Adea Shabani

Case background and investigation

Adea Shabani was a 25-year-old acting student and aspiring model who, according to People magazine's reporting, was originally from Macedonia and had been in Los Angeles for less than two years. NBC News reported that she was seen at a coffee shop near her Hollywood apartment on the morning of Friday, February 23, 2018, and that surveillance footage later showed her leaving her apartment building with her boyfriend, Christopher Spotz, 33.

Friends and relatives could not reach her over the weekend, and the concern grew when she missed the first session of her acting class the following Monday, NBC News reported. According to KABC, she was reported missing on February 25. The Los Angeles Police Department's homicide detectives took over the investigation.

According to the Sierra Sun, Spotz told investigators that the two had argued and that Shabani got out of his vehicle in Santa Clarita. Los Angeles police said they found nothing to corroborate that account. The newspaper reported that Spotz was named a person of interest on March 1, that he had returned to Los Angeles on February 24, and that he drove to Colorado with his fiancee some days later.

On March 22, 2018, officers tried to stop a Toyota Tacoma that Spotz was driving. NBC News and People reported that the pursuit ran from Hesperia to the Corona area of Riverside County, where Spotz shot himself. Most outlets date his death to March 22; the Sierra Sun gives March 23. He was never charged in connection with Shabani's death.

The investigation then led detectives to the Spenceville Wildlife Area in Nevada County, in Northern California, where a shallow grave was located in the Dry Creek area on March 26 and the remains were recovered the next day, according to the Sierra Sun. The remains were identified as Shabani's on March 28 through her tattoos, and the death was ruled a homicide. In May 2018 the Nevada County chief deputy coroner said the cause of death was massive blunt force injuries to the head. Detectives believed she was buried on or about February 23 or 24.

LAPD Captain William Hayes said publicly that investigators believed Spotz was involved in her death and described him as the suspect. Because Spotz died before any charge was filed, no court has ruled on his responsibility, and police did not release a motive.