Missing Macedonian model Adea Shabani’s body found in shallow grave, California police believe

Shabani’s boyfriend Christopher Spotz committed suicide after a police chase last week

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An undated handout photo of missing Macedonian Adea Shabani, who friends said had come to Los Angeles less than two years ago to pursue a career in modelling. Photo: TNS

Published: 9:39am, 28 Mar 2018Updated: 9:39am, 28 Mar 2018

Los Angeles police believe they have found the remains of a missing model and aspiring actress in a shallow grave 80km north of Sacramento, authorities said Tuesday.

LAPD detectives investigating the February disappearance of 25-year-old Adea Shabani were led to the banks of Dry Creek in the Spenceville Wildlife Area in Nevada County, where they discovered the remains.

Captain William Hayes with the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division said at a Downtown Los Angeles news conference Tuesday that investigators believe the body belongs to Shabani but cannot say conclusively because of the condition of the remains.

This photo taken during a news conference on Tuesday in Los Angeles shows a poster about Adea Shabani, an aspiring model and actress from Macedonia who vanished in Los Angeles in February. Photo: AP

He said investigators believe foul play might have occurred but are waiting for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Anthropologists from California State, Chico were also on site to help investigate the remains. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said an autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Hayes said investigators were treating the case as a homicide and suspect that 33-year-old Christopher Spotz, who had an “intimate relationship” with Shabani, was somehow involved in her disappearance.

Spotz shot and killed himself with a handgun Thursday, police say, after leading officers on a chase from Hesperia to Corona in a stolen Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.