The body of model Maleesa Mooney was found inside her refrigerator, with her mouth gagged and wrists and ankles bound – while traces of cocaine were also found on her body.
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The LA County Coroner’s Office ruled her death as a violent homicide earlier this month, but the gruesome details of how the 31-year-old woman’s remains were discovered in her downtown Los Angeles apartment were released in an autopsy report on Friday night and obtained by The Post.
Coroners found blunt force injuries on Mooney’s face/head, back, and left arm.
Toxicology results also showed she had benzoylecgonine – a cocaine metabolite – in her system, as well as a mix of cocaethylene and ethanol.
“The traumatic blunt force injuries observed at autopsy are generally not considered acutely lethal in themselves,” according to the autopsy report.
“However, based on the circumstances of how the model was found, these injuries suggest that she was likely involved in a violent physical struggle before her death. Given this, the role that drugs and/or alcohol may have played in Ms. Mooney’s death, if any, is uncertain,” the report states.
Mooney was found dead in her apartment on South Figueroa Street on September 12, after her mother called the police to perform a “wellness check” on the model.
When officers entered the apartment, they found a pool of blood under her lifeless body, which was “wedged in the refrigerator,” according to the report.
Based on the blunt force injuries found throughout her body and the state in which she was found, coroners deemed the manner of her death a homicide.
There are also indications that the model was strangled.
Mooney had only moved into the luxury apartment building of about 450 units the month before her murder.
The model’s death has instilled fear among local residents, especially after another model, Nichole “Nikki” Coats, was also found dead about three kilometers away in her own downtown Los Angeles apartment, just two days before Mooney.
Los Angeles police officials said there is no evidence to suggest the models’ deaths are linked.
With information from ‘The Post’
