for Maleesa Mooney’s death.

Anyone with additional information is urged to call Detective Pierce or Marcinek, Los Angeles Police Department, Central Bureau Homicide, at (213) 996-4150. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to http://www.lacrimestoppers.org