MARINA DEL REY, Calif.—The death of a woman whose body was found on a boat in Marina del Rey a week ago has been listed as a homicide, authorities said Dec. 14, while the death of a man believed to have lived aboard the vessel and who was found in a nearby vehicle the same day was a suicide.
Deputies from the Marina del Rey Sheriff’s Station were called at 11:12 a.m. Dec. 7 to the 14000 block of Tahiti Way regarding a welfare check at a boat in the marina, where they found the woman’s body, said Lt. Steven De Jong of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
During the course of their investigation, a resident who knew the people who lived on the boat alerted the Los Angeles Police Department to a vehicle parked nearby in the 100 block of Via Marina, where the body of 33-year-old Kelvin Nelson Jr. was found, the sheriff’s department reported.
A few days later, Nelson’s death was listed by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner as a suicide.
On Thursday, the sheriff’s department released an update that said, in part: “Local residents advised that the male resided on the boat that was being investigated by homicide investigators. The investigation into the deceased female is ongoing.”
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner “has ruled the [woman’s] death a homicide,” the sheriff’s department reported on Thursday.
The woman’s name was withheld, pending notification of her relatives. Information on the woman’s cause of death was not available.
Anyone with information on the case was asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous callers can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477, or tips can be sent to lacrimestoppers.org.
