5 years ago, in February 2018, Adea Shabani, a 25-year-old aspiring model and actress went missing in Los Angeles.
Adea Shabani was a beautiful and hopeful young actress with dreams of making it in Hollywood. She was 25 when she went missing on Feb. 23, 2018.
The story of her disappearance is now at the center of blockbuster true crime podcast — “To Live and Die in LA” — that is hosted by Neil Strauss, a reporter with “Rolling Stone” magazine.
It unfolds in real time, as Strauss works with a private investigator named Jayden Brant to piece together what they believe happened to Shabani, who was last seen in Hollywood with her boyfriend, Chris Spotz.
Adea’s life before moving to Los Angeles
Adea Shabani was born in Skopje, the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. She attended QSI International School of Skopje and shifted to France to study International Business Administration at the American University of Paris. According to her social media profile, Adea made at least one trip to America while studying in Paris, as evident from a 2012 photo of her posing with Kanye West in a Las Vegas nightclub.
After graduating in 2014, Adea briefly worked in a Dubai jewelry store before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her childhood dream of acting. Adea’s friends and family remember her “as a lively, engaging woman with a warm presence.” She loved listening to Beyonce and Drake and decorating her apartment with posters of her favorite movie idols and fresh flowers. Besides, her stately beauty, comprising her blond hair, blue eyes, and slender figure, made her look like every bit of the starlet she aspired to be.
Adea was studying at the renowned Stella Adler Studio of Acting in February 2018, and her friend, Christian Name, said, “She was very serious about her career. And I know she wanted to finish school to be well prepared.” The aspiring actress’ neighbor, Krysi Newman, reminisced, “It’s just very haunting and sad because she just had great energy. She was delightful. I would see her in the elevator, in the laundry room. She gave me good laundry tips and she was just a delightful spunky gal.”
It all began last February, when the aspiring actress from Macedonia first vanished. Her friends, skeptical of the claim that she was simply on a road trip with Spotz, sounded the alarm to the LAPD.
Eventually, though, the family grew desperate for answers and frustrated by the police investigation, and hired Brant, a private investigator with experience in Los Angeles law enforcement, to investigate her disappearance and help drum up publicity for the case.
“It appeared to be the case pretty early on that there was foul play involved in this case and that it was likely a homicide,” Brant told ABC News.
They say that Spotz became a suspect early on in their investigation. They discovered that he had been engaged to another woman at the same time of his relationship with Shabani.
A female friend of Adea told To Live and Die in L.A podcaster Neil Strauss that Adea and Chris began dating in September 2017, after rehearsing a Shakespeare scene together: “She started feeling like ‘Oh this guy is so interesting, he’s so knowledgeable, he’s a good actor’,” the friend said.
But when the couple met, Spotz was already engaged to Mary Elmalak, a nurse who was also living in the L.A. area. Adea knew about this relationship, but it’s not clear how much Mary knew about Adea. Spotz reportedly kept their relationship secret from classmates and teachers at Stella Adler.
“I did not agree at all about the circumstances,” Adea’s friend told To Live and Die in L.A. “I was like ‘You’re crazy, how can you trust someone that’s engaged?’ She said: ‘You know how I like drama.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah but it’s too dramatic! It’s too much!’”
The relationship was reportedly on-again, off-again, with Adea telling friends Chris planned to leave Mary for good. By late December 2017, though, Adea and Chris had broken up. It seemed Adea had accepted the situation but by January 2018 the pair had reunited and Chris had reportedly even proposed. According to friends, Adea was excitedly planning the wedding.
About six weeks before Adea disappeared, Chris uploaded a dramatic monologue to YouTube. Disturbingly, it reads like a prediction of Adea’s murder: “If I picked up the gun, and made the sacrifice, my life would be given back to me,” Spotz says. “Absolution. My love would be given back. And she would never know what I did to get it back.”
Chris and Adea’s relationship continued to move at a rapid pace. In early February 2018, the month Adea went missing, the pair decided to move in together permanently. They even filled out a lease application for a two-bedroom apartment—it was due to start March 1, by which point Adea would have been missing a week. Then, according to To Live and Die in L.A., Adea told friends she might be pregnant with Chris’ baby.
Just a few days later, on Valentine’s Day 2018, Chris spent the evening with both of his fiances, meeting Mary earlier in the day and Adea late in the evening at a restaurant. Adea later told an ex-boyfriend she had two glasses of wine and blacked out at dinner, only to wake up at home and find her phone had gone missing. She suspected Chris stole it when she discovered it was at his house via the app Find my iPhone. Chris reportedly joked she passed out because he had choked her, and that he left the apartment when he thought she was dead.
It is Brant who brought Strauss in to help with the investigation and document their findings every step of the way. The two have been working as a team on the case for more than a year, filling in critical gaps in the mystery.
But with what they say is Spotz’s Google location data in hand, Strauss and his team aren’t satisfied with that conclusion and have been retracing the days leading up to his “roadtrip” with Shabani, convinced he may have had help in her murder.
“She told a friend that she was going to the funeral of Chris Spotz’ uncle,” Strauss said. “Where suspicions started to get raised was when we called his family and they said he doesn’t have an uncle who passed away.”
“They brought us to a hardware store and an apartment building in North Hollywood which they believe to be two of Spotz’s last stops before picking up Shabani,” he said.
“We know that Chris Spotz stopped here on his way to see Adea,” Strauss said. “If we can find the person he visited, we can find out what he was doing there. So we’re checking to see the current tenants to see if it’s someone who’s come up on Chris’ list of contacts.”
The journalist said “the journey continues.”
“But we’re really getting there – what we’re really trying to nail down are some of the last pieces of information,” he added.
The “To Live and Die in LA” team told ABC News there will be new unexpected details revealed in their finale podcast episode, which will be posted on May 17. The podcast is a collaboration between Strauss, Tenderfoot TV and co-produced by Cadence 13.
“In the last week, we just had a huge breakthrough which has nothing to do with the Google data, that has given us answers that we didn’t even think were possible to have,” Strauss said. “We want to let the families know the information first.”
“Even for Adea, you think if anything happens to you, you just want people to know the answer,” he said.
To Live and Die in LA season one dived deep into this case as host Neil Strauss, New York Times best-selling author and journalist, investigates and interviews those closest to Adea. Binge To Live and Die in LA season one, now on Apple Podcasts.
Adea Shabani’s disappearance and death made headlines: The 25-year-old aspiring actress was last seen leaving her Los Angeles apartment with Chris Spotz, her 34-year-old boyfriend, on February 23, 2018. A month later, her remains were found in a shallow grave in the woods.
Police believed Spotz was involved but what exactly happened remains a mystery today.
Google data provides a map of Spotz’s movements – with incredible detail – something phone data had failed to provide. Strauss said that the account information can help pinpoint “your exact movements, everywhere you’ve been, down to the minute.”
“It just so happened that Chris Spotz never turned his phone off. So, we were able to see the moment he picked up Adea, the day she disappeared, and track that route,” Strauss told ABC News.
“I’m almost loathe to say it, because I feel like if somebody goes missing or something happens, they’ve turned this off, we won’t find out what happened,” Strauss said. “We wouldn’t know what happened if Chris had this off.”
The data began to gave Strauss a tick-tock of the last day Shabani was seen alive.
“Her phone bill data stops at 12:50. We know he arrives in her house at 12:48. So we can just pretty much figure out that he came in around this time, and something with her phone between them,” Strauss said. “Maybe he asked her to turn it off. Maybe he turned it off himself. But we know that’s connected to him arriving there.”
They say the data also shows Spotz’s phone in the area where her body would eventually be found in Northern California.
At the time of Spotz’s death, LAPD said they believe he was responsible for Shabani’s murder and consider the case closed.
Who was Adea’s boyfriend?
Police records state Adea was last seen on the afternoon of February 23, leaving her apartment with her boyfriend, Chris Spotz. A Colorado native, he was an aspiring actor and had met her at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. As per news reports, their relationship was quite complex, with Chris being engaged to another woman named Mary Elmalak while dating Adea. The latter’s friends reported her missing to the Los Angeles Police Department when she failed to attend an important class on February 26.
Adea’s family hires private detective
Jayden Bryant, a private investigator hired by Adea’s family, said, “That was the first class of that semester when they were assigning roles. Friends had described her as excited … and said she was seeking a large role in that class. Friends—and the school record—indicate she was not a person who missed class. She was very responsible.” Adea’s batchmates also stated they became anxious when she did not show up, so they reported her missing to the authorities.
When and where was Adea last seen?
After learning the aspiring actress was last seen with Chris, the investigators reviewed the surveillance footage in the building’s elevator to confirm it. They found the couple wearing baseball hats and Adea carrying two pieces of luggage. Her phone records showed it was the last time she had texted one of her friends, asking where she could buy red candles. As Adea was an avid texter, her family and friends got worried after not hearing from her for a long time. But they decided not to ring any alarm bells since they thought she was on a weekend trip with Chris.
The investigators interviewed Chris to learn he had left with Adea on a long drive to Northern California. However, he alleged the couple had a bitter argument in the car, and she got out of the car at Santa Clarita, about 25 miles from her home, before he drove away. Chris claimed it was the last time he had seen Adea and had no knowledge about her disappearance. Meanwhile, the search for the 25-year-old intensified, with her mother offering a $25,000 reward for information and her friends distributing fliers all over the city.
How did Adea die and where was her body found?
Krysi and Christian fondly remember Adea as “energetic, emphatic, and delightful.” Hence, it came as a shock when the 25-year-old disappeared on February 23, 2018, and her body was found a month later in a shallow grave in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Based on the autopsy report, the authorities resolved that she had died from “blunt force trauma to her head,” and her death was ruled homicide.
All about Chris Spotz Adea’s boyfriend who murdered her
Chris’ biological father, Chris Marez, lives in the countryside outside Sacramento, the state capital. Marez told To Live and Die in L.A that his breakup with Jade was acrimonious, with arguments about custody rights and the decision to change their son’s last name to that of his stepfather.
Chris Spotz studied psychology at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, graduating in 2009 and moving to L.A to puruse a dream of being an actor. He attended Stella Adler Academy of Acting alongside Adea, and it’s believed that’s where they met. According to his IMDb profile, Spotz was 5′ 9″ and enjoyed martial arts, yoga and volleyball.
Chris had a YouTube account, theCspotz, where he uploaded clips from his brief acting career. Most of his films appear to be short, low budget thrillers—IMDb lists four shorts between 2014 and 2018, including “Pickman’s Model,” “Statues,” and “In Solitude With Me,” in which he played the husband of a woman in a coma who enlists a neurosurgeon to preserve her consciousness.
Adea Shabani disappears
Over the following few days, Adea and Chris got into heated arguments about his continued relationship with Mary. At one point, Adea even jumped in the bed of Chris’ truck and was still in the back when he drove off. Another time, their fighting reportedly turned physical, with Chris accusing Adea of chasing him with a knife and her claiming he beat her and stole her Rolex. Adea messaged Mary that night, asking to speak to her.
On February 21 Chris took Adea to a movie, but left halfway through, claiming his uncle had a fatal heart attack in Sacramento. Adea noticed her phone was missing again, and told her mother she thought Chris took it.
The night before Adea’s disappearance seemed unremarkable: Chris and Adea spent the evening with Adea’s friends, and Chris reportedly told her he wanted to move in. A friend invited Adea on a trip to Mexico but she declined, saying she was planning to go to Chris’ uncle’s funeral instead. According to Chris’ biological father, though, Chris’ uncle never had a heart attack. In fact he was still very much alive.
At noon on the day of Adea’s disappearance, she and Chris were caught on CCTV in her apartment building’s elevator. She was carrying luggage as if going on a trip. It was the last anyone saw of Adea Shabani. Chris Marez says his son arrived at his home in Sacramento at 7pm that night—alone. “He just came up, came in the house. He was normal. There was nothing,” Marez told To Live and Die in L.A. But the two fought about Chris’ childhood and his parents’ divorce, with Chris Spotz deciding to spend the night in a hotel.
By late February worried friends were reaching out to Chris about Adea: “I can’t believe no one has saw her,” a friend told To Live and Die in L.A.
“On Friday the last thing she told me was that I would never see her again,” Chris texted a friend on February 25. He insisted he and Adea had fought on their way up to Sacramento, and he dropped her off in Santa Clarita before driving off.
That, Chris Spotz insisted, was the last time he saw his girlfriend.
Her mother had flown from Macedonia, and hired a private investigator to aid in the search.
The private investigator told KABC-TV in early March that a $25,000 reward was being offered for her whereabouts.
The model’s boyfriend, who was engaged to another woman and killed himself after a police chase last week, is suspected in her death, Los Angeles Police Capt. Billy Hayes said at a news conference Tuesday.
She was last seen leaving her Hollywood apartment with her boyfriend, 33-year-old Chris Spotz, on Feb. 23.
The body was found this week some 430 miles away in a shallow grave by a creek in the Spenceville Wildlife Area.
Through an attorney, Spotz told detectives that he and Shabani left Los Angeles on Feb. 23, intending to drive to Spotz’s father’s house in Northern California.
Spotz said he and Shabani had an argument in the Santa Clarita area just outside of Los Angeles and that he let her out on the side of a freeway and hadn’t seen her again. Hayes said detectives found nothing that corroborated that statement.
During the investigation into Shabani’s disappearance, Hayes said Spotz and his fiancee drove from Los Angeles to her parents’ home in Colorado.
When detectives tried to track him down there, Spotz was gone.
Detectives issued a warrant for Spotz’s truck. On Thursday, he led police on a chase east of Los Angeles after they tried to pull him over. Spotz fatally shot himself in the head after the short pursuit.
Adea’s remains found
California police have positively identified the remains of an aspiring actress who vanished from her Hollywood home last month.
Adea Shabani, 25, was found over 400 miles (645km) away from her apartment buried in a shallow grave in a remote wildlife area of northern California. Authorities said the cause of death is still under investigation until toxicology and tissue analysis are complete. Los Angeles Police Capt. Billy Hayes said said detectives suspect that Shabani had been dead for more than a month.
Nevada County Sheriff’s officials said she was identified by her tattoos.
Police suspect a man they identified as her boyfriend, Christopher Spotz, was involved in her presumed murder.
Spotz killed himself after a chase and standoff with police last week.
A post-mortem examination on Wednesday revealed that she sustained blunt force trauma to her head, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s office.
“Something happened, and I believe it to be somewhat untoward – that there was foul play involved,” said Captain William Hayes of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) at a press conference on Tuesday.
How Did Chris Spotz Die?
Before police could question him, though, he and Mary traveled to his mother’s house in Fort Morgan. An alert was put out for his vehicle, which it turned out was stolen, and the car was spotted on March 22 in San Bernardino, California. Spotz fled a police stop, leading officers on a 60-mile chase before fatally shooting himself.
The detectives discovered that Adea’s car, a Toyota Tacoma, was missing after realizing it was the exact vehicle used by the couple for their last drive. As they found discrepancies in Chris’ alibi, the police wanted to question him further. But he had left Los Angeles and went to his family home in Colorado with his fiancée, Mary, on March 1. Around three weeks later, Riverside County Sheriff’s officials spotted Chris driving the reportedly stolen Toyota Tacoma near Hesperia on March 22.
When the officers tried to stop Chris, he led them on a high-speed chase from Hesperia to Corona. According to police sources, the authorities deployed two spike strips, but he swerved past them and transitioned to the westbound Riverside (91) Freeway. As the patrol cars followed, Chris got off the Green River Road freeway and stopped on Rio Vista Street, south of the 91 freeway. When the officers in pursuit attempted a felony traffic stop, he fatally shot himself with a handgun; Chris was reported dead at the scene.
After his death, Chris’ family handed over his phone to the authorities. According to the episode, the investigators traced his Google data to discover he arrived at Adea’s house at around 12:48 PM on February 23, while her phone bill data stopped at 12:50 PM. His digital footprint also showed his presence, where her body would eventually be found in Northern California. Nonetheless, Adea’s homicide case remains unsolved to date, and no one has been charged or convicted.
https://thecinemaholic.com/adea-shabani-murder-how-did-chris-spotz-die
https://www.newsweek.com/chris-spotz-adea-shabani-murder-1358577
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43549918
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Live_and_Die_in_L.A._(podcast)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/hollywood-actress-adea-shabani-dead-12273301
https://www.ksbw.com/article/body-found-in-norcal-may-be-missing-model-adea-shabani/19612328
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