Simone WilsonA young college student who died over Carmageddon weekend at a house party in Monterey Park has been identified as 20-year-old Jessica Moreno.
On her Facebook page, Moreno lists herself as a Spanish/biochem major at Mount St. Mary's College. She would have turned 21 on August 2 of this year, and was set to graduate in 2012.
According to City News Service, the victim's body was was discovered at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, lying lifeless in the backyard of a home in the 2300 block of Isabella Avenue. Though an autopsy is still underway…
… the L.A. County Coroner's Office told City News that Moreno “had been drinking at a party held at the location on Saturday night.”
We have not been able to determine why Moreno was not found or declared dead until 10:30 a.m. the next morning, but we've contacted the Monterey Park Police Department for more information.
[Update: Lieutenant Carrie Mazelin says “basically everyone went to sleep, and the next morning they found her and she was not breathing.” Mazelin says that so far, “there does not appear to be any foul play,” and that the party Moreno attended was a smaller gathering of around 10 friends. Investigators are still looking into why the victim was outside the house; the autopsy report will also be crucial to identifying any “medical issues” Moreno might have had, on top of toxicology tests for drugs and alcohol.]
Moreno lists herself as hailing from East L.A. Carmina Morfin, another young woman from East L.A., wrote on her own Facebook wall:
“R.I.P. Jessica Moreno I'm going to miss you and all the fun times we had girl we were crazy but we didn't care i hope yourr in a better place.”
And an apparent college classmate Tweeted:
In Moreno's own “about me” section, she had written, “plan to live all the days of my life.”
If you know anything more about the victim, or what happened to her on Saturday night, please let us know.
[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]
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