LOS ANGELES — Magnus Humphrey had known Maleesa Mooney only for a few days, but the Minnesota man had already become "obsessive" about the model, who lived in a downtown L.A. apartment.

"That's my girl, that's my woman," he would say about Mooney during the five days they spent together in September 2023, according to her friend, Kiersten Dossett.

The two were rarely "more than one foot apart," she said. Humphrey made comments about marrying Mooney, 31, who joined him at a family barbecue during their weeklong relationship.

Despite Humphrey's romantic pronouncements, their union — the exact nature of which remains unclear — lasted less than a week. It ended in horror, prosecutors said.

More than two years have passed since Mooney's body was found bound and gagged inside her refrigerator, but Los Angeles law enforcement officials have revealed few details about the killing or how Mooney knew her alleged murderer.

A clearer picture of Mooney's final days emerged over the last week in a downtown L.A. courtroom, where prosecutors displayed a series of gruesome images and put forth witnesses who suggested that confusion about the nature of her and Humphrey's brief relationship may have played a role in her killing.

A judge ruled Thursday there was enough evidence for Humphrey, 43, to stand trial for torturing and murdering Mooney, who was two months pregnant when her body was found.

Her body was bound with electrical cords and fabric from a cheetah-print dress, according to images displayed in court and testimony by LAPD forensic analysts and detectives. Humphrey allegedly shoved a piece of clothing three inches into her mouth, the witnesses said.

Mooney's cause of death was determined to be "homicidal violence" likely caused by asphyxiation, according to Brice Hunt, a medical examiner with the Los Angeles County coroner's office. It remains unclear whether Mooney was alive when she was put inside the refrigerator.

Evidence presented during the weeklong preliminary hearing showed that clumps of hair had been ripped out of Mooney's head, and severe bruising suggested she had been whipped and beaten. Deputy Dist. Atty. Antonella Nistorescu described the killing as "a cold, calculated, premeditated act of violence."

Deputy Public Defender Michael Lambrose denied his client held any responsibility for the killing and argued the evidence in the case was "thin."

No one witnessed the killing and none of the witnesses who observed Humphrey and Mooney's brief courtship suggested he was aggressive toward her, Lambrose said.

Although DNA and video evidence proved Humphrey was at the crime scene and that he'd had sex with Mooney, that didn't prove he killed her, the public defender argued.

Even if Humphrey had committed the killing, Lambrose said, there was no evidence that he planned it or intended to make Mooney suffer.

"All of the evidence we have to his mental state is that he cared very deeply about this person … that they talked about getting married," Lambrose said.

Although prosecutors didn't offer a specific motive, Nistorescu suggested a dispute over money and a misunderstanding may have sparked the killing. Mooney worked as a model and real estate agent, but she was also an escort, according to her friend Dossett's testimony.

Humphrey flew to L.A. to meet his estranged brother in early September, who happened to be a friend of Dossett. Dossett, who was also an escort at the time, said she brought Mooney to meet the two men at a Santa Monica bar, where Mooney and Humphrey hit it off. Dossett said that all four did cocaine together that night and that Humphrey soon began staying at Mooney's downtown apartment.

While Humphrey appeared to be falling for Mooney, Dossett said, she was concerned he was getting territorial over the woman he just met. At one point, Dossett said, Humphrey forcefully threw his arm around her friend.

"I felt like it was more of an ownership grab," Dossett said.

Dossett testified that Mooney sent text messages to her expressing frustration that Humphrey wasn't paying for anything. Lambrose also pointed to text messages in court in which Dossett suggested Humphrey should be paying to see Mooney naked.

"There is evidence that what started out as a consensual encounter between these two people then evolved into a situation where the victim was wanting to ask the defendant for money, but not knowing exactly how to do it," Nistorescu said in court Thursday.

Mooney was last seen on Sept. 6, 2023. Her mother asked the Los Angeles Police Department to perform a welfare check. Days later, according to a video shown in court, LAPD Officer Kevin Hwee entered Mooney's apartment and found a puddle of blood on the floor and moved toward the refrigerator. When he opened it, he shouted and jumped back in horror, according to the video.

"That's a homicide, bro. That's a homicide. It scared the s— out of me," he said, according to the video.

Det. David Marcinek said a more thorough look around the apartment suggested Mooney suffered before she died. He found clumps of hair on the floor and in the trash, stains on walls and the carpet that appeared to be signs of dried blood or bleach used to clean up, and a duffel bag full of rags, also caked in dried blood.

Marcinek also found a pillow stained with dried blood in a bedroom closet, and prosecutors suggested Humphrey kept Mooney captive inside the alcove before killing her.

Humphrey had multiple prior convictions for assault and battery, including a case that Nistorescu described as a "mirror image" of some of the abuse Mooney suffered.

Arbra Brown, Humphrey's ex-fiancee, said they were set to have a child together in 2009, but the baby was born prematurely and did not survive. They split a short time later. When Humphrey visited their former home to get his engagement ring back, Brown said she couldn't find it. Humphrey got a look in his eyes like "he wasn't there," she said.

Brown alleged that Humphrey punched her repeatedly, smashed two picture frames over her head, pistol-whipped her and even struck her with their baby's urn before forcing her into a closet at gunpoint, where he whipped her with an electrical cord.

Humphrey told Brown to come up with a "90-second dissertation" on why their relationship was ending, and later called his great-grandmother to say goodbye "because he was going to kill me and they were going to lock him up," Brown said.

Eventually, Humphrey calmed down and left, but not before warning Brown that if she called the police, he would come back and kill her, her mother and her dog. The torment, she said, still haunts her to this day.

"This wasn't a fight. This was more than that," she said. "This went on for hours."

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.