The sister of a South American pop star was murdered in a luxury Los Angeles apartment where she had lived for just a month, police said.
Maleesa Mooney, 31, was found dead inside her apartment at the Skye on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles after officers were called for a wellness check around 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement Friday.
Investigators ruled she was a victim of homicide, but her exact cause of death remains unsolved.
Mooney is the sister of Jourdin Pauline, a “trap pop” singer from Guyana.
“My heart is broken and I can’t believe you won’t be with us anymore. You were so loving and kind to everyone… This is so sick and I can’t believe my little sister is gone like this !!!!!” Pauline lamented on Instagram.
“How could you not be here, we should be growing old together, having babies, cooking for the war (you are the best cook ever). It feels so surreal, I always wake up crying thinking I’m doing Nightmare. We will get justice for you, my sister. I promise you will not run away in vain!!!
Police could not say how long Mooney had been dead before she was found, but her family said they became concerned when they were unable to contact her over the weekend.
They called Los Angeles police for a health check after their iPhone text message conversations with Mooney turned from blue to green, indicating they were not being sent through her normal data service and raising suspicion.
They told ABC 7 Mooney was dead but received an alert on her iCloud indicating someone was using her technology, indicating to her loved ones that the killer was trying to pawn her iPhone and MacBook.
Mooney is an aspiring model who worked as a real estate agent for the Nest Seekers agency in Beverly Hills, but her profile was recently deleted.
She moved into the luxury apartment building, which has about 450 apartments, just last month.
Other residents told ABC 7 there had been a “series of suspicious incidents” in and around the high-rise in recent weeks.
A man was fatally stabbed Thursday on a Pershing Square subway platform just a half-mile from Mooney’s home amid a series of stabbings in the downtown area.
