On a late afternoon on September 12, 2023, 31-year-old model and real-estate hopeful Maleesa Mooney was discovered dead in her downtown Los Angeles apartment—stuffed into her own refrigerator, her body bound and battered. Her life, full of vibrancy and connection, had been cut shockingly short.
Just days earlier, Maleesa had begun something that looked hopeful. She had recently met Magnus Daniel Humphrey, a 41-year-old man from Minnesota, through mutual friends. Friends recall they were inseparable almost immediately: laughing, taking selfies, talking future, with one friend even quoting Maleesa saying, “I’m gonna marry him.” But behind those happy snapshots started to lie cracks.
Maleesa maintained a part-time modelling career and also did escort work, friends say. And while the pair appeared close, she privately admitted she was unsure how to ask Humphrey for financial help—something he wasn’t providing. According to court documents, on September 7 she sent him shopping links—one for a toaster oven, another for kitchen pots—perhaps signaling hope and planning for a shared life. That was the last time anyone heard from her.
Five days later, Maleesa’s mother asked for a welfare check. Officers used the building manager’s key to enter her unit and discovered a terrifying scene: Maleesa’s body inside the refrigerator, her arms and legs bound with electric cords and clothing, a gag in her mouth and extensive bruising and blunt-force trauma from head to back. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death “homicidal violence”; asphyxiation inside the fridge was the likely mechanism.
Investigators traced surveillance footage showing Humphrey leaving Maleesa’s apartment with a black bag the day after she disappeared, and then flying back to Minnesota. DNA and other forensic evidence linked elements of the crime scene to Humphrey, though his defence argues there is “zero evidence of premeditation.”
At a preliminary hearing in October 2025, the Los Angeles County Superior Court found there was sufficient evidence to send Humphrey to trial on murder and torture charges—with a special-circumstance allegation of torture included. He pleaded not guilty and remains without bail. The district attorney has yet to decide whether to pursue the death penalty.
Maleesa’s sister, singer Jourdin Pauline, has spoken publicly of her sorrow and determination. “My heart is crushed… I keep waking up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream. We will get justice for you, my sister,” she posted. In the wake of this tragedy, much remains unanswered: Why did a brief romance turn so deadly? What sparked such violence in such a short time? As the legal proceedings move forward, Maleesa’s story remains a haunting reminder of the fragile line between hope and horror.