A Minnesota man was ordered Thursday to stand trial on murder and torture charges stemming from the death of a model who was found bound, gagged and stuffed inside the refrigerator inside her downtown Los Angeles apartment.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Drew Edwards rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case against Magnus Daniel Humphrey, 43, who is charged in the September 2023 death of Maleesa Mooney, 31.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture.
The District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against the Minneapolis resident.
Mooney — the sister of Guyanese pop singer Jourdin Pauline — was discovered dead Sept. 12, 2023, inside the refrigerator at her apartment in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street by officers responding to a call from her mother requesting a welfare check.
Samantha Ingalls, a supervising criminalist with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office testified that she noted that there was a pool of what appeared to be blood on the shelf of the refrigerator where Mooney’s head was and that she observed multiple ligatures on the woman, including several items of clothing, shoelaces and a charging cable, along with a pink zippered hooded jacket that was stuffed into the woman’s mouth.
Dr. Brice Hunt with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said he believed the woman’s cause of death was “homicidal violence,” opining that the most likely mechanism for the death was homicidal asphyxia.
Kari Mar, a criminalist with the Los Angeles Police Department’s crime lab, testified that Humphrey could be included as a potential contributor to some of the DNA evidence collected from the victim. Under cross-examination, she acknowledged that she couldn’t tell how long the DNA had been on that evidence.
LAPD Robbery-Homicide Detective David Marcinek told the judge that he found blood splatter along a wall and said it looked like bleach had been used on the floor. He said he also saw what appeared to be multiple chunks of hair on the floor in the woman’s apartment, along with refrigerator shelves that were found inside two closets. He said one of the woman’s friends described her as a sex worker.
Another friend — who knew Humphrey’s brother — testified that she introduced Humphrey and Mooney just days earlier and that they quickly looked obsessed with each other, saying the woman told her she was going to marry Humphrey.
One of Humphrey’s attorneys, Michael Lambrose, told the judge that the case against his client was “too thin” to proceed to trial.
The defense lawyer argued that there was “zero evidence of premeditation and deliberation” and said that it was “more indicative of an emotional outburst,” questioning whether Humphrey was even responsible for the woman’s death.
Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu countered that Mooney’s death was consistent with a “cold, calculated and premeditated act of violence,” telling the judge that Humphrey had also been involved in an act of violence against a former girlfriend, whom he had allegedly told to think about a “dissertation of why she should live.”
The prosecutor noted that the last time anyone heard from Mooney was on Sept. 7, 2023, and that Humphrey left the apartment the next day but that it was days before her body was discovered.
The judge said he found “sufficient cause” to allow the case against Humphrey to proceed to trial.
He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom for arraignment Oct. 30.
Humphrey, who was on probation for federal narcotics offenses, was arrested at his home in Minnesota on an unrelated federal warrant. He waived extradition proceedings and was brought back to Los Angeles, where he was charged Dec. 7, 2023. He has remained jailed without bail since then.
Jourdin Pauline posted a tribute to her sibling on Instagram following her sister’s death.
“My heart is crushed, I can’t believe you won’t be here with us anymore. You were so loving and so kind to everyone. You made sure if you ate everyone around you was too. You opened your arms to people who didn’t deserve you as a friend. You’re the best thing to happen to almost everyone’s lives you touched!!!”
She added, “The reason I’m me is because of you!!! … My first best friend the one who taught me everything I know!!!!! How is this even possible you won’t be here. … This feels so surreal. I keep waking up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream. We will get justice for you my sister. I promise you won’t be gone in vain!!!”