One of two women who were found dead in a matter of days in the same Los Angeles neighborhood told her family she was going on a date two days before she was discovered in a bloody bed with her leg up, according to reports
Model Nichole “Nikki” Coats, 32, was found dead in her Grand Avenue apartment on Sept. 10, less than a mile away from Maleesa Mooney, 31, who was discovered on Sept. 12. While police have ruled Mooney’s death a homicide, they stopped short of calling Coats’ death a murder.
However, her family believes she was killed.
“I couldn’t recognize her,” Coats’ aunt, May Stevens, said of her niece’s body when she was discovered. “I believe it was murder, I really do. One of her legs was up in the air in a kicking position. That’s not somebody who just laid in their bed and died.”
Coats’ aunt and father went to her apartment after she stopped responding to calls and texts. She was last heard by friends when she informed them that she was going on a date on Sept. 8.
Nichole’s mother, Sharon Coats’ said the model didn’t have any enemies and was well-liked by family and the community.
“I don’t know who she went out with or what transpired there,” the mother said. “I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. So if you’re out there, you’re going to get caught. You’re messing with the wrong person.”
Mooney, an aspiring model and real estate agent, was pop star Jourdin Pauline’s sister. Her family also became concerned after a string of unanswered calls and texts. Los Angeles Police Department officers were dispatched for a welfare check and found Mooney’s body inside her luxury apartment on South Figueroa Street.
It is unclear if the two women’s deaths are connected.
“Maleesa has always been someone who is a peacemaker in our family, someone that’s always been the backbone, and making sure everyone’s getting together, loving on each other,” Pauline said. “So this is a really big piece of us that’s gone now.”
The police have not disclosed any information regarding Mooney’s potential injuries, and the cause of her death remains undisclosed.
Lt. Ricardo Lopez of the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner told the Los Angeles Times that Coats’ death is under “active investigation,” but “the cause of death is deferred, so we don’t have any cause of death to give you at this time. … That’s subject to change, but at this time, no.”
LAPD Officer Drake Madison also told the outlet on Saturday night that he has “no idea” about the circumstances of her death, “we had no information of any type of homicide or anything. We couldn’t find anything on that. … It could be anything.”
