LaJoya McCoy (NBC)
One week before she went missing nine 2015, 31-year-old mother of two LaJoya McCoy posted on Facebook about her excitement over a new man. She gushed about how he had made her breakfast and had a rooftop pool. Could this man have had something to do with her death?
LaJoya McCoy was pursuing her dreams
LaJoya McCoy was ambitious and was fiercely pursing her dreams before she was struck down in the prime of life.
She had always excelled in school, and used her education to get a solid job as an auditor with the city of L.A. She wasn’t satisfied with that however, LaJoya also wanted to be her own boss and provide a good life for her kids.
LaJoya opened up a clothing boutique on the side, and also had plans to launch her own phone app.
She and her ex boyfriend Jose Turner, an aspiring actor and playwright, had two children together. They had been together for 10 years and after their breakup they were working together to coparent their kids.
Latoya’s dreams and goals were well-rounded. She also learning how to play the piano and taught her kids what she was learning.
Spread too thin?
With all of these responsibilities, however, LaJoya she was spread thin. To help with childcare in June 2015, she asked one of her sisters to come from Las Vegas to help her.
When her sister showed up in L.A., LaJoya was nowhere to be found. Because she was so busy, her family thought she had maybe lost track of time, but it soon became clear that this wasn’t the case.
LaJoya’s secret
After her breakup with Jose, LaJoya started really living life. She traveled to Europe, and often went out. She met her friend Eva during this time, and Eva was worried for her friends.
When she went missing, LaJoya’s mom and friend Eva knew that LaJoya had a dark secret.
She dated some of the guys that she met, but she also reconnected with old flames. None of these relationships ever got very serious, mostly because LaJoya was deeply worried that she was being stalked.
She thought people were hacking her Facebook and breaking into her house. She would notice that items in her house would be found in different places than she left them.
PHOTO: NBC
Where was LaJoya?
LaJoya’s ex Jose Turner says that he last saw her the previous weekend when he picked up their kids from her place. Her cellphone carrier says that her cellphone had been used that day.
LaJoya’s sister wondered if maybe LaJoya had just wanted some space, which was something she asked for from time to time. She had been talking to her friend Eva about maybe going to a retreat in Arizona with no cellphones so she could meditate.
She was stressed because she was had to close her boutique because of financial issues. She had talked about the closure of her store with her friend Bernandette during a night out right before she went missing.
A Crime Scene
Police visited her home twice and saw so issues. When LaJoya still could not be found, police finally entered her apartment where they found bloodstains and blood spatter in the bedroom. All of her bedding was gone. LaJoya, however, was no there.
There was no sign of forced entry, but her home smelled of bleach.
Finally found
Her car was found in a nearby neighborhood with a parking ticket. Inside the car was LaJoya’s body in the passenger’s side covered in a blanket. She had been strangled to death with a rope.
Because of the body’s placement, it was assumed that her killer had driven her to this location and left her there. The car had sat there for days.
Did someone she knew kill LaJoya?
Those close to LaJoya wondered if her ex Jose Turner had something to do with her death. After they broke up, he seemed jealous of LaJoya and how she was enjoying her life.
Her chiropractor had been one of the last people to see her alive while she was out with her friend Bernadette. Detectives saw him speaking with LaJoya and leaving the restaurant later on the security cameras, so they ruled him out.
LaJoya’s journals gave detectives a great deal more information. In her journals she wrote about a new man she’d met, and her hopes to see him again. Could this be the man she posted about a week before?
Her last night alive
The last night LaJoya was seen alive, the night she was out with Bernadette, she texted something: her friend Luther Walls, who was also a boutique owner. When police questioned Luther Walls, they did not find him suspicious.
He was, though, a good friend of LaJoya’s who she also confided in that her children’s father Jose Turner was abusive toward her and if anything ever happened to her, police should look into him.
She also suspected that Jose had had a key made for her apartment.
Did Jose Turner kill LaJoya?
Detectives asked Jose to meet them at LaJoya’s apartment. While meeting with him, they got a DNA swab. They also asked him why he had not been curious about the investigation.
Since they brought it up, Jose said he did want to know more about the investigation. “Do you have a suspect?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied. “You.”
A scary encounter two years before
In 2013 LaJoya’s aunt and uncle received a terrifying knock at their door. LaJoya arrived half-dressed and frantic begging for help. She had had to jump over a wall to get to her uncle David’s apartment.
She was still with Jose at the time, but decided to end things after this scary night. The couple had been arguing when suddenly Jose attacked LaJoya and choked her.
A history of abuse
A few weeks after LaJoya’s death, Jose Turner was arrested in her murder. LaJoya’s mother had trouble accepting that the father of her grandchildren had done this.
Jose has had a history of domestic violence. When she heard what had happened to LaJoya, Jose’s ex-girlfriend Adrienne.
“Jose was so good at pretending. When we go in public everything is wonderful . . . when we get home, he’s a monster,” she said. She spoke to police after she saw news of Jose’s arrest.
She had an eerily similar story to LaJoya’s where she ran out of the house naked because he was beating her. This was very similar to the night that LaJoya showed up half-dressed to her uncle’s home. Adrienne was spooked because she knew that her life could have been ended by Jose.
In a particular turn of cruelty, Jose had told their children that their mother had simply abandoned them.
There was a blood-soaked piece of paper in LaJoya’s car documenting Jose’s stalking of her.
Jose’s DNA was found at the crime scene, and they found a notebook full of rambles including writing stating that he’s find great pleasure in tearing her apart. Jose claimed that the writing was fiction because he was an aspiring screenwriter.
They also argued that his DNA could have gotten in LaJoya’s apartment because they were coparenting together and had once dated.
None of this persuaded the jury, however. Jose was found guilty in 2017 of first degree murder and was sentenced to 26 years to life.
