The body of a naked man, who was identified as aspiring rapper from Los Angeles, Javonnta Murphy,
was discovered on July 31 inside a 55-gallon barrel floating in the Malibu Lagoon..
Javonnta Murphy was found naked and sealed inside the large barrel. He was found with a gunshot wound in the head, according to a coroner’s report. “It didn’t look decomposed or like it had been there for a long time,” said LASD Lt. Hugo Raynaga
Javonnta is the brother of Jaquan Murphy who happened to be one of the 5 people arrested in for the home invasion robbery and murder rapper Pop Smoke in 2020.
On February 19, 2020, Pop Smoke, who's real name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was staying in an AirBnB in the Hollywood Hills owned by The Real Housewives star Teddi Mellencamp. He was posting photos on Social Media showing himself by the house's infinity pool and by a range Rover. The rapper also posted a story on Instagram and Facebook of gifts he had received. One showed the house's full address on the packaging, giving out its location.
Investigators said the 5 suspects, ages 15, 17, 19, and 21, used that info and broke into the home through a second-story balcony around 4 a.m.
They burst into Jackson’s bedroom and confronted him in a shower, where the 15-year-old suspect pistol-whipped the rapper and shot him three times in the back. He was not alone in the home, but he was the only one who was shot.
The suspects fled the home with Jackson’s watch and other jewelry. The rapper was pronounced dead at the hospital. He was 20 years old.
The suspects are believed to be members of a South Los Angeles gang, LAPD said.
On May 2021, a 15-year-old, the youngest of the four intruders, allegedly admitted to killing Jackson over a diamond-studded Rolex during a recorded interview with a cellmate at a juvenile detention center. The 15-year-old told the cellmate that Jackson at first complied with their requests for jewelry but then tried to fight them, and a confrontation broke out in which Jackson was pistol-whipped and shot with a Beretta M92. The intruders made off with his Rolex, which they sold for $2,000.
Jaquan Murphy, the brother Javonnta, was later cleared of the charges. The other 4 suspects were charged with the murder.
L.A. County Sheriff's Department's investigators are currently looking into the possibility Javonnta's murder was a retaliation killing for Pop Smoke's murder.
No further details were released on the case as the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department at 323-267-4800.
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