Black people have gotten good and tired of unexplained Black deaths that seemingly go ignored or downplayed by law enforcement. And it appears to be even more of a serious issue when these cases involve Black women.
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Last week, two Black fashion models were found dead days apart from each other in Los Angeles, and now family members and friends of the victims are expressing fear that there could be a serial killer on the loose, especially after police officials concluded that at least one of the deaths was “suspicious.”
According to KTLA 5, 32-year-old Nichole “Nikki” Coats was found dead by family members in her apartment on Sept. 10. Two days later, Maleesa Mooney, 31, was found dead in her luxurious high-rise apartment, three miles away from Coats’ residence, after her family called for a wellness check.
“This is senseless and I want some answers because my daughter is gone,” Sharon Coats, Nikki’s mother, told KTLA. “And it’s not fair. I want everybody to find out who did this to her. She shouldn’t be gone.”
“We need to know what happened,” said May Stevens, Nikki’s aunt.
Coats’ family members said the last time they heard from her, she was going out on a date on September 8, two days before her body was discovered. The discovery her family described was chilling and horrific, to say the least. Her family reported that the scene was gruesome and the model was “unrecognizable.”
“I couldn’t recognize her,” her father told KTLA. “I believe it was murder, I really do. One of her legs was up in the air in a kicking position. That’s not somebody who just laid in their bed and died.”
While it’s unclear how Coats’ death is being investigated, according to CBS News, Maleesa Mooney’s death is officially being investigated as a homicide, although authorities haven’t released any details outside of the belief that Mooney was killed inside her home in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street.
“That scared us all, because now we feel that it’s related,” said Linda St. Clair, Coats’ aunt. “She wasn’t far from where Nicole lived and they were the same age bracket and she was a model.”
But CBS reported that law enforcement investigators had already looked into whether the two cases were related and, on Tuesday, determined that they weren’t. Both cases are still under investigation and little to no public details are released about either.
Meanwhile, Coats’ family has launched a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of her funeral.
“Her untimely passing has left us shocked. There’s no way we could have imagined or prepared for this difficult time,” a statement on the page reads. “As family and friends we are asking to pull together in support of funeral services on behalf of Nikki to help reduce the burden on her parents as they lay their only child to rest. All contributions big and small are appreciated. God bless you.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Coats’ and Mooney’s deaths come six months after a report found that while crime as a whole is on the decline in L.A., violent crimes against Black women are on the rise.
“Citing LAPD statistics, the report found that while Black women make up about 4.3% of the city’s population, they often account for 25% to 33% of its victims of violenc,” the Times reported.
The report found that “Black women experience a unique position of precarity due to decades of discrimination, grounded both in racism and sexism.” And honestly, the history of legal officials and media outlets doing the bare minimum or ignoring these cases altogether is just as deep.
Protect Black women, because if we don’t, who will?
