Police Rule Adea Shabani's Death a Homicide After Identifying Her Body By Matching Her Tattoos
The body found in a shallow grave in Nevada County, California, has been confirmed as that of Adea Shabani on Wednesday.
Police discovered the body the previous day, more than a month after the aspiring Hollywood actress went missing. Authorities said she was identified through her tattoos.
Lt. Rob Bringolf of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in an update on Facebook that the 25-year-old’s death was ruled as a homicide.
Her cause of death is still being investigated, however, Bringolf revealed Shabani suffered blunt force trauma to her head. A toxicology report and a tissue analysis are currently underway.
On Tuesday, investigators said they had found human remains at the Spenceville Wildlife Area in Penn Valley, California, according to a Facebook post by the sheriff’s office.
During a press conference, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told reporters they believed Christopher Spotz, Shabani’s boyfriend, was “somehow involved in her death.”
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Spotz died by suicide on March 22 in a California stand-off with police.
According to Fox-11 Los Angeles, police pursued the man in a chase from Hesperia to Corona with an unnamed passenger before he shot himself in the head, dying on the scene.
PEOPLE confirmed that investigators have impounded the Tacoma and a crime scene unit has been combing it for forensic evidence related to the Shabani case.
Shabani, who is originally from Macedonia, moved to L.A. to study acting. She had been in the area for less than two years, according to KABC.
