Man arrested for allegedly torturing and killing model in L.A. and leaving her body in fridge

LOS ANGELES (TCD) -- A 41-year-old man was arrested in Minnesota this week for allegedly torturing and killing a model, tying her up, and leaving her body in a fridge in her apartment last year.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday, Feb. 21, that Magnus Daniel Humphrey was arrested at his home in Hopkins, Minnesota, on an unrelated federal warrant, but he will be extradited back to Los Angeles to face a murder charge for the death of Maleesa Mooney. KABC-TV reports he is also being charged with torture. Humphrey was on probation for narcotics-related offenses at the time of his arrest.

Mooney was found dead Sept. 12, 2023, inside her apartment on the 200 block of Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

According to the autopsy report shared by KTLA-TV, Mooney suffered multiple blunt force trauma injuries, contusions, and abrasions all over her body. The medical examiner said Mooney’s injuries "are generally not considered acutely life-threatening on their own," but "based on the circumstances of how Ms. Mooney was found, these injuries suggest she was likely involved in violent physical altercation prior to her death."

Mooney was last seen on surveillance at her apartment on Sept. 9, 2023. Her mother contacted police on Sept. 12 asking them to conduct a welfare check, so officers went inside using the property manager’s key and found her body "wedged inside the refrigerator with pooled blood underneath it."

The autopsy report said Mooney’s wrists and ankles were bound behind her back with electric cords and clothes. A gag made out of a piece of clothing had been stuffed in her mouth. The bindings were reportedly applied after she died.

According to the report, Mooney had traces of cocaine and ethanol in her system, but it was "uncertain" whether the drugs played a role in her death.

Mooney most likely died of homicidal asphyxia, but the medical examiner said there was not a "clear mechanism of death or knowledge of the sequence of events leading to Ms. Mooney’s death," so her cause of death was determined to be homicidal violence.

MORE:

• LAPD Central Bureau Homicide Detectives Arrest Suspect in Woman’s Murder - Los Angeles Police Department
• Minnesota man arrested for murder of LA model found stuffed in refrigerator - KABC
• Autopsy Report - Los Angeles County Medical Examiner
• Model found dead in L.A. apartment had been bound, gagged, and left in fridge, 10/30/2023 - TCD