Arrest made in slaying of model found stuffed in refrigerator, California police say

A Minnesota man has been arrested in the killing of a model whose body was found stuffed inside a refrigerator, California police and news outlets reported.

Officers found Maleesa Mooney, 31, dead in her downtown Los Angeles apartment on Sept. 12, police said.

Now Magnus Daniel Humphrey, 41, of Hopkins, Minnesota, has been arrested and faces a charge of murder in connection with her death, Los Angeles police said in a Wednesday, Feb. 21, news release.

Humphrey was arrested at his home on an unrelated warrant, police said. They did not provide any information on his connection to Mooney or how the investigation led to his arrest.

He has waived extradition hearings and will be taken to Los Angeles to face charges, police said.

Officers sent to Mooney’s apartment to perform a welfare check said they found blood on the floor near her refrigerator, KCAL reported. They found her body bound and gagged inside, police told the outlet.

A medical examiner’s report said her wrists and ankles were tied together behind her back with “miscellaneous electronic cords and clothing items,” KTLA reported.

Mooney was “severely beaten with abrasions, lacerations and contusions throughout her entire body” from a “violent physical altercation,” KCAL reported, citing the report.

The medical examiner’s office lists her cause of death as “homicidal violence.”

Mooney was two months pregnant when she died, her family told the Los Angeles Times. She modeled part-time and worked for a Beverly Hills real estate agency.

She was last heard from Sept. 6, about a week before her body was found, the publication said.

This story was originally published February 22, 2024 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Arrest made in slaying of model found stuffed in refrigerator, California police say."