MALIBU, CALIFORNIA (AP) – A man was found naked dead inside the barrel In Malibu, California, he was shot in the head last week, the coroner determined.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday identified the man as 32-year-old Javonta Marchand Murphy, but no cause of death was determined at the time. The coroner’s case information now lists the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.
The circumstances that led to Murphy being shot and locked inside a barrel are still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
The 55-gallon (208-litre) black plastic barrel was first seen on July 30 floating in Lake Malibu and was brought by a maintenance worker in a kayak, but it was not immediately opened.
The Sheriff’s Department said a lifeguard opened the barrel on July 31 at Malibu Lagoon State Beach, and retrieved it after returning to the lagoon.
It was not known how long the body had been in the drum.
Patrick Nelson, family friend, to the Los Angeles Times that Murphy grew up in South Los Angeles with four siblings and was an aspiring rapper.
