LAPD Says Deaths of 2 Models Found Days Apart Are Not Related

Authorities do not believe the deaths of two models in downtown Los Angeles apartments within days of each other are connected.

In a press release, the Los Angeles Police Department said “there is no evidence to suggest” that the deaths of Maleesa Mooney and Nichole Coats are linked.

Coats, 32, was found dead in her apartment on South Grand Avenue on Sept. 10, according to the LAPD. The department has not revealed many details about her death, only that it is currently being handled as a “death investigation.”

Two days later, Mooney was found dead in her South Figueroa Street apartment. The LAPD said her death is being investigated as a homicide, though her cause of death is not yet known. 

Police found Mooney while conducting a welfare check.

“When a week went by, we just knew something was off,” Mooney’s cousin Bailey Babb told KTLA. “Her messages weren’t delivering and we knew something was up because we all have a special relationship with Maleesa.”

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Coats’ death is not currently being investigated as a homicide, and is still pending a coroner’s outcome, an LAPD spokesperson previously told PEOPLE.

But in a previous interview with PEOPLE, Coats’ mother, Sharon, said she suspects foul play.

“The police aren’t doing anything,” Sharon Coats told PEOPLE. “They want to make it seem like there was no foul play. I just don’t buy it. I just want to rule it out.”

Coats’ mother said Nichole worked part-time as a beauty product salesperson and was just days away from a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Sharon also said that days before her daughter was killed, she had been on a date.

“I want to find out what happened to my daughter,” Sharon told PEOPLE. “It was too soon. She was too young. She just got a promotion on her job. A raise. She was doing well and then this happens. She was healthy. I am still trying to grasp all this. When she came in the room she brightened up the whole room. Her smile was like a diamond. She was like a gem.”

A GoFundMe to raise money for Coats’ funeral has raised over $16,000. 

Anyone with information on the deaths of Coats or Mooney should call the Los Angeles Police Department, Central Bureau Homicide, at 213-996-4150.