A Minnesota man has been arrested in the September killing of Maleesa Mooney, a 31-year-old model and real estate agent in Los Angeles who was pregnant at the time of her death, Los Angeles police announced Wednesday.
Mooney was found dead Sept. 12 in her downtown apartment after her family requested a welfare check, police said. According to an autopsy report, her body was found in her refrigerator, where officials discovered a bloody scene. Her arms and legs had been bound, and Mooney had blunt-force trauma injuries to her head, neck, torso, arms, wrists and ankles, according to the autopsy report from the L.A. County Medical Examiner Department.
LAPD detectives identified 41-year-old Magnus Daniel Humphrey, of Hopkins, Minn., as the alleged killer. Officials did not share a possible motive or evidence that 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 wasn’t immediately clear what day he was arrested in Minnesota, but Humphrey will soon be transported to L.A. to face charges of murder and torture, according to officials and court records.
Humphrey is accused of killing Mooney on Sept. 7, court records show, which is five days before she was found dead.
On Sept. 6, Mooney had FaceTimed her cousin, family said, and had gone out with friends in Santa Monica. Her family never heard from her again.
Jordan Pauline, Mooney’s sister, said Mooney’s phone and laptop had also been stolen from her apartment, as well as a designer purse. In October, she told The Times that whoever killed her sister most likely knew her phone’s passcode, sending the family “vague” texts. Pauline didn’t 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.
