A pregnant model who was found brutally killed in her downtown apartment last month died from “homicidal violence” according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Maleesa Mooney, 31, was found dead inside her apartment on the 200 block of South Figueroa Street on Sept. 12, and her loved ones are still waiting for answers.
Her exact cause of death had previously been listed as "deferred," but “Cause A” is now listed as “homicidal violence” on the medical examiner’s online database. “Cause D,” meanwhile, was listed as “other significant conditions.”
Mooney’s sister believes the cause was listed as deferred because the victim was so badly beaten that it’s been difficult to determine her exact cause of death.
Mooney was two months pregnant when she died, her sister told KTLA. She was an aspiring model and real estate agent.
Family members have told KTLA that the Los Angeles Police Department has not shared much information about what happened to Mooney. No arrests have been made in the case.
While Mooney’s death is being investigated as a homicide, little is known about the death of Nichole Coats, another aspiring model who was found inside her downtown L.A. apartment just two days before Mooney. The two women were also found less than three miles away from each other.
LAPD officials said the two cases are likely not related despite the similarities of the two women’s locations, ages, professions and manners of death.