MALIBU, Calif. — Officials announced that two suspects were arrested in connection with a body that was found inside a barrel in Malibu, California, at the end of July.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Friday said Joshua Lee Simmons and Dennis Eugene Vance were arrested on Oct. 3 in connection with the body that was found inside a barrel in the Malibu Lagoon State Beach.
The body was identified by the sheriff’s office as Javonnta Marshann Murphy.
Murphy, 32, was found on July 31 in a 55-gallon barrel floating by a lifeguard, according to KTLA.
The sheriff’s department learned that Murphy’s body wasn’t in the barrel long when it was discovered, according to the television station. It is believed that the current carried the barrel into the lagoon from the ocean due to the high tide that day.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said Murphy’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, according to KABC.
Simmons has been charged with murder, personal use of a firearm, and making criminal threats in addition to attempted robbery, two more counts of making criminal threats and personal use of bear spray related to an attempted robbery in El Monte on Sept. 2, the sheriff’s office said. Vance has been charged with a count of accessory after the fact.
Investigators say no motive has been released. The sheriff’s office said that both Vance and Simmons are known acquaintances of the victim.
